Agile Scrum

Scrum is widely defined as an iterative or incremental process framework to build complex products of the highest possible value. In other words, it is an incremental approach to develop a complex product through successive improvements. 

 

Origins of Scrum

In the early 1990s, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland conceived the Scrum process. In 1995, they jointly presented a paper describing the Scrum methodology at the Oopsla conference in Austin, Texas. Ken and Jeff inherited the name ‘Scrum’ from the 1986 paper ‘The New New Product Development Game’ by Takeuchi and Nonaka, two famous management thinkers. With the term ‘Scrum’, they wanted to stress the importance of teams and highlight some analogies between a team sport like rugby and the new game of product development. 

 

Why Scrum?

Scrum was developed to solve the below problems with the traditional, plan-driven development, or the waterfall method:

  • Long development cycles
  • A mismatch between requirements and actual product implementation
  • De-motivated team members
  • Unhappy customers
  • Late customer feedback and late learning
  • Huge rework and a high cost of change

 

When to use Scrum?

Scrum is most suited for complex projects where things are more unpredictable than they are predictable. Read more about other domains - complicated, simple, and chaotic, and learn if Scrum is suitable for all domains with my book, The Basics Of SCRUM, available on Amazon.

 

Scrum Roles

There are three roles in a Scrum team - Scrum Master, Product Owner, and the Development Team. Learn about the responsibilities of each role within the Scrum framework with my book.

 

Scrum Ceremonies

The five Scrum ceremonies are as below:

  • Product Backlog Grooming
  • Sprint Planning
  • Daily Stand-Up
  • Sprint Review
  • Sprint Retrospective

Learn about the significance and how to conduct Scrum ceremonies with me.

 

Scrum Artifacts

  • What is the difference between a Product Backlog and a Sprint Backlog?
  • What is a potentially shippable product increment?
  • How do document the feedback from Sprint Retrospectives?

Know the answers to the above questions with my book, The Basics Of SCRUM.

 

Agile Principles

The Manifesto for Agile Software Development covers the four principles:

  • Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
  • Working software over comprehensive documentation
  • Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
  • Responding to change over following a plan

With my book, you can learn about the above principles and understand the difference between traditional waterfall approach and the iterative Agile Scrum approach.

 

Sprints

  • What is a Sprint?
  • What are the benefits of Time Boxing?
  • What are the benefits of Short Duration Sprints?
  • What are the benefits of consistent duration Sprints?
  • What is a Sprint Goal?
  • What is the Definition of Done?

The Basics of SCRUM is a handy reference book that describes the above topics in an easy-to-understand manner.

 

User Stories

  • What is a User Story?
  • How should you write good User Stories?
  • How should you discover the User Stories?
  • Can I refer to some sample User Stories?

Get the answers to the above questions, and much more.

 

Technical Debt

  • What is a Technical Debt?
  • What are the main causes of Technical Debt?
  • What are the consequences of Technical Debt?
  • How do you manage Technical Debt?
  • What are some of the practical examples of Technical Debt?
  • What are some of the practical techniques to manage Technical Debt?

Learn everything about Technical Debt with The Basics Of SCRUM, available in both Paperback and eBook versions.

 

Estimation and Velocity

  • Why do we need to estimate the work?
  • What are different estimation units?
  • What are different estimation techniques?
  • What is velocity and how to measure the same?
  • What is the difference between velocity and productivity?

Read the answers to the above questions and much more.

 

Scrum Charts

  • What are the different Scrum Charts?
  • What is a Release Burndown Chart?
  • How can I see a sample Release Burndown Chart?
  • What is a Release Burnup Chart?
  • How can I refer to a sample Release Burnup chart?
  • What is a Sprint Burndown Chart?
  • How can I refer to a sample Sprint Burndown Chart?
  • What is a Sprint Burnup Chart?
  • How can I get a sample Sprint Burnup Chart?
  • What is a Velocity Chart?
  • What is a Kanban Board?

Read all about the Scrum charts with my latest book, The Basics Of SCRUM.

Recommended Books