SCRUM
Scrum is a framework for project management that is based on teamwork, accountability, transparency and short time-boxed iterative progress toward a well-defined goal.
The framework begins with a simple premise: start with what can be seen or known. After that, track the progress and adapt, whenever it is necessary.
At the end of each iteration, the team holds two meetings: one review to show the work done for clients and to get feedback, and one retrospective to enable the team to reflect and improve.
Scrum: A Better Way Of Building Products
Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.
Scrum itself is a simple framework for effective team collaboration on complex products.
Scrum co-creators Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland have written The Scrum Guide to explain Scrum clearly and succinctly.
This Guide contains the definition of Scrum. This definition consists of Scrum’s roles, events, artifacts, and the rules that bind them together.
Scrum is: Lightweight, Simple to understand and Difficult to master
Is SpaceX using Scrum?
At the very beginning, when they were just a startup, they used all Lean Startup tips to achieve the success. They did unscalable things, bought some spares for rockets in usual computer shops, made some spares by themselves, etc.
All of these were a total craziness for classical aerospace companies. But it was the key benefit how they competed mastodons, like Lockheed and Boeing.
Testing of hypotheses, tight budgets, and continuous innovations made the appreciable contribution to company success.
“All Elon’s companies use Silicon Valley startup approach to achieve success. And this is what distinguishes them among all other classical companies from the industry”
Perhaps, it’s not a classical Scrum approach like software companies use, but it’s from the field of Kaizen and The Toyota Way. This is how startups should behave.
The Scrum Team
The Scrum Team is made up of the people who actually work on Product Backlog Items during a Sprint. In a software context, this group is most often called the Development Team. In other contexts, the simple term Team is often used. The Scrum Master and the Product Owner, while part of the overall Scrum Team, may or may not be members of the Team working on PBIs. There is no Project Manager or Team Lead in Scrum. Everyone is simply an equal member of the Team.
The Scrum team is:
Transcendent
Autonomous
Cross-Functional
Scrum Master
The Scrum Master is tasked with making Scrum work. They work intimately with the Team, sometimes as a member. Their primary task is to remove Impediments and guide the team in Scrum practices. The Scrum Master does whatever it takes to help the team succeed.
Scrum Masters are servant-leaders, not managers. They play the pivotal role of making sure Scrum is practiced well. The Scrum Master is accountable for the Velocity and the Continuous Improvement of the Team.
Product Owner
The Product Owner is the Team member who knows what the customer wants and the relative business value of those wants. He or she can then translate the customer's wants and values back to the Scrum team.
The Product Owner must know the business case for the product and what features the customers wants. He must be available to consult with the team to make sure they are correctly implementing the product vision. Most importantly, he must have the authority to make all decisions necessary to complete the project.
Agile Manifesto Four Fundations
Through this work we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
12 Principles Agile Manifesto
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.
More specifically, what is a project?
It's a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.
And a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal. So a project team often includes people who don’t usually work together – sometimes from different organizations and across multiple geographies.
