“Agile software development refers to a group of software development methodologies based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams.” Wikipedia. Here’s some basic knowledge about one of the agile methodology. It’s called the ‘Scrum Methodology’.
Ø Scrum is basically a framework rather than a process.
Ø It is self organizing, iterative & incremental.
Ø Scrum projects are divided into a series of sprints.
Ø Sprints are iterations which are bound to certain timeframes
Ø Each sprint starts with sprint planning where team members commit to finish certain tasks within the time frame
What are the events in scrum?
Ø Sprint: Sprint is the main activity in a scrum. A Sprint is the time needed for the team to complete the tasks specified in the sprint backlog .It can be one week to a calendar month long.
Ø Sprint Planning: Here planning is made by product owner & team as to what activities is to be done in a sprint. The product backlog should be available at this time .Each team member picks their task they can complete in a sprint from a product backlog & forms a sprint backlog.
Ø Daily Scrum Meeting: All the team members + Product Owner + Scrum master attends this meeting which lasts not more than fifteen minutes. The purpose of this meeting is to synchronize members & assure progress. Three questions are generally answered by team members in this meeting:
1. What did I do yesterday?
2. What I am planning to do today?
3. What are the impediments?
Ø Sprint Review: The review is done after a sprint or more than one sprint .Usually in a sprint review the functionality of the sprint is demonstrated to the product owner to get a feed back. What new changes need to be made in functionality or even the product backlog itself is decided after getting the feedback.
Ø Sprint retrospective. After the sprint review meeting, the retrospective meeting is conducted. The meeting is an opportunity to reflect on the sprint that is ending and identify opportunities to improve in the new sprint.
What are the documentations involved in scrum?
Product Backlog: It is the high level document managed by the product owner
There are mainly two groups in the scrum – ‘Pigs’ & ‘Chickens’
Pigs:
They are the ones who do the actual work & are committed to process .The following roles can be included in it:
§ Product Owner: The product owner cooperates with both the team and the customers & provides clear and understandable requirements to the team. She writes the high-level user-stories and set priorities.
§ Scrum Master: A scrum master is different from team leader because she does not allocate tasks to members of team. The scrum team is self organizing & they pick their own tasks. But it’s a Scrum master’s responsibility to conduct meetings, ensure practices, process & progress in the team.
§ Team: The team develops the software, makes decision on design & implementation. The team is self organizing & self manageable. Generally a scrum team includes 5- 9 people.
Chicken: They are not committed to process. They are the people who enable the project .They are just benefitted with the work of pigs. The roles included under this category are customers, vendors, managers & other stakeholders.
Ø It is self organizing, iterative & incremental.
Ø Scrum projects are divided into a series of sprints.
Ø Sprints are iterations which are bound to certain timeframes
Ø Each sprint starts with sprint planning where team members commit to finish certain tasks within the time frame
What are the events in scrum?
Ø Sprint: Sprint is the main activity in a scrum. A Sprint is the time needed for the team to complete the tasks specified in the sprint backlog .It can be one week to a calendar month long.
Ø Sprint Planning: Here planning is made by product owner & team as to what activities is to be done in a sprint. The product backlog should be available at this time .Each team member picks their task they can complete in a sprint from a product backlog & forms a sprint backlog.
Ø Daily Scrum Meeting: All the team members + Product Owner + Scrum master attends this meeting which lasts not more than fifteen minutes. The purpose of this meeting is to synchronize members & assure progress. Three questions are generally answered by team members in this meeting:
1. What did I do yesterday?
2. What I am planning to do today?
3. What are the impediments?
Ø Sprint Review: The review is done after a sprint or more than one sprint .Usually in a sprint review the functionality of the sprint is demonstrated to the product owner to get a feed back. What new changes need to be made in functionality or even the product backlog itself is decided after getting the feedback.
Ø Sprint retrospective. After the sprint review meeting, the retrospective meeting is conducted. The meeting is an opportunity to reflect on the sprint that is ending and identify opportunities to improve in the new sprint.
What are the documentations involved in scrum?
Product Backlog: It is the high level document managed by the product owner
- It has the list of all functionalities desired in the project.
- Managed ,prioritized by product owner
- It can have technical tasks or usability concerns.
- Managed & owned by the team
- Prepared on Sprint Planning Meeting
- Commonly maintained in excel sheet.
- It can include design, coding, testing & documentation tasks.
- This is used to track the progress against a release plan
- Shows the work remaining at a particular instance at a glance
- It can be maintained just for a sprint or a release
There are mainly two groups in the scrum – ‘Pigs’ & ‘Chickens’
Pigs:
They are the ones who do the actual work & are committed to process .The following roles can be included in it:
§ Product Owner: The product owner cooperates with both the team and the customers & provides clear and understandable requirements to the team. She writes the high-level user-stories and set priorities.
§ Scrum Master: A scrum master is different from team leader because she does not allocate tasks to members of team. The scrum team is self organizing & they pick their own tasks. But it’s a Scrum master’s responsibility to conduct meetings, ensure practices, process & progress in the team.
§ Team: The team develops the software, makes decision on design & implementation. The team is self organizing & self manageable. Generally a scrum team includes 5- 9 people.
Chicken: They are not committed to process. They are the people who enable the project .They are just benefitted with the work of pigs. The roles included under this category are customers, vendors, managers & other stakeholders.