What is it SCRUM ?
Scrum is a lightweight agile project management framework mainly used for software development. It describes an iterative and incremental approach for project work.
Scrum can be used in all kinds of software development: for developing complete software packages, for developing only some parts of bigger systems, for customer or internal projects.
The Scrum Framework itself is very simple. It defines only some general guidelines with only a few rules, roles, artifacts and events. In particular it consists of six time boxes (one of which is optional), three roles, and three ‘official’ artifacts.
- The three roles: Scrum Master, Scrum Product Owner and the Scrum Team;
- Six time boxes: Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum Meeting, Sprint Review Meeting, Sprint Retrospective, Release Planning (optional);
- Scrum Artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Product Increment.
Important in all Scrum projects are self-organization and communication within the team. The team decides what and how much they can do in a given project iteration (Sprint).
The Scrum Product Owner works closely with the Scrum Team to identify and prioritize functionality. This functionality is written down in user stories and stored in a Scrum Product Backlog.
The Product Backlog consists everything that needs to be done in order to successfully deliver a working software system.
The Scrum Master safeguards the process. This “servant leader” protects team members from interruptions in order to keep them focused on their sprint commitments, as well as helps the product owner get the product backlog in order. Additionally, Scrum Masters facilitate all Scrum meetings, ensuring that everyone on the team understands the goals and that they share a commitment together as a true team and not just as a collection of individuals.
This is just a little “appetizer” of the SCRUM Framework, we will deepen it on the next article, focusing in particular way on the SCRUM Master role.
…Stay tuned…