Scrum is a framework that’s used primarily to manage product and software development. When teams use scrum, they are encouraged to learn through experience, self-organize as they work on a project, and use reflection to improve themselves continuously. Software development teams use scrum the most, but the principles can be used in many other teamwork settings.
Using the scrum methodology, teams can break down large projects into smaller, management tasks. These digestible tasks are completed in the project life cycle in short iterations. Scrum relies on teams to constantly collaborate to ensure tasks are completed in the expected timeframe so that they can move on to the next phase of the project. We’ll discuss more where scrum came from, its framework, benefits, and more in this guide.
Origins of Scrum
The roots of scrum date back to 1986 when Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Noaka released the Harvard Business Review article called “The New New Product Development Game”. The term scrum came from the game rugby which describes it as how the ball gets passed within a team as they move up the field.
According to Scrum.org, scrum’s first formal introduction happened in 1995. Ken Schwaber released his paper, “SCRUM Software Development Process” which started to shape the framework that’s used today. Through each change, the “definition” of Scrum evolved in terms of the:
- Roles, responsibilities, accountabilities
- Controls, deliverables, artifacts
- Phases, meetings, time-boxes, events
Scrum further evolved through the years through the following sources:
- “SCRUM: An extension pattern language for hyperproductive software development” – Mike Beedle, Martine Devos, Yonat Sharon, Ken Schwaber, and Jeff Sutherland (1999)
- “Agile Software Development with Scrum” – Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle (2002)
- “Agile Project management with Scrum” – Ken Schwaber (2004)
- “The Enterprise and Scrum” – Ken Schwaber (2007)
- “The Scrum Guide” – Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2009, 2010)
- “The Scrum Guide” – Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2011, 2013, 2016, 2017)
- “The Scrum Guide” – Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland (2020)
Sutherland and Schwaber emphasize that Scrum is successful when each team member exhibits the following values:
- Commitment – team members must be personally committed to achieving the team goals
- Courage – team members will do the right thing and work on tough problems
- Focus – team members will concentrate on the work that’s identified for the sprint and the goals of the team
- Openness – team members and stakeholders are open about all the work and challenges the team encounters
- Respect – team members respect each other to be capable and independent
Scrum is a lightweight process framework that’s a subset of Agile. Software development methodologies based on iterative development, where self-organizing cross-functional teams collaborate to evolving requirements and solutions are agile software development. Scrum is the most widely used method of Agile.
What is the Framework of Scrum?
Six basic principles make up the Scrum framework: control over the empirical process, self-organization, collaboration, value-based prioritization, time-boxing, and iterative development. Each principle must be adhered to and remain intact throughout every project. Otherwise, the team may lose focus, or the project could suffer setbacks.
Control over the Empirical Process
Includes transparency, evaluation, and adaption under the Scrum methodology. The empirical process is based on observations of hard evidence and experimentation. The theory is not a part of this process.
Self-Organization
This principle refers to the increase in the level of independence of the whole team. Self-organization is important since the scrum process is reliant on many individuals. That’s why everyone is empowered to work independently. This also allows for more by-in among the whole team so that individual contributions are easier to assess.
Collaboration
There are many roles involved with a scrum project. Since it’s a collaborative process, awareness, clarity, and distribution are important while working with the team.
Value-based prioritization
Tasks are constantly prioritized in the scrum to determine their value and importance for end-users. By organizing these tasks appropriately, the company can decide in what order they should be completed to meet certain deadlines.
Timeboxing
This refers to allocating and scheduling certain amounts of time for certain activities. Tasks are completed in “sprints” when using scrum. These sprints are a specific length of time that each task is assigned to be completed. These short release cycles are usually between 2-4 weeks.
Other important aspects of timeboxing include sprint planning, daily meetings, and sprint reviews. Sprint planning typically takes 1-2 hours when the tasks are determined. During daily meetings that last 15 minutes, the tasks are monitored. Sprint reviews take around 1–2 hours and the tasks are evaluated during these sessions. These events are defined in more detail later.
Iterative Development
Since the project requirements in scrum are adjusted and revised constantly, the software development activities are also revisited and reworked accordingly. Using iterative development, the team can make adjustments and better manage changes.
Events in Scrum
Sprint, sprint planning, daily scrum, and spring review make up the events that happen when using the scrum methodology.
Sprint
As a timebox of a month or less, during each sprint, the team produces a potentially shippable product increment. Sprints will typically maintain consistent durations throughout a development effort. After the sprint, newsprint will start immediately after. The start and end dates of a sprint are usually fixed.
Sprint Planning
During the beginning of a sprint, the team discusses which items from the product backlog they will work on. That results in the spring planning of the sprint backlog. There are two parts that typically occur during sprint planning:
- The product owner and team agree on which product backlog items will be included
- The team determines how they will deliver the product backlog item successfully. Specific tasks might be identified for delivery and other tasks will make up the sprint backlog if applicable.
Once the scope of the sprint is established by the product owner and team as described by the product backlog items, additional items can’t be added to the sprint backlog. Doing this will protect the team from a scope change occurring within the sprint.
Daily Scrum
During the daily scrum, the team coordinates their activities for the following day. Usually limited to 15-minute sessions, the purpose of having daily scrums isn’t to become status reporting activities or problem-solving meetings.
Sprint Review
The whole team and product owner get together at the end of a sprint to review the results with key stakeholders of the product. The intention of this meeting is to discuss, demonstrate, and provide stakeholders with the chance to use the increment to gather feedback. Sprint reviews are not status report meetings. Any feedback gathered from a sprint review is placed on the product backlog for consideration in the future.
Sprint Retrospective
After the sprint review at the end of the sprint, the team and product owner will reflect on how things went during the last sprint. The team identifies any adjustments that may need to be made moving forward. At least one action item that’s included on the following sprint’s sprint backlog is the result of this retrospective.
Artifacts used in Scrum
Scrum artifacts include a product backlog, sprint backlog, increment, and definition of done. Artifacts are pieces of information and tools that help keep the project on track.
Product Backlog
The product backlog is essentially a to-do list for development teams. It consists of a roadmap and requirements that the product owner organizes and prioritizes. The long-term objective is defined as the product goal.
Updates to the product backlog happen continuously throughout the project lifecycle. New information, achievements, and overcoming obstacles update the product backlog. These updates primarily come from the stakeholders and development team. Changes to the product backlog must be communicated to the team to keep everyone abreast.
Sprint Backlog
When developers choose items directly from the product backlog, the sprint backlog is formed. These items are the most important tasks to be completed during the next sprint. Since priorities will change, this is done on a sprint-by-sprint basis. The key to a successful sprint backlog is enabling everyone on the team to see which task is being worked on, and who is working it and reinforces the shared sprint goal which is the outcome of the sprint.
Increments
“A concrete steppingstone toward the product goal. ”, is how the increment is described in the Scrum Guide. Every increment is addictive to the prior increments and verified thoroughly to ensure that they all work together. Increments must be used to provide value. Within a sprint, many increments could be created.
The sprint review is where the sum of the increments is presented and supports empiricism. Stakeholders may be delivered an increment before the end of the sprint.
Definition of Done
To be part of an increment, work must meet the definition of done. This artifact is a formal description of the state of the increment and when it meets the quality measures necessary for the product. An increment happens when a product backlog item meets the definition of done.
Roles in Scrum
The contributions of the scrum team are essential to successfully delivering a project. The members that make up a scrum team aren’t necessarily all from the same department. However, everyone will play a part in the process. There is no hierarchy on the scrum team and each member is treated as equal to help accomplish the objective.
According to the Scrum Guide, the scrum team should have the following three distinctions:
- Cross-functional – Each member of the team has the skills to create value. These empowered and self-organized team members work independently on their tasks to accomplish the common goal.
- Smaller – Sutherland and Schwaber suggest that scrum teams consist of 10 or fewer members. This helps avoid gaps in communication and lower productivity. The team is “nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a sprint” when you do this.
- Accountable – Everyone on the scrum team is responsible for creating valuable, useful increments during each sprint. To keep the team accountable, there are three specific roles found within each scrum team: product owner, Scrum Master, and developers.
Product Owner
The product owner is the individual that has the final say on if a project was successful. This person is a key stakeholder and represents the business side. The product owner is the one that conceived the idea or goal that the team is tasked to execute. The product owner is the owner of product backlog management with responsibilities that include:
- Developing and communicating the product goal
- Creating and communicating product backlog items
- Ordering product backlog items
- Ensuring the transparency, visibility, and understanding of the product backlog
A product owner should be highly available, if not on-site so the team can access them if questions arise, or clarification is needed. Product owners in scrum are involved throughout the duration of the project.
Scrum Master
The scrum master’s responsibilities include ensuring the team lives the agile values and principles and follows the processes and practices that were agreed to by the team. Initially, the name was intended to depict the individual who was an expert at Scrum. This person could coach others.
However, generally speaking, the role doesn’t have real authority. Those who fill the role lead with influence, often taking the stance of a servant leader.
Development Team
The people on the team who deliver the product increment inside a sprint make up the development team. Their main responsibilities are delivering the increment that delivers value during each sprint. The team determines who to divide up the work based on current conditions.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Scrum
Using scrum for project implementations is largely popular due to the many benefits to the technical teams, customers, and management teams. Among the key benefits of using scrum include:
- Ability to release useable products to users and customers faster
- Better quality
- More productivity
- Cost reductions
- Ability to incorporate changes as they happen
- Improved employee morale
- Greater user satisfaction
- Being able to finish complex projects that were in the past couldn’t be completed
There are some detractions as to why using the scrum framework might not work like:
- Requires extensive training
- Difficult to scale for larger projects
- Major transformations within the organization might be necessary to adopt the Scrum framework
- Could be difficult to integrate with a classic project management approach
- Project deadlines aren’t related to scrum
- Requires using small teams
- Must have experienced personnel on the team
Getting started with Scrum
To start using the scrum framework without any prior experience with it, you should start small. Just like other process change initiatives, the success of implementing scrum is largely dependent on people embracing it.
During these initial stages, it’s crucial for teams to have someone in the scrum master coaching role. Your teams should be made up of five to ten members. Starting with a small, collocated team is best.
Consider your current development process cycles when developing your sprints. For example, if you’re using a six-month development process, moving to a two-week sprint might be too big of a change. Your organization is better off starting with a 30-day sprint to learn how it works for your team. Shorter iterations can be evaluated at a later point.
Using the scrum framework is a great way to get cross-functional teams to work together towards a common goal. It provides visibility on the progress to everyone on the team and is constantly inspected to provide transparency so adapting to changes can happen quickly.
