Group 23

Scrum Origins: What is Scrum? Scrum Origins, Why Scrum?

Editors: Shravan Raina, Somanshu Bhat, Sahil Bagati, Sushil Suri


Table of content

  • What is Scrum

  • Some basic terms

  1. Scrum team

  2. Product owner

  3. Scrum master

  4. Product backlog

  5. Sprint planning meeting

  6. Daily scrum

  7. Scrum review meeting

  8. Daily retro-respective

  • History of Scrum

  • How Scrum works

Typical Scrum events

1. Organize your backlog

2. Hold a sprint planning session

3. Start the Scrum Sprint

4. Host daily Scrum standups

5. Present work during the sprint review

6. Connect and reflect during the sprint retrospective

Why Scrum

1. Helps save time and money

2. Encourages teamwork

3. It adapts to the company

4. It is easy to use

5. Additional benefits

What is Scrum?

Scrum is a framework based on agile that helps the teams to cooperate within teams and get their tasks done very efficiently. It is basically a framework within which all the people in the team can solve the most challenging and very tough problems while maintaining the highest level of productivity, creativity and efficiency of delivering the product is at top most level possible. Projects in the scrum keeps moving ahead through the succession of loops called the sprints. Each sprint is typically has two to four weeks long working sessions defined deliverables expected at the very end of the sprint. Scrum is basically a project management methodology which can be applied on any project which will have very tight deadlines, challenging requirements and maybe some originality.

Source: https://number8.com/scrum-approach/

Source: https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-scrum



Some basic Scrum Terms


Without the proper grasp of some of the Scrum terminologies, The introduction to Scrum would never be complete. This section in the Scrum overview will discuss about some of the common concepts in Scrum.

Scrum team:

A scrum team normally consists between five to nine people, however some scrum projects can easily grow into hundreds of people .But, Scrum can very easily be used by single person teams and is often used like this. Scrum team basically does not have any of the standard software engineering roles such as a programmer, designer, tester etc. Everyone on the project collaborates to basically finish the set of tasks that they have jointly agreed to complete during the sprint.

Product owner:

The product owner is one of the most critical and crucial member of the team. The project owner is basically the project’s key stakeholder and basically he or she represents the users, customers etc. A product owner is usually a member of the product management team or a marketer, as well as a significant stakeholder or user.

Source: https://mdalmijn.com/stop-talking-so-much-about-the-different-scrum-roles/

Scrum Master:

The Scrum Master is in charge of ensuring that the team exceedingly productive and very efficient in finishing of their task. All of this work is done by the Scrum Master, who assists the team in using all of the basic scrum processes, removes most of the roadblocks to the progress, and protects the team from the outside world.

Product Backlog:

The product backlog is a list of the prioritized features which contains each and every required feature or the change to the product. The product backlog is basically a list containing all of the necessary features for the product while as the sprint backlog is basically a list of the tasks that are needed to be completed during a sprint.

Sprint Planning Meeting:

A sprint planning meeting is held at the start of each sprint, during which the product owner typically presents the items present on the very top of the product backlog to the team. The Scrum team selects the tasks that will be complete during the very next sprint. That work is then moved from the product backlog to the sprint backlog, which is a set of activities that must be completed in order for the team to finish the product backlog items in the sprint.

Daily Scrum:

During the sprint, a very brief and short meeting known as the daily scrum is held every single day. This meeting assists the team in establishing the context for each day's work as well as keeping the team on track. Every team member is expected to attend.

Source: https://startinfinity.com/product-management-framework/scrum-sprint

Sprint Review Meeting:

The team delivers the completed functionality at the sprint review meeting at the end of each sprint, during which the team showcases what they accomplished throughout the sprint. Traditionally, this takes the form of an informal demonstration of the new features which are included.

Sprint Retrospective:

Also at the end of each sprint, the team holds a sprint retrospective, which is essentially a meeting in which the the team (including the ScrumMaster and the product owner) considers how well Scrum is working for them and what changes they would like to make to improve it.

The History of Scrum

Scrum as we know it now was initially proposed in 1990 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their Harvard Business Review article The New New Product Development Game. Takeuchi and Nonaka derived the name Scrum from rugby and explained it as follows: In rugby, the ball is passed within the team as it progresses up the field as a unit.

Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland published their Agile Manifesto and SCRUM Development Process in 1995, which further defined, codified, and explained the Scrum.

Scrum, created by Schwaber and Sutherland, was essentially a rejection of the waterfall model of the software development. Projects are broken down into different sequential phases in the waterfall model, with each phase's deliverable unlocking the next phase of work. Software engineers, according to Schwaber and Sutherland, would benefit greatly from a much more flexible and iterative approach that would allow them to adjust and adapt to their environment on a very constant basis in order to generate the very optimal product for the customers.

Schwaber and Sutherland have published the Scrum Guide since its inception, and it is a very dynamic document that is updated on a regular basis. According to the Scrum Guide, Scrum encourages "teams to take a look at how effective their work processes are, and also challenges teams to continuously adapt and improve them,"

Source: https://www.orangescrum.com/tutorial/agile-scrum-management-an-overview/introduction-to-scrum-methodology

Source: https://www.pngwing.com/en/free-png-nvuta

How Scrum works:


The most important thing to know if a team is going to execute a Scrum process is that the most crucial thing to understand is that the Scrum framework only relies on a very continuous improvement mechanism. In Scrum, the team may not know much at the start of the sprint, but they must react to the processes and all of the needs as needed depending on the information that they will gather throughout the sprint.

Typical Scrum events:

1. Organize your backlog

To begin a Scrum sprint, the team lead, often known as the Scrum master, determines what work has to be completed from the product backlog. In order to have the best Scrum sprint that is possible, he make sure that the team has properly documented product backlog. Consider utilizing a project management application or tool to gather all of the necessary information that will be required.

2. Hold a sprint planning session

Before a team starts its Scrum sprint, they must know what they will be focusing on the most. During the sprint planning session, they will analyze what work from the backlog the team will focus most on during this Scrum sprint.

3. Start the Scrum Sprint

A sprint is typically two weeks long, however a team might conduct shorter or longer sprints depending on their needs. The team will have to work on the items from the backlog that they defined at the sprint planning session during the sprint.

4. Host daily Scrum standups

Every day, set aside only fifteen minutes to meet with the entire Scrum team. Daily standup meetings give the teams an opportunity to explain what they are working on and also try to solve any of the problem that arises.

5. Present work during the sprint review

The team should gather for a sprint review after they have completed their Scrum sprint. During this phase, the Scrum team will present their work to the stakeholders for approval.

6. Connect and reflect during the sprint retrospective

After the sprint is completed, the team should take some time to reflect and discuss on how it went and how it could be improved in the future. They should basically keep in their mind that the scrum believes in the continuous improvement, thus they should never be afraid to test new procedures or new work techniques in place of ones that appear to be ineffective.

Why Scrum?

1. Helps save time and money

With a traditional method and a very responsible team, you can attain a lot through scrum. It is a very important tool for saving time and money since it allows you to arrange a large number of tasks and have the necessary planning to do them. Daily fifteen minute meetings guarantee that the process is on the track, as determined at the outset of the project.

2. Encourages teamwork

This practice aids us in working very efficiently on the project by dividing and assigning responsibilities and tasks. The scrum master, who is basically a resource who aids and supports the team's aim, appreciates the product owner and the team. Appreciating how far the project has progressed ensures that the process will be transparent.

3. It adapts to the company

The SCRUM methodology offers the highest chance of adapting to the businesses that adopt it. In this approach, the idea of an well organized production of tasks is established and a plan that is so flexible that it goes hand in hand with the company in charge of the project and its characteristics.

4. It is easy to use

The successful mixing of all parties participating in a project is achieved using a technique like scrum. For all levels, Scrum participation and management is very simple and straightforward. Similarly, it also keeps track of all work completed and is closely watched to ensure that it is completed efficiently.

Additional benefits:

➡ Any adjustment is met with a very quick response.

➡ In this procedure, functional tests are fairly common.

➡ Direct communication with the client,

➡ Motivation and responsibility of the team.

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