What Is Scrum and what happens in it?
Basically, scrum is an agile framework that lets the team or a group of members to work efficiently. It is much like a sports team in which each member helps the other. Scrum lets the team learn from each other’s experiences.
As in software development, scrum has an initial emphasis on developing and sustaining products. We often define it as a set of meetings, tools, and roles that work in concert to help teams structure and manage their work.
Constant learning and practice are at the heart of Scrum. It is flexible and embraces dynamic factors. It accepts the fact that the team is not aware of all the things when a project begins, thus the team gradually learns things with experiences as the time passes. Scrum helps you and the team to adapt changes in user demands and conditions.
You can easily re-prioritize things and develop short cycles to help your team to improve. But the successful scrum team is one which works on these key points of having clear communication, transparency, and a dedication for continuous improvement.
Activities or Events in Scrum
For a scrum team, it is very important to organize some activities or events for a good going. It is being done regularly. Some companies mark it as a mandatory thing, while some consider it is a cumbersome process.
Listed below are some important activities or events of Scrum. They are:
Organize the backlog: It is the product developer or the owner who organizes the backlog. We do this to make things clear and maintain the record of the product in the market. The crucial role of a product developer is to be in constant touch with the team for the latest updates and feedback of the customers to keep improving. Maintaining a healthy backlog is quite necessary to prioritize things accordingly. Because of this, the vision of the product is always clear among the team members.
Sprint Planning: We do this before the actual sprint takes place. It is the planning session, to decide what to do in the sprint and how. Sprint master leads this meeting and decides the goal of the sprint. We propose strategies and implementation details.
Sprint: A sprint is the actual time period when the team works on the goal. We carry this goal forward from the sprint planning. We implement the decided strategies. As per ‘Scrum.org’, says that the more complex the work and the more unknowns, the shorter the sprint should be. You can also change things if required, as if they are not working. Re-negotiation between the product owner and the development team can take place, if required. But it is necessary that after a certain interval of time, the sprint needs to be constant in order to have a consistent establishment. And also the team can learn from their experiences and apply that insight to future sprints.
Daily Scrum or Stand Up: This is a super short kind of daily meeting. Usually, it occurs in the morning just to be clear that all team members are in sync and are working on the same pitch. It can be as short as 10 to 15 minutes depending on the work. Let’s call it “daily stand-up meeting” because it emphasises mainly on the daily needs. In simple words, the aim of this is to agree for the next 24 hours.
Sprint Review: When the sprint gets over, an informal meeting takes place. In this meeting, usually the product owner shows off the backlog and asks for some feedback from the teammates. The product owner can also release the increment if he wishes to. We do it to have an idea about the things which need improvement in the future. So it is a kind of helpful session, resolving so many things.
Scrum Roles
Usually, in a scrum team there are three very important roles. They are:
The first one is the scrum product owner who understands business, customer, and market requirements. Or you can say it acts like a customer proxy. He/she builds and manages the product backlog. And also guides the team for the future strategies. Works closely with each of the team members, ensuring that they have no problem in understanding the backlog.
The second one is the Scrum Master. Their role includes the implementation part. They are the coach of the team, product owners, and the business on the scrum process. They look for ways to optimize things. An ideal scrum master is the one who handles the team efficiently and maintains the desired transparency in delivering the work.
The third one is the scrum development team. Scrum development team handles the sustainable growth of the company or the product. This team mostly comprises 9 to 10 people responsible for developing the product. The team is self organised and carries out the work effectively. All members of the team help each other ensure a successful sprint completion.
Quick Scrum E-Learning
Scrum can be easily and quickly learned online. There are websites present which covers the rationale for Scrum and Agile, along with an overview of roles, meetings, and artifacts.
It has some very interesting modules which usually end up with quizzes and brief questions, ensuring that you have understood properly. The best part is you will also receive certificates on the successful completion of the course. They are short courses usually held on demand.
Conclusion
There are long-term benefits of Scrum. Because of its ability to develop complex hardware and software products across diverse industries, it is thus gaining a lot of popularity and is used in most of the organizations.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay.
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