Building Software Products The Scrum
Building Software Products The Scrum Way
The SCRUM Agile is not a methodology; rather it is a project approach. The word SCRUM is not shorthand of anything as the word came from the American football game known as rugby. If you have ever seen the whole team forming human rock of to hide the ball when moving towards the goal; then you know the SCRUM word.
When handling software development lifecycle (SDLC) as a SCRUM the project lifecycle is the SCRUM. Applying the iterative approach as inherited from the extreme programming approach know as XP; each SCRUM iteration is named a SPRINT.
The SCRUM name is typically 7 +/- 2 i.e. between 5 to 9 persons including the SCRUM Master, software engineering, development and test engineering. The actual titles and expertise does not matter as the whole team acts as one human body like the SCRUM human rock.
The entry point to initiate a SCRUM SDLC project is the product backlog. Any product whether being a new one or a later release of an existing product should have features backlog.
The features backlog consists the upper level requirements that the SCRUM team will seek to develop within the SCRUM period.
Each SCRUM project starts by a short phase named SCRUM planning to plan the SCRUM. By planning the SCRUM we mean to identify SPRINT periods, prioritize features backlog, and define team roles and responsibilities.
Tools like the RACI define the roles and responsibilities of the SCRUM team. Other tools may be used to assess and prioritize product backlog.
Each SPRINT is usually set to 1, 2, 3, or 4 weeks. Same period SPRINTs are preferable although variable length SPRINTS are allowed.
Out of my experience with development teams; at least seven SPRINTS should be defined where the first four SPRINTS are for coding and testing, the next two SPRINTS are for stabilization, and last one is kept for final acceptance and certification.
At the start of each SPRINT the team should hold a series of workshops to plan each SPRINT; handling SPRINTS as project phases conforms with PMI PMBOK methodology and standard best practices and project management processes.
SPRINT planning workshops are aimed to select the set of new features from the remaining product backlog to develop in the current SPRINT. The selected features are committed by the SCRUM team to be completed within the coming SPRINT; but not necessarily are completed.
The secret behind SCRUM success is its adaptation to change; as SCRUM is a change welcoming process. On the contrary of the traditional waterfall methods; customer request to add new features, remove exiting features, or modify features are welcome and are always added to the product backlog.
The basic role is that when a SPRINT is started; no external factors are allowed to impact the team until the SPRINT is completed or terminated.
At the end of each SPRINT a functional Software Build is expected to get produced. Testing takes place in parallel to development with a minor phase shift to allow minor builds to take effect.
The end of SPRINT product is delivered to the customer end user to further inspect and provide feedback.
Newly added features on the backlog are re-prioritized at the end of each development SPRINT. When reaching stabilization and certification SPRINTS; all remaining backlog features are postponed to another SCRUM to be initiated at the customer or vendor discretion.
The major roles played in a SCRUM are Product Manager, SCRUM Master, and SCRUM Team. The Customer is presented by the Product Manager while the SRUM Master plays the role of the Project Manager. The SCRUM team model is flat and is not hierarchical as roles define responsibility boundaries.
There are three meeting in SCRUM that should be considered as basic part of the process:
The team daily standup meeting is a fifteen minutes meeting where three basic questions are asked and answered by each and every team member: what have you done? What problems you faced? And what do you promise to do today?
Neutral answers are provided with no discussion; the SCRUM Master later works out resolution of any raised issues.
The product review and feedback meeting is held at the end of each SPRINT to provide Product Manager with the new status of completed features.
The retroactive meeting is the blame game meeting where team members discuss lessons learned and issues that took place within last SPRINT. SCRUM team may decide to release a resource or more in this meeting or possibly recruit more or replacement resources.
Formalized design documents are not required in SCRUM and are left optional to the team to decide the depth needed.
Written by Mahmoud AbuZamel
Management Trainer and Professional Writer
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