The Traditional Waterfall V/s the Revolutionary Scrum:
Before we get into Scrum, let’s
look at the waterfall method to understand how Scrum is different from the
traditional approaches. The waterfall follows a lengthy and time-consuming
process in developing a product. It goes through various stages, such as the
plan, build, test, review, and deploy the final product. The waterfall model
doesn’t shift to the next step without completing the previous step, removing
the scope of overlap of tasks to optimize the process. Since project managers
make all the significant decisions at the start, it takes months to complete
the planning process, then goes for building, testing, and reviewing. As the
final product gets delivered after a considerable lag, the final product often
becomes partially obsolete by the time it is released. The process takes
several years for a product to be ready after several times of back stepping
into the process. Often, the development team begins working on the product
without realizing the complete set of requirements.
Scrum is an implementation of
agile. Scrum divides the whole product into small deliverables conducting
planning, building, testing, and reviewing for the iterative part of the
product. At the end of each iteration, we may have a potentially shippable
product. The cycle is repeated over several smaller operations, and each
process may take a period of 1 to 3 weeks. These several incremental releases
are called Sprints.
Sprints:
A sprint is a process of just
enough planning, building, testing, and reviewing a potential product. Each
‘sprint’ takes 1 to 3 weeks, and we repeat the process until we have a shipping
product. The process can be repeated to several sprints. The final product can
be ready in the second or fourth sprint. However, the process will be repeated
until we have the final product.
Key roles:
Product owner – The product
owner defines the features of the product. The product owner comes up with
ideas and new features for the product.
Scrum Master – He is a leader of
the team and responsible for protecting the team and process. Scrum master runs
the team meetings and is responsible for running the team.
The Team Members – Team can be a
group of people who are developers, testers, and writers. It is a group of
people who helps in developing the product. Every team member works in
collaboration with each other and helps each other in developing the product.
Artifacts:
While there are many artifacts
used in Scrum, the 3 most important Artifacts or documents used in Scrum are:
Product Backlog – The product
owner creates a prioritized list of features. They write down the featured
elements as it develops in each sprint. It evolves and changes with each sprint
User Stories – It is a way of
describing a feature set. It helps the team estimate the right amount of tasks
required in a sprint.
Burndown chart – It shows the
completion of the task in a chart format. It shows the progress of the work
being completed.
Scrum Meetings:
Sprint Planning – This is a
meeting or discussion of product owners, scrum master, and team members meet to
discuss the user stories
Daily Scrum – This a daily stand
up meeting where the team explains what they are doing, what they have
completed, and anything parked for further assistance.
Sprint Review – This happens at
the end of a sprint. The team demonstrates the completed work to the product
owner. The team discusses what they can do to improve the process going
forward.
Therefore, we now have an
understanding of how Scrum works. Let’s put this in a flow:
Product Backlog – This is where
the product owner thinks of bright ideas and writes down features of the
products. The product owner prioritizes the list and brings the top features
that can be used and put it forward to the team.
Sprint planning – This is where
the product owner, scrum master and the team discusses the user stories and the
top priorities and what features should be added in the next sprint
Sprint Backlog – The output from
sprint planning is the sprint backlog. It is a list of user stories committed
to for the next sprint. The team understands what each story has in store.
Sprint – Each sprint is a work
of 1 to 3 weeks. This is a work that has been committed in the sprint backlog.
The team conducts stand-up meetings to understand what has been completed and
what they are working on.
Potentially shippable product –
This is a product from each sprint, and the product owner decides if the
product is ready or whether it requires additional features to be added before
it's shipped.
Sprint Review and retrospective
– At the end of each sprint, the team comes together to review and showcases
its product to the product owner. They also retrospect what better can be done
for the next sprint.
The team repeats the workflow for
each sprint. While the Scrum framework is predominantly used in software
development, the flow and the structure can be used in any domain. Enterprises
across the globe are heavily investing in Scrum teams and professionals who
know what Scrum is leading to an increase in demand for Scrum certification. If
you have experience in Scrum, you can efficiently utilize this setup to give a
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