A Definitive Guide to Scrum Methodology and Scrum Project Management?

“Scrum is an agile style for project management usually in the case of software development. In simple words, agile software development with Scrum is usually taken as the Methodology. But instead of taking it as a methodology, we can use the word framework and it is highly suitable for the complex project management.”

The objective of this blog is to make you familiar with scrum methodology in depth and what is scrum project management, what are the major activities of scrum project management and many more. Let us have a quick look at the topics that will be discussed in the blog:

1. What is Scrum? Understanding the Scrum Roles
2. What is Scrum Methodology and how it fits best into Agile?
3. What’s steps are involved in the Scrum methodology?
4. What is Scrum Project Management? Understanding its value and benefits

Before we discuss in detail, what is Scrum methodology and Scrum Project Management in detail, let us have a quick look at what is Scrum?

What is Scrum? Understanding the Scrum Roles

Today, in the Scrum world, instead of giving a detailed presentation of how everything is done on a project, much of the work is left to the Scrum Development team because they can suggest better how the problem should be presented for better business outcomes.

What is Sprint?

Dividing a complex module into small tasks that can be completely consecutively is named as the Sprint. Sprint is not a new concept but almost every Company following this practice today for better project management and it is considered highly important to achieve the desired outcomes too.

Feedback is also taken from the team so that next spring could be more optimum than the previous ones. Scrum relies more on cross-functional teams and the self-organizing capabilities.

Understanding the Scrum Roles

There are two specific roles in the agile development that are supported by the Scrum team. These are the Scrum Master and the Product Owner. Scrum Master will help the team to perform at its best level. At the same time, the product owner in Scrum software development team guides the team in building the perfect product.

Read: What is a Scrum Master? Know Scrum Master Roles and Responsibilities.

There is not a particular team leader but everyone can check itself what is assigned for the day and how to solve a complex business problem in terms of small tasks. Also, there is one timeline decided for each task and it should be completed within the given timeframe only.

What is Scrum Methodology and how it fits best into Agile?

“Scrum and agile are not the synonyms. Scrum is an agile project management process or we can say agile is the tent and scrum is a pillar of the tent. In simple words, Scrum can be defined as the methodology that helps you in implementing the agile development successfully. Most of the time, the framework is used by experts instead of methodology to make the concept little easier to understand.”

There is no need to follow a sequence of steps in agile, therefore scrum urges to apply agile to your project. There are a plenty of similar frameworks but the simplicity and autonomy are the selling point of the Scrum framework. This is obvious that developing a new and complex product is not easy but it can be benefitted from small, self-organizing teams where work is given as tasks, not the objectives. It will not overburden the employees and they can decide how to start and what should be the speed to complete the particular task at a given time.

Further, Scrum can also be used as the entry point for agile practices. In this way, scrum can give benefits to multiple projects together and this is taken as the most popular software development process available so far. The meaning of scrum word is the new product development game. Traditionally, the word scrum was associated with rugby to stress the people toward team collaboration for the success of a project.

Today, scrum process is common to all software development practices and this would be interesting knowing how it works with other popular methodologies. In a few cases, this was observed that waterfall or many other traditional structured processes or methodologies were not compatible with scrum framework. There was a need for the empirical approach that suits best to the Scrum.

Today, it is known as one of the most popular agile frameworks for complex project management. It is even working good with large teams too. And this is possible for you to scale up the project needs whenever required. In the next section, we will discuss in detail about Scrum project Management and how it is beneficial for Companies.

What steps are involved in the Scrum methodology?

• The scrum methodology suggests that project progress slowly via a series of sprints. By following an agile practice, sprints should not be time boxed longer but organize them for two or three weeks maximum.
• In case of Scrum methodology, plan for a meeting at the start of sprint where team members will check how many tasks are assigned and either they are committed or not. After this, they will create a Sprint backlog or we can say that a set of tasks will be created to complete during the Sprint.
• During the start of agile scrum sprint, the team will start on tasks and they will be updated on the framework as soon as completed.
• Everyday team should attend the scrum meeting including the Scrum Master and the product owner. Don’t worry because the meeting will be time boxed for 15 minutes maximum. During this, each member will give a quick report on what was completed during the last day and what will be started today.
• The scrum model and daily scrums make sure that there is proper synchronization among the team members and each one is clear for their tasks.
• Once the Sprint is ended, one meeting will be conducted again where each team member can give the feedback and it will influence the next Sprint directly. Based on the feedback, new features or items will be added to the Sprint Backlog.
• One more important activity in Scrum Methodology is a retrospective that is performed at the end of Sprint. Here, the whole team should participate including Scrum Master and the Product Owner. This meeting is an opportunity to reflect the changes in the next Sprint and suggest the areas of improvements too instantly.

What is Scrum Project Management? Understanding its value & benefits

Scrum project management is a popular methodology to manage the delivery of software products that come under a broader umbrella of agile project management. This is a lightweight framework that embraces increment and iterative practices largely and helping organizations in developing complex software solutions quickly. The project will progress in the form of sprints and each sprint is an increment for the product.

Read: The Ultimate Guide on How to Become Scrum Master

Understanding the value and benefits of Scrum project management

Scrum is not a new concept but a proven methodology to achieve the maximum software agility. When you are working in small sprints, this is easy to check the progress of the project and modifications can be made frequently to make it more aligned with business requirements. So, a highly valuable product is delivered through scrum project management processes and methodologies.

1). Quality product deployment

In the case of Scrum project management, you can start with small tasks and get the feedback from the client to make the improvements. In this way, you can not only design the quality product but lower down the overall project costs too.

It completely contrasts with traditional waterfall systems where you need to create requirements, perform analysis, design, or document the tasks before you can actually start on development work. It will delay the project and increases the overall project costs. In the end, a low-quality product is delivered that was not actually needed by the Company.

2). Set the Priorities

Based on scrum project management methodology, this is always easy to prioritize the tasks in which order they should be executed. Break down the tasks into manageable chunks and assign to team members based on their skills and knowledge.

In brief, Scrum is all about communicating and collaborating with people together to get the work done successfully. When frequent feedback is given by team members and the clients both, it will increase the business value and ensuring wonderful product actually needed by customers.

This would not be saying wrong that scrum is an advantage over traditional project management techniques and surely going to be a hit for all software companies instead of their sizes.

3). Sprint planning in Scrum

The main activity in Scrum project management is Sprint and it should be timeboxed properly by the Scrum Master and the Product Owner, the most recommended timeframe is two weeks and take the feedback after this span.

Read: Agile Scrum Master Interview Questions And Answers

During each Sprint, a set of tasks will be assigned to the team and high priority tasks are listed on the top that needs to be completed first. The other popular activities associated with Scrum project management is daily scrums, daily stand-ups, Sprint Reviews, Sprint Retrospective, etc.

Final Words:

This is clear from the discussion that Scrum is an excellent project management methodology and a more structured, or organized platform when compared to traditional project management approaches. You have the flexibility to mix and match your methods for different phases of the project.

The most amazing thing about the Scrum is its adaptability. For hybrid methodology, you can always combine the scrum with other popular methodologies that are already working best in the industries.

Not only the agile methodology but many more can take benefit from the framework. This is a smarter business tool for project managers that help them in addressing issues of a project in the best possible way and steer it towards the success.

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