Rohit Prabhakar

I build agentic revenue systems for Fortune 50 companies

SCRUM:Some facts and resources

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Other facts about Scrum

  • The scrum methodology originated in 1993 at Easel Corp by Jeff Sutherland
  • Ken Schwaber presented Scrum at OOPSLA 96 with Sutherland
  • Ken Schwaber and Mike Cohn Co-founded Scrum Alliance in 2002
  • Used by all major companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, Siemens, John Deere, Time Warner, Turner Broadcasting, BBC and many more..
  • Used for software projects, life critical system, mobile phones, websites, Satellite controlled soft wares, support projects

SCRUM: Artifacts

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Product Backlog

The product backlog is a document that contains the list of all desired work on the project. All these entries have an overall description, priority based on business value and rough estimates specified. This document is owned by the Product Owner and he/she sets the business value for each item. While the team is responsible for updating the development estimates in the document. This document is re-prioritized at the start of each and every sprint.

Sprint Backlog

Sprint Backlog is a team document that is used to plan how the features will be implemented. In this document the team breaks the features into tasks. Normally these tasks are four to sixteen hours of work. If the task has an associated effort of more than 16 hrs it is broken down into a small task. The tasks are never assigned, the team member voluntarily choose the tasks as per the priority and their skills. The Sprint Backlog is owned by the team. The overall outcome of this document can be visualized as a TO DO arranged according to the business value.

Sample Sprint Backlog

Burn down

The Burn Down chart is used to display the pending work in the sprint backlog. The burn down chart provides the visual representation of the overall progress of the Sprint. This is updated daily and is visible to the world.

 

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SCRUM: All the different Meetings

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Sprint Planning Meeting

  • Planning must be done at the beginning of every sprint cycle.
  • Team selects items from the product backlog they can commit to completing
  • Sprint backlog is created by the entire team.
  • Tasks are identified and each is estimated (1-16 hours)
  • Collaboratively, not done alone by the ScrumMaster
  • An Eight hour limit applies to this meeting. During the 1st 4 hrs The Product owner and team prioritizes the product backlog and later only team plans the sprint and creates the Sprint Backlog.
  • Time limit: 8 hrs

Daily Scrum (Daily Standup) Meeting

Daily Scrum is more like a daily project status meeting which is very short and nothing other than the status can be discussed. The following are the key characteristics of Scrum.

  • Daily and starts precisely on time.
  • Daily Scrum must happen at same location and every working day at same time
  • Only Scrum Master and Team members can speak (anyone can join)
  • Not for problem solving (no discussions on reasons/approach etc.)
  • Everyone answers 3 questions and the Scrum Master documents this:
    • What have you done since yesterday?
    • What are you planning to do today?
    • Anything in the way (issues/concerns). The resolution cannot be discussed in the Scrum. It should be discussed after.
  • Time limit: 15-minutes

The Sprint Review Meeting

  • Outcome of the sprint is reviewed. What is completed and what is left.
  • A demo is provided of the completed work only.
  • Team and anyone from outside can participate (Open House)
  • Time limit: 4 hours.

Sprint Retrospective Meeting

  • This meeting is for identifying and implementing continuous process improvements
  • Two questions are asked:
    • What went well in the Sprint?
    • What could be improved in next Sprint?
  • The outcome is what to Start / Stop / Continue.
  • This is attended by team, ScrumMaster and Product Owner.
  • Time limit: 3 hrs
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Scrum: An Introduction to this simple-powerful agile methodology

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Scrum is a simple agile development methodology through which we can manage complex projects. Scrum allows rapidly and repeated inspection of actual working product (at least once a month or twice) hence provides ability for the project to adapt to rapidly changing market and other complex external factors. The focus of the scrum methodology is to deliver the highest business value of the project in the shortest possible time.

The best part of Scrum for product development is the requirement to demonstrate a real working product every two weeks or once a month helps the management and team to take a calculated decision for the project and product’s future at a regular and a shorter interval. Hence scrum gives the ability to adjust with the competitive market and also to take go-or-no-go decision well in time hence saving lots of resources.

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