What’s the most essential step in building a car, saving your marriage, or even writing a book?
Planning.
Even as simple as a whiteboard or a pad of sticky notes can help so much in accomplishing goals.
If you work in tech (or you’ve spent time among engineers), you’ve probably heard of “Scrum” and “Agile.”
These words, alongside terms such as “planning poker,” “stand-ups,” and “sprints” are the common buzzwords spoken in reverent tones among techy types.
It can all be a bit intimidating to the uninitiated.
But these technologies aren’t just for the wizards.
In fact, these should be a necessity for businesses that prioritize productivity and efficiency.
Is that something that interests you?
Well, let us introduce Scrum to you.
Scrum is a framework that allows organizations to bring about value through solutions for complicated problems.
Agile is a process that aids a team to efficiently manage a project by breaking it down into several stages, allowing consistent collaboration with participants to promote steady improvements at every phase.
Hold on a bit as we will be introducing agile scrum methods.
Nomenclature can get a bit confusing to newcomers.
Agile was forged out of the techniques utilized by innovative Japanese companies (Toyota, Fuji, to name a few) in the 80s. They started employing the kanban method to improve the speed and flow of their work.
In the mid-90s, a man named Jeff Sutherland sought ways to better help companies that are constantly plagued by project mismanagement.
Through his research, he came across these Japanese companies and their Agile methods. Getting inspiration from this, Sutherland introduced the Scrum framework.
You’re not alone if you thought that Scrum was something limited to engineers or developers.
However, this framework can be beneficial across many projects.
Although it works best when there’s a concrete product being produced, Scrum can be used for any sort of complex project.
For instance, if you work in marketing and need to write copies for a project, Scrum can definitely be beneficial for your team.
Given you’ve been introduced to scrum, now’s the time to think about it more seriously in your company.
Do you need this methodology? Will it make your products better? Will it fit your organization?
Here’s what we thought you should know.
Agile Scrum methodology is a sprint-based project management system aimed at delivering the optimal value to stakeholders.
Sprint refers to a predetermined timeframe within which the team completes a task from the Backlog (or a set of tasks).
One important feature of agile scrum methodology is its flexibility.
It allows the team to receive feedback from stakeholders after each Sprint.
If there are any problems or changes in the project, the Scrum team can easily and quickly adjust to provide more valuable iterations.
By being involved in every step of the way, stakeholders get exactly what they want in the product.
Now let’s compare this with traditional project management systems wherein stakeholders do not provide frequent feedback. Hence, time can be wasted making changes to the product halfway through development.
Worse, the teams may need to go back to square one after the product has already been built.
Let’s break down the basic pieces and parts that make implementing Scrum feasible.
It starts with a Product Owner who represents the end user’s best interest and has all the say on what goes into the final product.
He is likewise in charge of making the Backlog, a list of tasks and requirements that the final product needs.
Then there’s the Sprint.
As defined above, a Sprint is a predetermined timeframe i.e., the deadline within which the team completes any set of tasks from the Backlog.
Scrum teams meet every day to give progress reports in the daily scrum. This is also often called the “daily stand-ups.”
Each Sprint ends with a review, where the team revisits their work and discusses ways to improve the next sprint.
On top of all this, there’s the Scrum Master who facilitates the scrum development process.
Aside from coaching and motivating the Scrum team, the scrum master makes certain that scrum rules are being enforced and applied as intended.
As you may have noticed, there’s not really any special equipment or training you need to get started.
The hardest part perhaps is learning the lingo and sticking to the rules and guidelines that make Scrum work.
Ready to create your Scrum Team?Trusted by over 15,000,000 companies