What Is The Scrum Framework? This Might Surprise You!
What is Scrum? Well, without making things too
complicated, the Scrum framework can be
defined as the following:
Scrum is an iterative software engineering
process to develop and deliver software.
Although the software is the main focus of the
Scrum framework, iterative and agile Scrum
process can be and is already being applied
outside the software industry as well.
Most people in the IT industry believe that the
term "Scrum" was coined early in the 2000s as a
parallel track of emerging agile software
development and delivery trends. That is a piece
of incorrect information!
The term "Scrum" was first used and published
by Harvard Business Review in January 1986.
Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka coined the
term "Scrum" with their article: The New New
Product Development Game. (Yes, two News)
You should have a look at "The New New Product
Development Game" to see how everything all
about Scrum got started!
Scrum can be used in all kinds of software
development projects. To develop and deliver
complete software packages or only some
modules of larger systems — both for products
and services of internal and external clients.
The Scrum Framework is a lightweight process.
It focuses on increasing the productivity of teams while reducing wastes and redundant
activities.
Scrum defines some general guidelines with a
few rules, roles, artifacts, and events. Nevertheless,
all of these components (Main Components of the Scrum Framework) are critical, serve
for specific purposes, and they are essential for
the successful use of the Scrum framework.
The main components of Scrum framework
are:
- Three Scrum Roles: The Scrum Product
Owner, the Scrum Team, and the Scrum
Master.
- Five Scrum Events (Scrum Rituals) or
Ceremonies: Scrum Scrum Grooming (Backlog Refinement) Meeting, Sprint Planning Meeting,
Daily Scrum Meeting, Sprint Review Meeting,
and Sprint Retrospective Meeting.
- Product Backlog (Scrum Backlog) or Scrum
Product Backlog: An artifact that is used to
manage and prioritize all of the known
requirements of a Scrum project.
- Sprints: Cycles of work activities to develop
shippable software product or service increments.
- Sprint Backlog: An artifact to keep track of
requirements committed by the Scrum teams
for a given Sprint.
Self-organization and unconditional
collaboration are critical elements of the Scrum
framework. Scrum Teams do no longer require a
project manager in a classical sense. With the
Scrum framework, the Scrum Master and the
Scrum Product Owner share the role and
responsibilities of a typical project manager.
Nonetheless, a Scrum Master or a Scrum Product
is never allowed to overrule the democratic
decision-making capability of a Scrum Team. For
instance, only the Scrum team members can
jointly commit which ones of highly prioritized
Backlog items they will deliver in a Sprint as a
software increment.
Another central element with the Scrum
framework is the continuous improvement
that we enable with "inspect & adapt". A
Scrum Team continuously monitors, inspects,
and assesses their artifacts and their use of
Scrum framework to adapt and optimize them.
These continuous efforts for optimization
maximize quality, efficiency, client satisfaction,
and therefore minimize wastes and overall
project risks.
The Scrum framework understands that the
requirements are likely to change and they are
not entirely known, especially at the beginning of
projects.
Every project has unknown unknowns.
Sometimes a few, sometimes a lot. The Scrum
framework helps us embrace that we can
discover and deal with these unknown unknowns
only while we are running our projects.
The Scrum Team first fine-tunes and granularizes
the lower-level or low priority requirements
before it implements them. During Scrum
Grooming (Backlog Refinement) and Sprint Planning
Meetings. Openness for change, continuous optimization,
and learning from errors are now
becoming integral elements of the whole
software engineering lifecycle.
Another cornerstone of the Scrum framework
is transparency and direct communication.
The Scrum Product Owner works closely with the
Scrum Team to identify and prioritize requirements.
These requirements are written down as
user stories and stored in the Scrum Product
15
Backlog. The Scrum Product Backlog consists of
all tasks that need to be implemented to deliver
a working software system successfully.
A Scrum Team is empowered to select the user
stories with which they are confident to deliver
within the 2-4 weeks of Sprints. Because the
Scrum Team commits its own goals, the team
members feel more engaged, and they know that
their opinions are listened to. This inclusion of
Scrum team members to the natural flow and
planning of software projects increases the team
morale and subsequently augments the team
performance.
Scrum Masters possess another vital role in
the Scrum Framework as they work as
servant leaders for and with their Scrum
Teams.
Scrum Masters are trained facilitators to ensure
flawless operation of their Scrum Teams.
Sometimes they are master negotiators to
protect their Scrum Teams from interruptions
and fictive priorities of their stakeholders. Other
times they are master communicators to remove
or prevent known or anticipated impediments
before these impediments bring their teams to
dead-end streets. To only call a few of the
responsibilities of Scrum Masters. We will cover
more about the duties of various Scrum roles
later.
The Scrum Framework, in its pure form, is
best suitable for highly independent, one team
green field or brown field projects.
However, the practical common sense of Scrum
professionals did not stop there. With the
introduction of additional roles and addendums
such as "Chief Scrum Product Owner" and
"Scaled Scrum", it can be used within different
project configurations too, including multi-team
and geographically distributed project setups. We
will cover more about these as well.
For now stay tuned and keep on enjoying the
lecture!
Share It With Your Colleagues and Friends to Help Them Learn:
What Is The Scrum Framework? This Might Surprise You!
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SCRUM INSTITUTE™
