What exactly is Scrum?
Scrum is our preferred form of agile development. Scrum provides a framework for collaboration that defines as much as necessary and leaves as much freedom as possible.
This is what Scrum is all about
- Agile framework: Agile methods improve the project process through an iterative and flexible approach in order to be able to react more quickly to changes.
- Roles: Scrum divides the project team into three main roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team, with each having specific responsibilities.
- Sprints: Scrum structures the work in two-week "sprints" in which specific tasks have to be completed.
- Rituals: Regular meetings such as daily stand-ups, sprint reviews and retrospectives promote transparency and continuous optimization of the work process.
Scrum building blocks: sprints & user stories
Sprints last two weeks. A sprint is nothing more than a Iteration.
Each sprint includes a meeting to plan, implement the defined requirements and a meeting to look back on what has been achieved. This is immediately followed by the planning of the next sprint.
The basis for planning and implementation are User stories. This defines the requirements from the user's perspective ("As a visitor, I want a login button to log in").
Before implementation, the team assesses the complexity of each story (Estimation). This forms the basis for sprint planning.
Sprint process
- Before the sprint, we plan the content and scope together: the team estimates the complexity of the user stories and you determine what is to be implemented.
- During implementation, the team discusses completed and upcoming tasks on the daily. The Scrum Board tracks progress.
- At the end of the sprint, we present the completed stories - as an executable, interactive product. Together, we look back on the sprint: what went well, how can we improve the collaboration?
Roles in Scrum
Product Owner
This is you or someone from your team. It is important that the person can and wants to make decisions. The product owner prioritizes the tasks and requirements and represents the product to all stakeholders - including us.
Product Owner Assistant
Product Owner Assistant is someone from our team. In addition to acting as a moderator between the development team and the Product Owner, he/she is also the contact person for all stakeholders.
Scrum Master
The scrum master ensures that everyone in the team can work efficiently. Their tasks include removing blockages and obstacles of all kinds, mediating within the team and externally and ensuring that all important people are at the table.
Implementation team
Wasn't there... Ah, exactly! The implementation team is provided by smartive and is interdisciplinary: Design, development and testing. It brings with it all the expertise required for the successful implementation of the project.
Story Points & Estimation
Story points indicate the complexity of each story (and not the time required). The Estimation is usually in the form of a Planning poker carried out: Everyone receives a set of cards with the values 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 8 - ... (Fibonacci series) and shows their estimate at the same time. If the values differ, a discussion takes place.
Product backlog
Stories wait to be implemented in the backlog. Everything that should (or could) be done is stored here, but not in the next sprint. It makes sense to regularly create a Backlog refinement to adjust or sort out incomplete or outdated stories.
