We are living in a hyper-connected world where everything is going digital. Customers today want a more personalized experience, and businesses are trying hard to offer top-notch solutions to them. As technologies are advancing at a rapid rate and customer expectations changing accordingly, many businesses have switched to Agile software development methodology to deliver state-of-the-art products.
Literally, Agile is the ability to build and respond to change. Organizations that are agile can better deal with and finally succeed in unprecedented times. As an approach to software development, Agile focuses on iterative development where self-organized teams create requirements and solutions through increased collaboration.
Agile software development encompasses a set of practices and frameworks based on the principles and values expressed in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
Some of the most common Agile methodologies are Lean Development, Scrum, Kanban, Crystal, and Extreme programming. Scrum, by far, is the most widely used framework among organizations as it offers a lightweight solution to manage products and the development of software. It has been buzzing the entire technology community since the 1990s. Scrum is a framework of choice when companies want to solve various problems that need adaptation.
An important framework like Scrum is rarely covered in graduate-level courses of any university, and professionals have to rely on Agile Training provided by eLearning platforms to learn it. This article gives you a complete overview of the Scrum methodology and why it is readily adopted by organizations worldwide.
An Introduction to Scrum
Scrum is an iterative Agile environment using which developers can solve a variety of tricky problems involving a lot of adaptive work. It follows a heuristic approach, rather than an algorithmic approach, to problem-solving to creatively deliver products of the highest possible value. The framework encourages Scrum teams to learn through experiences and reflect on their strengths and weaknesses to improve continuously.
People often use Agile and Scrum synonymously as the latter is centered around continuous improvement, a core principle of Agile. However, Agile is more of a mindset while Scrum is a framework that teams can use to practice Agile principles in their daily work and finally deliver value to their customers.
The Scrum framework is structured to assist teams in naturally adapting to varying conditions and customer requirements. It also incorporates re-prioritization built into the process and shorter release cycles to allow teams to learn continuously.
Scrum contributes to improving process efficiency dramatically and reduces the time to market products and services. By using this framework, organizations have more control over their project and state planning and can accurately forecast the budget and time constraints. Organizations adopting the Scrum framework follow these five Scrum values:
- Courage – the Scrum teams have the courage to deal with difficult problems and do the right thing.
- Focus – each member focuses on the work mentioned in the Sprint and the goals of the Scrum Team.
- Commitment – members are personally committed to achieving the goals of the Scrum team.
- Respect – members of the Scrum team respect each other to be capable and independent people.
- Openness – there is increased openness about the work and the challenges associated with it among the scrum team and its stakeholders.
The Three Scrum Roles
The Scrum framework defines three distinct roles that constitute the overall Scrum Team – ScrumMaster, Product Owner, and Development Team. Let us briefly discuss their responsibilities:
Product Owner
The Product Owner is someone who defines what the product will look like and the features it needs to have. They are the professionals who have the final say on what goes in the project and what goes out of it. They make a list of all the features that a project at hand requires and sets the priority to achieve them.
They maintain the product backlog and ensure that the items present in it are aligned with the goals and mission. An associate product owner is also responsible for refining product backlog and preparation for program increment planning and optimizing the work that the development team performs.
Scrum Master
The Scrum Master is tasked with keeping the Scrum team away from internal and external distractions and ensuring that the team performs at its highest level. His work involves wearing various hats at the same time, including that of a coach, protector, agile advocate, and servant leader.
He facilitates the daily scrum meetings, finds techniques for effective product backlog management, understands product planning in an empirical environment, and removes bottlenecks in the development team’s work.
The Development Team
The development team, generally consisting of 3 to 9 members, is responsible for accomplishing the work set forth by the Product Owner. They organize and manage their own work, which means they are capable of turning the Product Backlog items into increments of potentially releasable functionality on their own.
The team comprises members from different backgrounds like quality assurance, software developers, analysts, and more. Scrum recognizes no titles for the team members, and no sub-teams are involved.
To sum up, the Scrum methodology is a simplistic approach that makes Agile easy to comprehend and hence is an obvious choice of organizations. In today’s changing competitive environment, your expertise and skills in Agile and Scrum can impress hiring managers, and you may land your dream job. So, don’t delay learning Scrum and become a certified professional today.