Scrum

Steven J Zeil:

Last modified: Dec 27, 2023

Contents:

An agile approach characterized by

small teams with a few distinct but clearly defined roles
Development cycles through sprints of 7-30 days
- Planning meeting at beginning
- Daily scrum meeting (< 15 min.)
- Sprint Review meeting at end to review work completed (or not)
- Sprint Retrospective meeting at end to discuss process

Scrum in Context

As the name suggests, Scrum

focuses a bit more on the team than on the tools
envisions a kind of controlled chaos

1 Values

Transparency
- Process must be visible to those responsible for the outcome
- Common standards contribute to understandability
Inspection
- Scrum participants inspect one anothers’ work
Adaptation
- Inspections lead to adjustment of process (not products)

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress
- “facilitates” Scrum events

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress
- “facilitates” Scrum events
Development team

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress
- “facilitates” Scrum events
Development team
- 3–9 members

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress
- “facilitates” Scrum events
Development team
- 3–9 members
- must span required skill set

2 Practices

2.1 Scrum Teams

Product owner
- representative or agent of stakeholders
- manages the project backlog (list of unimplemented work)
Scrum master
- interface between project owner and development team
- aids project owner in arranging backlog
- ensures that development team adheres to Scrum practices
- removes impediments to team’s progress
- “facilitates” Scrum events
Development team
- 3–9 members
- must span required skill set
- any internal roles are self-organized

2.2 Scrum Events

2.2.1 Sprints

7–30 day, time-boxed iterations
produces a new product increment
focused on a Sprint Goal

2.2.2 Sprint Planning

Held at beginning of sprint:

What will be delivered in the next increment?
- Stories selected from project backlog
- defines the Sprint Goal
How will the work be done?
- Work planned for first few days of spring
- Decomposed into tasks.

2.2.3 Daily Scrum

15-minute daily meeting
Each development team member explains
- What did I do yesterday?
- What will I do today?
- Are there any impediments that will prevent us from reaching the Spring Goal?

2.2.4 Sprint Review

Held at end of sprint
4-hour time-boxed meeting (for 1-month sprints)
Product owner
- explains what items are Done and not Done
- Reviews the new state of the project backlog
Development Team
- explains what went well and poorly
- demonstrates the increment and answers questions
Entire team
- discuss what to do next
- discusses external changes

2.2.5 Sprint Retrospective

After sprint review, before next sprint planning
3-hour time-boxed meeting
Team inspects its own performance
- people, relationships, process, tools
Identifies potential improvements
Sets quality goals
- adjusting definition of “Done”

2.3 Backlogs

2.3.1 Project Backlog

Unimplemented requirements
often, but not always stories

2.3.2 Sprint Backlog

Unimplemented tasks that are part of the Sprint Goal
Managed on task board

2.3.3 Burndown Charts

A burndown chart shows amount of work remaining in the sprint backlog

updated daily
displayed in team work area
provides visual indicator of progress

3 Scaling Up

An extension to Scrum for larger projects:

Scrum of Scrums
- Each Daily Scrum appoints one team member to serve as the day’s “ambassador” to a daily Scrum of Scrums meeting
- Same basic questions as Daily Scrum, adjusted for team level
  - What has your team done since we last met?
  - What will your team do before we meet again?
  - What impediments (especially those that will affect other teams) does your team foresee?