SCRUM: Agile approach to project management
Scrum is an agile project management framework that is currently enjoying great popularity. It allows teams to work efficiently and flexibly on complex projects and respond quickly to changes in requirements.
Basic principles of SCRUM
- Empiricism: Scrum relies on learning from experimentation and feedback. Instead of planning the entire project in detail, Scrum focuses on delivering functional parts of the product in short iterations and then learning from the results and feedback.
- Self-managing teams: teams in SCRUM are self-managing and accountable for their results. This means that they organize their own work and make decisions about how to achieve their goals.
- Iterative approach: projects in SCRUM are divided into short iterations (usually 2-4 weeks) in which the functional part of the product is delivered. This approach allows for rapid response to changes in requirements and ongoing adjustments to the project plan.
- Adaptation: scrum allows the team to quickly react to changes in requirements and continuously adjust the project plan. This is important in a rapidly changing environment where flexibility is required to respond to new challenges.
SCRUM roles
- Product Owner: Responsible for defining and managing the product backlog, i.e. the list of product requirements. Product Owner prioritizes requirements and sets goals for each iteration.
- Scrum Master: Facilitator who helps the team follow SCRUM principles and removes obstacles. The Scrum Master is not the director of the team, but his role is to support teamwork and facilitate the development process.
- Development Team: A self-managing team that is responsible for the development of the product. The team consists of various experts such as programmers, testers, analysts, and designers.
The main artefacts of SCRUM include
- Product backlog: a list of product requirements, ordered by priority. The product backlog is a living document that is continuously updated.
- Backlog: A subset of the product backlog that is being worked on in a given iteration. The sprint backlog is created at the beginning of each iteration and contains the requirements that are planned to be completed in that iteration.
- Planning: The meeting at which the work for a given iteration is planned. At this meeting, the team agrees which requirements will be processed in a given iteration and how the work will be organized.
- Daily scrum: A short team meeting where each team member shares their progress and identifies bottlenecks. The daily scrum is held at the beginning of each day and lasts no more than 15 minutes.
- Sprint review: A meeting to present the work completed in a given iteration and get feedback from stakeholders. The Sprint Review is held at the end of each iteration and allows the team to gain valuable feedback on their work.
- Sprint retrospective: a meeting where the team reflects on the progress of the iteration and looks for opportunities for improvement. The Sprint Retrospective is held at the end of each iteration and allows the team to reflect on their work and identify areas for improvement.
Advantages of SCRUM
- Increased flexibility and responsiveness to change: thanks to its iterative approach and transparency, Scrum is flexible and allows you to react quickly to changes in requirements.
- Improved team motivation: self-managing teams in SCRUM have a greater degree of ownership of the project, leading to better motivation and satisfaction of team members.
- Increased transparency and predictability of the project: by making all project information transparent, all stakeholders have a better overview of the project status and its expected outcomes.
- Product quality: thanks to an iterative approach and continuous feedback, errors are detected and eliminated earlier, leading to a better quality product.
Of course, SCRUM also has its drawbacks. It is not suitable for all types of projects. It requires discipline and accountability from the team, as the team has a great deal of autonomy to do its work. It can be challenging to coordinate and communicate, especially if multiple stakeholders are involved in the project.
Despite its drawbacks, SCRUM is an effective project management framework that is well suited for teams working in fast-paced environments and on complex projects where requirements can change. It enables rapid delivery of functional parts of the product and continuous improvement based on feedback.
