The Product Owner, Development Team, and Scrum Master are the three roles in Scrum. The Scrum Team is made up of all of these people.

To begin with, it's critical that we keep to these roles and only these duties. This avoids misunderstandings, stops barriers and silos, and fosters cooperation and communication within the Scrum team.

1. Planned Technical Debt

This sort of technical debt arises when a company may make a well-informed decision to take on technological debt while fully understanding the consequences (risks and costs). It's vital to be as detailed as possible when articulating the concessions the company intends to make when it comes to projected technical debt.

Because these decisions can add up quickly over time, it's critical to keep track of them. As an outcome, there's a greater chance of clearing and paying off technical debt faster. Otherwise, it will be forgotten quickly, perhaps costing the company a lot of money in the long term.

2. Unintentional Technical Debt

Unplanned technical debt occurs as a result of:

a. Poor procedures

b. Inexperience with new coding methodologies

c. Rollout issues

For example, unintentional technical debt is a design strategy that leads to a huge number of errors. This type of problem might arise as a result of a lack of communication inside the company or a misalignment between the development and operations teams.

3. Unavoidable Technical Debt

Unavoidable debt arises as a result of changes in the business and technological advancements that present better solutions over time. It usually occurs when mid-project scope adjustments are sought that result in an immediate cost, such as adding a new feature to an existing design to improve mobile delivery. In a nutshell, technical debt occurs when new business requirements render existing code obsolete.

• Non-functional requirements issues where the code violates an NFR restriction. Slow performance, security breaches, incorrect code outputs, increased difficulty in usage, and loss of compatibility with other software or hardware are only a few examples.

1. Take stock of your knickknacks. Begin by making a list of technical debts. Include any instances where the developers are aware that the code isn't as clean as it might or should be for future development.

2. Sort the garbage into categories. Deferred jobs should be listed and grouped into manageable chunks.

3. Evaluate the muck. Take note of the ramifications of neglecting each unit.

4. Let your filthy rags out. Make the list available to everyone.

5. Clear some room for cruft removal. Inform stakeholders that rely on periodic updates (marketing, sales, etc.) that you're working to reduce technical debt so that each new release isn't mostly about introducing new components or features.

6. Get rid of cruft as soon as possible. Make time to pay off technical debt on a regular and frequent basis.

You may then compare this data to other milestones, such as the number of days till the release date, if you've assigned a dollar value to these functions. This will provide you a great cost-benefit analysis and help you communicate with the rest of the company more successfully. In addition to providing a present progress report, it is necessary to generate estimates of how technical debt will change over the years.

2. Communicating debt

Recognize that technical debt exists in the first place and sharing this information with key stakeholders is one of the most critical steps in controlling technical debt. The technical/IT director must also underline the importance of promptly and easily removing technological debt.

3. Paying off debt

When it comes to paying off technical debt, there are three choices to consider:

1. Remove the need entirely. In other words, the company decides to keep the system as is and no longer considers the requirement to be necessary. (You have two more possibilities if you can't waive the requirement...)

2. Refactor the programme. This option aims to reduce code complexity, eliminate redundancies, and improve code structure. Refactoring is the only means to improve the internal structure of a programme without changing its behaviour.

3. Reinstall the programme. While this will result in new technical debt, the goal is to address it as soon as feasible and reduce it as much as possible.

If you want a quick answer, technical debt is debt. It's neither good nor bad. And, like financial debt, there are differing viewpoints on whether technological debt is beneficial or harmful. Rather of seeking an objective answer, we shall discuss a few of the various viewpoints below. The market and competitive factors are pressuring most software companies today to create and ship quickly. This "ship or sink" strain is felt most acutely by startups. Many product and software development teams are forced to choose between taking on technical debt and releasing later because of this demand for speed.

As a result, most agile teams agree that technological debt isn't necessarily a bad thing. In truth, almost all software products, if not all, contain some level of technical debt.

Finally, we may state that when it comes to software development, technical debt is sometimes a necessary evil. It doesn't seem to be a negative experience. It's not always possible to avoid, and you shouldn't always avoid it.

The best course of action is to approach it like if it were any other type of debt. Technical debt isn't a problem if you plan ahead when you take out a technical loan and when you plan to repay it.

• Prioritizing the product backlog: Once the product backlog list is created, a Scrum Product Owner prioritizes items keeping in mind the objectives and overall strategy of project development. The product backlog evolves as the project progresses and hence it is a dynamic document.

• Taking an overview of development stages: Once the Scrum Product Owner defines the vision, strategy, and product priorities, Yet another very important job of product owner is to overview each and every stage of project development process.. This includes the roles like proper planning, needful refining and reviewing each event. In the phase of project planning, product owner sets the steps required for the next iteration with other stakeholders. Product owner need to have a communication with the project team as well to refine the process, answer the questions, and define areas for improvement in the process of project development.

• Handling communications: Scrum Product Owners is basically the primary communicator between all the stakeholders including the customer and the development team. They ensures the proper and clear communication between all the stakeholders and the development team

• Knowing what the client needs: By understanding all the client's requirements thoroughly and analysing what they want, the Scrum Product Owner has to manage the development process by giving a clear view to project team and guiding the team in overall development process.

• Evaluating progress: Since the Scrum Product Owner is the person who takes all the responsibility of the overall final product and for each stage of its development, the product owner must evaluate the product progress through each iteration. They must make the hard decisions and clear call on whether the team can move to the next step in the project development process or return to the previous step.

Interaction of Product Owner with Scrum Team

A product owner communicate with the scrum team regularly (mostly daily). The product owner even participates in the daily Scrum meetings in order to check the progress and rectify problems in some cases. Meeting the scrum team to refine the product backlog and helping them in preparing the backlog of next scrum is considered one the most important task for product owner. Yet another important task of the product owner is the meeting of sprint review. In this meeting the Scrum team summarizes the status of project completed to the product owner and other stakeholders.

If all these are not done correctly or if a product owner is not there, there would be a lot of problems in the process of project development. For example, if a Scrum team doesn't have a product owner, there would be no proper directions or vision for the project as everyone in the team would be having their own vision about the project. In absence of product owner, the scrum team will not follow the proper roadmap for the project development which will ultimately results in the project failure.

One of the key differences between the the two is that a product owner is more interactive and attentive towards the customer so as to get the clear idea about the project and define the correct vision for it. In contrast, the scrum master is more attentive to the scrum team as compared to the product owner. Hence, a product owner has to define the vision for project whereas the scrum master has a main responsibility to interact with the team to solve the issues within the team and prepare a necessary plan in order to execute all sprints successfully and develop the project.

In the same way, the responsibilities of the project manager and the product owner are different. The product owner along with scrum master aims at fulfillment of all the requirements of customers and hence are accountable for the satisfaction of end users. The project manager, on the other hand, is more concerned about the deadlines and the commitments with stakeholders and focuses on the effective utilisation of resources in the process of project development.

Thus there's a bit difference between the roles and responsibilities of the product owner and scrum master or project manager.

2. SCRUM MASTER

Who is qualified to be a Scrum Master?

A scrum master is a project manager who leads a team through a project using agile project management practises. A scrum master fosters all communication and collaboration between leadership and team members in order to produce a good product.

What does a Scrum Master do?

Scrum is an agile development framework for complicated projects, most commonly software. Short development cycles, known as sprints, are used in the agile project management approach, resulting in continual product or service improvement. Scrum is one of several agile frameworks, and it's a popular choice for fast-paced projects. The method relies largely on the scrum master's abilities, as it is extremely collaborative and requires efficient processes.

Scrum master positions are available in a variety of industries and for a variety of companies. Agile techniques originated in IT organisations, but they are currently used in a wide range of industries and businesses.

A scrum master's job is to use agile project management to help a project succeed while also acting as a guide for team members. Scrum masters' tasks and responsibilities can change depending on how many settings they add. Depending on where the scrum master works, he or she may be required to act as a facilitator, coach, or project manager. A scrum master's primary responsibilities include:

1. Daily stand-up meetings, reviews, demos, and other project-related meetings are led by Scrum masters.

2. Assisting team members with their responsibilities.

3. The team is being taught Scrum concepts and best practises.

4. Promoting open dialogue and conflict resolution.

5. Issues should be identified and resolved before they become a problem.

6. In a project management tracking application, updating activities is crucial.

7. Assisting the Scrum Team in focusing on high-value increments that meet the Definition of Done.

8. Assuring that all Scrum events go off without a hitch and are positive, productive, and on time.

1. Communication and Good Listening Power:

Owning effective communication is one of the most important scrum critical abilities for debating ideas and planning with the team. Good communication also makes it easier to communicate with consumers, teams, and audiences. It is just as important to share ideas as it is to listen to what others have to say. It's also important to consider the varied audiences from time to time. As a result, one of the most valuable Scrum Master skills is to be a good listener.

2. Acting as a Tutor for Team Development:

A good Scrum Master is aware of the many stages that his team may go through while working together. He also understands the importance of team composition. He coaches team members in a variety of ways, including building organic and self-organizing teams, tracking the project, adopting clear methodology standards, and producing project vision.

3. Partnership with the Merchandise Owner:

As we all know, there are three roles in a scrum project: Product Owner, Scrum Team, and Scrum Master. The merchandise owner and the scrum master form a partnership. The Product Owner's job is to push the team forward, while the Scrum Master's job is to keep his team safe. Overall, the Product Owner and Scrum Master are valuable to the team since they build a positive working relationship with the team and so produce the best results.

4. Organization and Empathy:

The scrum master skill that performs well throughout the sector is the organisation. He'll be able to use Scrum artefacts to track his team's progress, and he'll be able to fully utilise his peers' potential as a result of this operation. The Scrum Master develops a range of skills during the course of the project. As a result, he develops the ability to recognise emotions and, as a result, the feelings of your team members. He establishes a strong bond with his team and, as a result, listens to and comprehends everything his colleagues say.

Finally, the Scrum Master removes roadblocks, coaches team members in Scrum methodologies, and protects them from outside influences. As a result, by taking the appropriate actions, the Scrum Master ensures the project's long-term viability. Additionally, the Scrum Master plans Scrum implementation and organises Scrum events as needed. Scrum masters use the above-mentioned scrum master abilities to help their team members develop their talents, which increases productivity.

What is the best development team size?

The Scrum development team does not have a set size. It varies from one Scrum team to the next. The size of a Development Team should ideally be small enough to stay 'agile' while yet being large enough to perform a significant amount of work during a Sprint.. As a consequence, you'll get the best possible product.

There will be fewer interactions if the Development Team is smaller than three members, which will naturally lead to decreased productivity. During the Sprint, very small Development Teams may meet skill limits. They fail to deliver a possibly releasable Increment in such instances.

Having a huge Development Team is also a terrible idea.

Coordination issues may emerge if the Scrum Development team has more than nine members. Furthermore, overly big Development Teams add unneeded complexity to the process. In certain situations, empirical techniques are rarely applied.

• They are self-organizing groups. No one not even the Scrum Master has the authority to instruct the Development Team on how to convert the Product Backlog into incrementally releasable functionality.

• The majority of development teams are cross-functional. It is made up of people with a wide range of abilities. These skillsets must be merged as a team to develop a product called Increment.

• Individual titles are not given to members of the Development Team. Regardless of the job that they do, each member is solely designated as a member of the Development Team.

• Although the Development Team may be made up of domains such as testing, business analysis, operations, or architecture, Scrum does not recognise sub-teams.

• Individual team members are not held accountable for a project; rather, the Development Team as a whole is.

The Development Team is in charge of the following tasks:

1. Perform Sprint Execution:

During sprint execution, members of the development team divide the product backlog into pieces of potentially shippable functionality and design, create, integrate, and test them. They do this through self-organizing and deciding how to plan, manage, carry out, and discuss the job together. The development team spends a significant amount of time doing sprints.

2. Inspect and Adapt:

Every member of the development team must take part in the daily Scrum. During this time, the team evaluates their progress toward the sprint target as a whole and adapts the plan for the current day's work. If certain team members fail to attend the daily standup, the team may miss important details of the wider picture and fall short of the sprint target.

3. Groom the Product Backlog:

The development team must spend enough time preparing for the next sprint during each sprint. A significant portion of that effort must be devoted to grooming the product backlog. This includes developing and revising product backlog items, as well as estimating and prioritising them.

4. Plan the Sprint:

The development team takes part in sprint planning, which occurs at the start of each sprint. The development team, in consultation with the product owner, helps set the target for the next sprint. The Scrum Master makes this possible. Following the definition of the goal, the team selects a high-priority subset of the product backlog items to construct in order to meet the goal.

The amount of time it takes to plan a sprint is related to the size of the sprint. For a two-week sprint, sprint planning takes roughly half a day. Sprint planning could take up to a full day for a four-week sprint. Iterative planning is also used in this process. Unlike typical project planning methodologies, the team does not begin its development endeavour with a complex and uncertain strategy.

Rather, at the start of each sprint, it creates a sequence of granular, more certain, and more comprehensive blueprints.

5. Inspect and Adapt the Product and Process:

At the end of each sprint, the development team two activities: sprint review and sprint retrospective. The sprint review is attended by the development team, product owner, Scrum Master, stakeholders, sponsors, customers, and members of other teams who are interested. They go over the features that have recently been completed in the current sprint and talk about how to move forward efficiently. The Scrum team inspects and modifies its Scrum process and technical practises at the sprint retrospective to enhance how it uses Scrum to deliver the best business value.

2. Understanding of TDD, BDD:

Every member of the development team should be well-versed in sophisticated approaches for employing automated unit tests to drive design software and eliminate team dependencies.

3. Self-motivation:

The most important driver of efficiency is self-motivation, which is common in successful development teams. Within the squad, there is no senior-junior hierarchy. Each team member should be able to work independently.

4. Team player:

Scrum is predicated on the concept of teamwork as a synthesis of individual efforts. These groups produce greater results when they operate together than than when they work alone. Everyone on the team should strive to be more of a team player rather than an individual contributor.

4. The Essential Characteristics of a Scrum Team

If a Scrum team is to be effective, it must possess the following traits.

• Self-Organized. To accomplish the stories they've been assigned, each team member must manage their own efforts. There is no Team Leader or Line Manager in Agile Scrum. Everyone must commit to taking ownership of their own actions and contributing to the team's success. If one person fails, everyone else fails as well.

• Cross-functional. To offer a well-done and ready-to-use service or product, all team members must have all of the necessary knowledge and abilities. A expert can be called upon when needed, but only as a coach who shares their experience with the team to cover a skill gap.

• Business Vision. The Product Owner is the 'voice of the client,' and his or her needs should be communicated to the Scrum Master and Development Team. It is frequently a full-time profession to represent their needs.

• No Line Manager. The Scrum Master serves as a coach to the Development Team and assists them in overcoming any obstacles they may encounter.

• Optimal Size. A small Scrum Team may lack the necessary skill sets to build the product or service, whereas a large Scrum Team may destroy the project by making internal communication impossible. The SBOK recommends a Scrum Team size of six to ten persons. This will ensure that the Scrum Team is both large enough to complete the project and small enough to collaborate.

• Shared Goal. Individuals in a team collaborate to accomplish a common goal.. Individual goals like as growth, appraisal, and money should be superimposed on the collective aim.

• Collaboration. Project management is a shared value creation process in which teams collaborate and interact to create the most value. To achieve the desired objectives, the Scrum Team should share knowledge, ideas, risks, and duties, as well as operate in harmony with the team members.

• Empowered. The Scrum Team or development team is given the resources they need to deliver the products or services they want, as well as the authority to make decisions. Continuous/iterative development is tough if the team just has responsibilities but no authority to make decisions.