Ghostwritten by Gystilyn O’Brien for Accunity via Content Castle. 7/1/19.
Scrum is a process-based framework under the Agile Project Management (APM) system that focuses on transparency, inspection, and adaptation in product development. In recent years, product development has undergone a massive change from the waterfall method – that of setting up a plan of action and following specific steps to a logical conclusion. Today the Agile Scrum framework, based on the Agile Manifesto, applies a set of values and principles to establish workflow efficiencies through clear communication, day-to-day activities, and team interactions, to ensure customer satisfaction in product development.
Scrum and Sprint
A Scrum is a three-fold format emphasizing communication between the Product Owner, the Development Team, and the Scrum Master. The Development Team is further broken down into groups of designers and developers to form ‘Scrum teams’. They are self-organized, and through the use of a virtual planner, they plot what they can do within the given timeframe–or sprint cycle–for a project. The Scrum Master’s role is to keep the Development Team on task with clear communication while incorporating input from the Product Owner regarding product goals. By including the Product Owner in the process, this format ensures that all requirements are met with clarity instead of guesswork.
The sprint cycle typically lasts for 2 to 4 weeks, and in that period each Scrum team is expected to reach specified milestones. The cycle includes planning the overall product goals, daily progress meetings, development, work review, and at the finish, the retrospective. The retrospective determines the teams’ successes and problem points. With each retrospective, the team can adapt the better methodology to help expedite the next sprint. A full product launch can include any number of sprints.
Scrum Theory: Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation
Transparency, in the case of Scrum, is unilateral power. Each member of the team is given equal priority and ownership over the project with clearly defined expectations, goals, and product information. All members of the team are fully aware of all working parts of the Scrum and sprint cycle, ensuring that nothing will be missed. This also creates a think tank effect, where problem-solving is addressed by the team as a whole.
Inspection is a form of review, usually assigned per process, i.e. planning, daily meetings, review, and retrospect. In a sprint, a member of the development team is assigned to review the working process and ensure that there are no undesirable variables.
Adaptation occurs if the inspector detects undesired variables. The review checks to see how the team or process has gone off course or how the product requirements have been altered and address whether the product goal has become unreachable. At this point, the team will gather, resolve the issue, and adapt to the new goals updated requirements.
Oxagile Scrum
Oxagile Scrum has tactfully adapted the baseline APM system into a straightforward and user-friendly software that we here at Accunity have welcomed with enthusiasm. The dashboard provides us with analytics tools that help review our Scrum and sprint processes, using well-defined storyboards so we can monitor productivity statistics and promote deadline accuracy. Through the use of Oxagile’s software, our Scrum Masters tackle basic responsibilities such as managing budgets, project scope, and product quality so the Product Owner can get back to the business of doing business. Contact us today, to see how we can help you execute your next ground-breaking project.