Scrum, the most popular Agile Methodology - An introductory note based on SBOK

#Scrum has emerged as the most widely adopted and practiced #Agile Method in the industry. In continuation to our earlier article, here we are attempting to provide a brief introduction on #Scrum Method as per #SBOK guide from #ScrumStudy

An introductory note on “Scrum”, most popular among Agile Methods

Compiled by Sunil Agrawala,PMP,SMC - Reference SBOK guide from Scrum Study

Scrum has emerged as a leading Agile Methodology practiced in the industry. Scrum imbibes the core Agile Philosophy and Manifesto (www.agilemanifesto.org ). There has no formal body of knowledge available on #Scrum as such. #ScrumStudy, a certification body has come up with Scrum Body of Knowledge (SBOK) guide for Scrum Masters and Scrum Team. ScrumStudy also offeres a complete stack of Scrum and Agile certifications which are recognized by industry worldwide.

Below is a very basic attempt to explain the building blocks of SBOK guide.

The basic building blocks of Scrum Method as per SBOK guide includes:

1. Principles

2. Aspects

3. Processes

Scrum Principles (6) which drives the underlying philosophy of Scrum and Agile

1. Empirical process control (Transparency, Inspection & Adaptation)

2. Self-organization (innovation, creative, shared ownership and better team buy-in)

3. Collaboration (Awareness, Articulation and Appropriation )

4. Value-based prioritization (Value, Risk and Dependency)

5. Time-boxing (Scrum of 1-6 weeks, everything else is time boxed so that we know achievements)

   1. Sprint (1-6 weeks), Sprint Planning Meeting (8 hours), Daily Standup (15 mins) Sprint Review (4 hours), Sprint Retrospect Meeting ( 4 hours)

1. Iterative development (deliver in increments, with highest value feature delivered first and so on)

Aspects (5) of Scrum which needs to be understood for every project under development

• Organization ( OF the whole Team in terms of various roles)

  • Core Roles

    • i.Product Owner (Articulates all customer requirements, Voice of Customer)

    • ii.Scrum Master (facilitates scrum team to do work)

    • iii.Scrum Team (does the actual development work following Scrum Method)

  • Non-core roles

    • i.Stakeholders

    • ii.Sponsor

    • iii.Scrum Body of Governance

    • iv.Chief Product Owner

    • v.Chief Scrum Master

    • vi.Vendors

• Business Justification ( Important to understand the justification of why project is done , background, business value, value-driven development etc)

• Quality (of the final product or service)

• Change (Changes in the middle of the project and how they are handled)

• Risk (Risk Management, Scrum as such as a method helps implicitly in managing risk)

Processes

Scrum development methodology divides the life cycle (1-6 weeks for each Sprint) into 5 phases.

1. Initiate

   1. Create product vision

   2. Identify Scrum Master and Stakeholders

   3. Form Scrum Team

   4. Develop Epics

   5. Create Prioritized Product Backlog

   6. Conduct Release Planning

1. Plan and Estimate

   1. Create User Stories (From Epics)

   2. Approve, Estimate and Commit User Stories

   3. Create Tasks

   4. Estimate Tasks

   5. Create Sprint Backlog

1. Implement

   1. Create Deliverables

   2. Conduct Daily Stand Up Meetings

   3. Groom prioritized product backlog

1. Review and Retrospect

   1. Convene Scrum of Scrums

   2. Demonstrate and Validate Deliverables

   3. Review Sprint

1. Release

   1. Ship deliverables

   2. Review project