4 Features That Make Scrum Successful

Every organization around the globe works on multiple projects at all times. Following traditional methods of project management might help them plan the project and complete it successfully. But, in this fast-paced world where everything is evolving every second, unconventional methods tend to yield better results. There are many such unconventional techniques in the market today. Over the years, the one tool that has proved to be successful on various occasions and in multiple projects across the globe is the Scrum methodology. Scrum is a procedure that is used to implement an Agile framework into a project successfully. Scrum has a few unique features due to which it is adored by professionals around the globe. They use it because it reduces their effort and gets the work done in a systematic manner. What are these features you ask? Let’s find out!

1) Sprint Sessions – Many times when we plan a project, we tend to insert a timeline into it. Studies have shown that most of the times, we tend to overly estimate the time required or underestimate it. Both these approaches can lead to dilemmas during the project. Also in most cases the planners and the executors will have different mindsets and the plan made by the planners cannot be implemented by the executors. To avoid all these roadblocks, Scrum suggests sprint sessions. In this method, the entire team is divided into smaller teams of about 3-9 people and they work towards a common goal for a week or two weeks maximum. At the end of the week, they discuss the progress achieved in the project and also decide on the progress to be achieved before the next sprint session. These sessions tend to be successful because the planners are the executors and since the plan is regularly updated, the team is motivated to continue working on the project.

2) Display progress – When working on a large-scale project, there are many teams working on different aspects of the project. In such a situation, communication between the various teams can be a tedious task. At the same time, if every team is able to see every other team’s work progress, it can be a great energy booster. To achieve this, Scrum suggests that a chart of some sort should be put in place so that everyone’s work is visible. This can motivate slow workers to work at a faster rate and can also encourage the active workers to continue their pace.

3) Burndown Chart – Most of the organisations utilise traditional progress charts/graphs which depict the amount of work that has been completed by various teams. They feel that this will boost an employee’s morale and encourage him/her to work harder as their progress is clearly displayed on a chart. Scrum suggests a reverse technique. According to Scrum methodologies, a ‘Burndown’ chart should be displayed every week. The chart should contain both numbers of remaining working days and amount of work pending along the axes of the chart. The chart should clearly depict how much work is left such that it sends a message as to how many days the employees have to work in order to accomplish the given task.

4) Precise Meetings – In the corporate world, meetings are held on a daily basis. Most of these meetings go on for hours together and do not have a positive effect on the progress of the project. To deal with this predicament, Scrum advises that daily meetings should be held in short intervals. These meetings should not extend for more than 10-15 minutes. Instead of discussing the entire project and different plans to achieve the goal over and over again, only three questions should be asked and answered in the meeting. These are:

• What happened yesterday? – discuss in brief what goal each team achieved the previous day.
• What is going to happen today? – discuss the tasks each team is going to accomplish on that day.
• What is going to happen the next day? – try to identify the obstacles that might crop up the following and steps to overcome the same.

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The Scrum methodologies are being used over the last few years in various projects by an array of companies all around the world. It is necessary to formulate smart methods to complete a task instead of following the traditional methods at all times. The traditional methods might be excellent but, it’s time for us to innovate and come up with better methods that are suitable for our mode of working. The Scrum techniques are popular among consumers because they are cost-effective, time-saving i.e., the techniques guide us to get more work done in a shorter span of time, and also provides a fresh change from conventional techniques.