• Agile & Scrum Basics

The Complete Agile and Scrum Introduction

Do you want to learn more about Agile working? More and more organizations are moving to this way of working. In this Agile and Scrum article, we take a closer look at how these ways of working are put together. You will also be introduced to all the principles of Agile and Scrum ways of working.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is a framework, call it a set of ground rules and roles
that arose in the search for better ways to organize development projects in a complex, changing environment.

The basic idea is that reality cannot be fully overseen or analyzed. Scrum therefore has no phases such as the “analysis phase” or the “concept phase,” but is based on a cycle of continuous experimentation, learning and adjustment. That’s why we call Scrum an empirical approach. Learning is based on observable facts rather than assumptions or theories.

In Scrum, you work closely together as a multidisciplinary team to produce tangible customer value . That’s where the inspiration for the name Scrum comes from: in Rugby, Scrum is a moment when the team is very close together and focused energy in pursuit of the same goal.

Scrum and Agile the same thing?

Scrum is often mentioned in the same breath as Agile. Scrum and Agile are not the same thing. It’s like a bird and a sparrow. A sparrow is bird, but a bird is not necessarily a sparrow. For example, Scrum is an Agile approach, but Agile is not necessarily Scrum. There are more Agile approaches than just Scrum.

The Agile Manifesto

Agile means agile. It is a body of thought that helps teams and organizations respond quickly to change. A group of software developers summarized it 2001 in the groundbreaking Manifesto for Agile Software Development.

The goal of this group of developers? A flexible and agile way to develop products.

Agile is a mindset, a culture. Based on 12 principles, this culture is further defined. The Agile Manifesto in English reads as follows:

We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

• Individuals and interactions about processes and tools

• Working software about comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration about contract negotiation

• Responding to change Over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

In a nutshell, this states in a few sentences very important principles for a Agile mindset. In total it is 8 values of which 4 are considered more important than the 4 others.

For example, in the Agile Manifesto, we think interaction between people is more important than prescribing a system for how we should interact. In addition, we find it more important that a product works, than that we have all worked out in manual, descriptions of how something should work.

Contracts are important, but mutual cooperation toward the same goal is even more important. And if it’s necessary to change we value that over sticking to a plan when it’s clear we should actually change because the plan is outdated.

The 4 benefits of Scrum

Scrum has significant advantages over a classic phased approach.

1. Short time to market

Scrumming delivers concrete results quickly, allowing you to learn from the market early on.

2. Effectiveness

In Scrum, you have continuous control over the result. You can incorporate advancing insight directly into the final result. The expertise of each team member is put to maximum use. As a result, the result effectively achieves all goals.

3. Control

Scrum has progress monitoring and evaluation deeply ingrained in the process. This allows a team to act quickly.

4. Motivated team

Research shows that knowledge workers are motivated by autonomy, mastery and impact making. In Scrum, teams are self-organizing (autonomy), focused on continuous learning (mastery) and focused on producing customer value (making impact). This is why working in a good Scrum team is so motivating.

How does Scrum work?

Scrum is a fairly simple framework. It consists of 3 roles, 3 artifacts and 5 events. With these elements, Scrum makes it possible to work Agile (read: agile).

The idea of Scrum is that the team bases its work on a vision and objective, without too specific result agreements. Your environment is constantly changing so result agreements at the beginning of a project are often no longer relevant halfway through.

Scrum does not assume a detailed specification of the end result prior to the production of that result. This prevents you from ending up with an end product that meets the predefined specifications, but unfortunately no longer meets the actual needs of your end users.

The entire project is broken up into short-term sprints with tight deadlines and clear goals.

• A sprint lasts one week to a maximum of a calendar month. Running out of time is not an option, adjusting is.

• Several product backlog items (work packages) are realized in each sprint. The collection of all backlog items across the entire project is called the product backlog.

• The collection of product backlog items that the team plans for a sprint is called the sprint backlog.

Scrum Events (Meetings)

In each sprint, the following meetings take place, all of which have their own timebox (time limit).

Sprint planning

During the sprint planning meeting, the work order for the current sprint is estimated and chosen. This is the basis on which everyone in that sprint will work. For a sprint of 1 calendar month, the sprint planning takes a maximum of 8 hours.

Daily Scrum

At the beginning of each scrum day, the team stands around the scrum board for up to 15 minutes and goes over progress and obstacles.

Sprint Review

During the sprint review, the sprint result is discussed with stakeholders from the client’s organization. This is the time to gather feedback and new insights from Stakeholders, so that the Product Backlog can be updated and become even more relevant. The sprint review takes a maximum of 4 hours.

Retrospective

During the retrospective, the team evaluates the process of working together and the quality level, agreed in the Definition of Done that they use. The result is at least 1 concrete improvement that will be implemented in the next sprint . The team then starts the next sprint.

The sprint retrospective lasts a maximum of 3 hours.

Scrum Roles

Scrum has completely new roles with new responsibilities. There is no longer a project manager because the team is self-organizing.

Developers (DEV)

The development team consists of 3 to 9 people from different disciplines. It is responsible for producing a finished product increment at the end of each sprint. The work is basically finished to the point where it can be put into production.

The Product Owner (PO)

The Product Owner is the representative of client and end user. She ensures maximum value from the team and the final product. She is the owner of the product backlog and liaison with stakeholders.

The Scrum Master (SM)

The Scrum Master makes team self-organizing thanks to in-depth knowledge of the Scrum Framework. She helps uncover impediments (barriers) and keep the team productive. The Scrum Master is not a project manager, but rather a lead or coach. The Scrum Master’s responsibility is continuous improvement.

Stakeholders (SH).

Stakeholders are other stakeholders from the client/customer side. They are not on the team, but give input to the Product Owner and clarify their requirements to the Development Team.

The Scrum Team (ST).

The Scrum Team is the name for the team of the Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers together.

Scrum Artifacts / (Tools and visualizations)

The following resources, preferably all physical resources in the room, help the team in the process:

Product backlog

An overview of the issues and wishes that remain.
Not all issues on the Product Backlog will be realized, but the most important ones will be. It is a prioritized list of desired deliverables.

Sprint backlog

The top, and therefore highest priority, part of the product backlog. These are “bite-sized chunks of work” that the team picks up in the next sprint.

Done product increment

The result of the sprint is a (part of the) working product. During the Sprint Review, the product increment is demonstrated to stakeholders.

Scrum board

The scrum board is the dashboard of the sprint. It gives a quick overview of all the stories and progress.

Commitments in Scrum

Scrum has 3 commitments. A Commitment gives direction to the Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog and the Done Product Increment. This is a promise to do everything possible to get the most out of working with Scrum.

Product Goal for the Product Backlog

The Product Goal describes a next step in achieving the vision of the product. With this, it helps the Scrum Team describe a longer-term goal and plan accordingly.

Sprint Goal for the Sprint Backlog.

The Sprint Goal gives laser focus to what will be accomplished in a sprint. It clusters activities, makes it a logical entity to work on in a sprint.

Definition of done for the Done Product Increment

The Definition of done states what was agreed upon about how the team delivers a product. With this you can determine whether a certain feature or (partial) product is really finished. Think of quality criteria such as ‘tested’, ‘house style applied’, ‘real content’ and a measure of creative level.

Conclusion

Scrum is a collection of tools, meetings and roles that together aim to learn quickly and produce customer value. The tools are simple, but not easy to apply properly. In the training at Scrum Academy we will practice them extensively so that applying them becomes easier.

Agile teams have no hidden agendas and always work on the basis of a experiment to learn from again.

We also help with your specific situation and how you can apply Agile and Scrum in your practice and business…. Within the clarity of the process, then beautiful, complex products can be realized that make your customers very happy and you and your team proud.