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Scrum
Studies show that agile projects are 28% more successful than traditional projects. With such figures, a good number of executives and managers are looking at scrum and agile software development to help rid the workplace of ineffective meetings and make the process before, during and after meetings simpler. There are many reasons why scrum and agile make for a successful practice for meetings. In order to make the most of this method, executives should familiarize themselves with these two terms and understand how they work in project management.
Generally, these approaches focus more on helping individuals to not only stay on track but also work towards a common goal. Research reveals that 50% of team members are motivated more by team success compared to the company’s (27%) or individual’s (23%) personal goals. The scrum and agile process for meetings outlines team objectives and results, promotes efficient decision making, assigns roles and responsibilities, tracks progress and gives room for feedback, ultimately helping in beating deadlines and boosting productivity. With almost three-quarters of organizations having reported using agile approaches at some point, there is no doubt that this is one of the most successful methods of getting work done.
Why Scrum Makes a Difference
In order to understand why and how scrum makes a difference, it would be important to understand the difference between agile vs scrum and scrum vs sprint. Here are some definitions to help you.
What is scrum methodology? – This is a simple, easy to understand framework that facilitates team collaboration during complex projects. Scrum emphasizes teamwork, accountability and iterative progress towards a well-defined goal.
What is agile? – Agile refers to a process through which a team can manage a complex project by breaking it up into several stages called sprints. Each of these stages involves collaboration with stakeholders, continuous improvement and iteration. A good sprint in the agile example would be a 2 to 4 week period where the team collaboratively sets targets, plans their work and works together to complete the work before meeting to review it at the end of the period.
This means that scrum is an agile framework for managing projects and delivering value in short intervals, while a sprint is a specified period of time within which specific tasks have to be completed.
Executives and managers may ask, why use agile scrum methodology? The answer to this question can be found by comparing and contrasting this process to other methodologies to establish the difference they create in the success of a team.
In comparing agile vs waterfall, it is important to note that a waterfall is a linear approach to software development. The methodology involves a sequence of events that represent distinct stages of software development, each of which must be finished before the next one can start. On the other hand, agile is a team-based, iterative approach to development. An agile vs waterfall comparison table can help executives to understand the differences between these two methodologies.
When it comes to a lean vs agile comparison, while agile focuses more on people, lean is obsessed with the process. With agile, the software is valued over documentation, while with lean the process should deliver the most value. In order to understand how scrum/agile vs waterfall meetings differ from each other, executives should compare agile vs waterfall vs scrum.
Scrum Roles and Responsibilities
The success of scrum will depend on both the interaction among stakeholders as well as the process. When looking to embrace scrum, it is important for everyone in the organization to understand how scrum roles differ from traditional roles in project execution. There are four roles in scrum, each with its own set of responsibilities.
Product Owner
The product owner acts as the link between the team and stakeholders. The product owner has the responsibility to communicate the vision of the stakeholders to the team and has the authority to alter the scope. With this authoritative position, they are responsible for the return on investment. They are not only the voice of the stakeholders but also update stakeholders on challenges and progress.
Scrum Master
Unlike a team leader who leads a team and sets tasks, a scrum master has the responsibility to ensure that the team obeys the set rules and realized the method of scrum. Scrum masters commit to goals and deadlines on behalf of the team. They also have the responsibility to remove any hindrance or obstruction that could impede the process. However, scrum masters do not have any authority to fire team members or alter the process.
Scrum Team
The scrum team is responsible for all the activities that lead towards the sprint goals. Rather than receive tasks from a project leader, the scrum development team works with the scrum master to construct tasks, prioritize items from the product backlog and ensure sprint planning. Once committed, the team delivers the agreed results before the set deadlines and with great quality. Every member of the scrum team has to attend and participate in all the scrum meetings.
Stakeholders
The stakeholder has to maintain a healthy relationship with the owner of the product and receive regular updates regarding changing plans. They also have to provide input to queries from the product owner and covey their wishes to the product owner. Stakeholders have to work with the product owner to prioritize work effectively to ensure project development.
Scrum Process
The scrum process involves specific activities and flows in which people who occupy the different roles participate. In order to ensure proper agile management, executives and managers should consider going through either scrum certification training or a Jira tutorial.
Initiate
When initiating the project, processes focus on creating project vision, identifying scrum master and stakeholders and forming a scrum team. The scrum meeting will also develop epics, create prioritized product backlog and conduct release planning.
Plan and Estimate
A scrum sprint planning will involve creating user stories before approving, estimating and committing the stories. Other events will include creating and estimating tasks as well as creating sprint backlog. A Jira scrum tutorial can also help in doing this properly and effectively.
Implement
Once the leadership knows what is a sprint, it will be clear that the scrum sprint at this stage will focus on creating deliverables, conducting daily scrum meetings and grooming the prioritized product backlog. The daily scrum meeting duration should be no more than 15 minutes and should provide a high-level update on what was accomplished the day before and a look at what work is planned for today.
Review and Retrospect
At this point, every sprint review meeting will focus on reviewing deliverables and work completed to determine ways to improve the practices and methods used to do the work. According to the scrum book of knowledge, processes involved are convening scrum of scrums, demonstrating and validating sprint as well as retrospect sprint.
Release
The accepted deliverables are shipped and delivered to the customer and the lessons learned during the project are identified, documented and internalized by all the parties involved.
Using tools like Docket to conduct your scrum meetings or scrum software Jira to manage project workflow will go a long way in ensuring an organization enjoys the positive impact that scrum can have on work output. These include allowing members of a self-managing team to be creative, providing an environment of support and trust and promoting face-to-face conversations that eliminate the frustration of miscommunication. The end result is a more enjoyable place to work and a boost in employee morale.
Learning More About Scrum
It takes some dedication and hard work for teams to learn scrum as well as how to run a scrum meeting. The good news is that choosing the best scrum certification can make it easy to learn, grow and advance in scrum. Today, there is free scrum certification and scrum certification for beginners to meet different needs.
Study – The Scrum Alliance is one of the organizations that offer courses and certification that can help an individual build an understanding of the scrum framework through an agile tutorial or a scrum tutorial.
Practice – Engaging in discussions and practicing scrum fundamentals is a great way to build scrum muscle memory. This will help the team apply what they learned and can be continuously supported through scrum guide audio, scrum tutorial pdf and scrum tutorial ppt in the workplace.
Assess – Before acquiring an agile certification or scrum certification, candidates have to go through an assessment. This will help to establish whether they can interpret information and apply it to challenging situations in real life.
Before seeking scrum certification online, it is helpful to find out the average scrum certification cost. On completing the course, one can consider taking a scrum master certification online exam, an option that is both affordable and convenient.
Scrum Templates, Tools, and Resources
When a team wants to learn to implement or improve their scrum process, it is important to ensure that the process is handled properly. There are numerous templates, scrum software tools and resources that teams can rely on to build their understanding of scrum. These may include a scrum guide, scrum book, agile books and scrum pdf. A scrum guide 2018 pdf will not only help in choosing the best scrum software but also introduce you to how to use scrum software.
Any team that wishes to start with basics such as scrum meeting types can rely on the latest scrum guide 2019, A Scrum Book: The Spirit of The Game, agile scrum book pdf, Scrum: A Revolutionary Approach to Building Teams, scrum guide 2019 pdf or scrum guide html. Apart from helping members of the team to familiarize themselves with the daily scrum meeting checklist, they will also know how to apply the information they have learned and advance in scrum. Other valuable resources include guide for scrum master and software development team, scrum guide agile project management and Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time.
Any organization looking to enjoy the benefits of scrum and make meetings simple but effective should consider using Docket. This product has useful meeting templates to support a scrum process during daily standups, refinement meetings, planning meetings, and retrospectives.