Introduction to Scrum
Posted on: February 4, 2013 by:
Scrum is an agile programming framework that helps teams complete complex projects. At first Scrum was formalized for software development projects, but it seems to work well for any complex, innovative project. The Scrum framework is deceptively simple but needs time to master it.
Scrum Framework – Long story short
- The product owner creates a prioritized features list called product backlog.
- During sprint planning, the team pulls a few items from the top of that list, a sprint backlog, and decides how to implement them.
- The team has a predefined amount of time, a sprint, to complete its work – usually two to four weeks – but has daily meetings in order to assess its progress (daily scrum).
- Along the way, the ScrumMaster keeps the team focused on its goal.
- At the end of the sprint, the work should be potentially shippable, as in ready to be used and distributed.
- The sprint ends with a sprint review and retrospective.
- When the next sprint begins, the team picks a few more items from the product backlog and starts working again.
The process repeats until enough items in the product backlog have been completed, the budget is depleted, or a deadline arrives. Only the project defines which of these milestones marks the end of the work. No matter which impetus stops work, Scrum ensures that the most valuable work has been completed when the project ends.
Source: Scrum Alliance
