What Is Scrum?

Scrum meaning - Scrum is a framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products. It is essentially a framework wherein people can address complex, adaptive problems. At the same time, they can deliver products of the highest possible value in a productive and creative manner.

Define Scrum - What Does Scrum Mean?

Scrum is an iterative and incremental structure for project management mainly used in agile software development. The scrum methodology indicates functional software, the versatility to change, accompanied by emerging communication, collaboration, and business realities.

Below is the Scrum diagram or Scrum framework

What is Scrum Methodology

A simple framework for working on complex products, Scrum facilitates effective team collaboration. It, therefore, boosts team performance and productivity many times. Very often, Scrum is found to be identified as a ‘methodology’. But it is usually recommended to think of it as a framework for managing complex processes.

The co-creators of Scrum, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, have best explained the concept of Scrum in 'The Scrum Guide'. The definition of Scrum in 'The Scrum Guide' consists of the three Scrum roles, events, artifacts, and the rules that tie them together.

An iterative incremental framework

Scrum is an iterative incremental framework for effectively managing product development.

Iterative: Scrum is known as an iterative framework because it makes progress towards the goal through successive refinements. The development team takes the first major step in a project. Based on the collected requirements, they write the code and are aware that it might be weak in some areas. After this, the team iteratively refines those specific areas until the product is satisfactory. In each successive iteration, further details are added and the software is improved. Usually, the work of each iteration is improved in the upcoming iterations.

Incremental: Scrum is called an incremental process because the software is built and delivered in pieces. Each increment represents a complete subset of the final software to be delivered. In a typical Scrum environment, each increment is fully coded and tested. Simply put, “completed” work is delivered throughout the project.

The iterations are carried out in time-boxed cycles called sprints. Each sprint is of a fixed duration of time.

Characteristics of Scrum

A few unique characteristics of Scrum have made it very popular. These are the separating variables that set Scrum apart from the rest of the commonly used methodologies.

We shall discuss them one by one.

1. Lightweight framework: Scrum is a lightweight framework. It comprises of the rules and practices that are few in number and easy to follow.
2. Simplicity: One unique identity of Scrum is that it is simple to understand. This makes the framework easy to comprehend even for beginners.
3. Difficult to master: There is a big difference between understanding Scrum and implementing it in real-time projects. It is therefore somewhat difficult to master Scrum. You need to practice in real time and learn the concepts in-depth. While working with Scrum, one should properly understand why each component is in place, how it delivers value as a discrete element, and also in relation to the other elements.
   

Application Areas of Scrum:

Scrum was originally developed to organize and develop products. As early as in the 1990s, Scrum gained worldwide popularity to:

1. Research and identify niche markets, technologies, and product potentials;
2. Develop products and perform necessary enhancements;
3. Release products and enhancements frequently;
4. Develop and sustain Cloud (online, secure, on-demand) and other operational environments for product use; and,
5. Sustain and renew products.

Fairly early on, Scrum found widespread application in diverse domains. It was used in developing software, embedded software, hardware, schools, autonomous vehicles, government, interacting with network functions, business, managing the operations of organizations and mostly everything that we make use of on a routine basis.

With the steady rise in technology, market, and environmental complexities, Scrum has proved its utility in almost every sphere.

Scrum is now broadly used for all services, products, and in managing organizations.

Scrum deals with a small team of people. The separate individual teams are adaptive and highly flexible. These strengths are combined together to continue to operate in single and several networks of teams that are involved in developing, operating, releasing and supporting the work and work products of thousands of people. They interact and collaborate through advanced development structures and target the release environments.

In the Scrum Guide, these "develop" and "development" words are used to refer to complex work, such as the types identified above.

Scrum Theory:

Scrum was built on empirical process control theory which is also known as Empiricism. Empiricism says that knowledge is gained from the experience in creating the decisions based on what we know. Scrum operates on how to control the risk and optimize predictability. These three pillars support each and every implementation of empirical process control: adaptation, transparency, and inspection.

Transparency

We have many important aspects for all Scrum processes that need to be viewable to those who are responsible for the deliverables. This requires all parts to be defined by common standards. So, the viewers share a common understanding of what is being observed.

For example:

1. A common language is used to refer to the process that must be shared by all participants; and
2. Those who perform the work and those who accept the result of increment must need to share a common definition of "Done".
   

Inspection

Those who work on Scrum must need to regularly inspect the Scrum artifacts and progress towards the Sprint Goal to detect undesirable variations in the timeline. This inspection should be done more often so that it does not disrupt the productive work time. From the point of work, inspection ensures the profits when they are carefully performed by highly skilled inspectors.

Adaptation

By following the above steps, inspection reveals that one or more parts inside the process deviate the outside acceptance criteria, and so, that the delivered product will not be acceptable, so the team needs to do adjustments to the process or the material being processed. The sooner the adjustments, the better minimization from further deviation.

How Scrum Works and Its Importance

An organization implementing Scrum makes sure that the team members come forward to address the complex problems. Scrum works in the following ways-

1. Software development in Scrum starts with a prioritized list of features- Product Backlog. The team discusses on:
   - The backlog
   - What is not yet completed
   - The duration required to complete the task.
   
2. Sprint is the heart of Scrum and has the following features-
   - The goal of each Sprint is to create a quality product.
   - Each Sprint ends with a Sprint Review.
   - Once the first Sprint is over, the team selects the work items to develop a new Sprint.
   - Sprint is continued till the project deadline is met.
   - Sprint is a timeboxed activity when the actual product is developed.
   - The duration of Sprint is from one week to one month to finish items from the product backlog.
   
3. In daily Scrum, teams meet to discuss the progress of the work.
   - The Daily Scrum should be no longer than 15 minutes.
   - Each team member should be prepared to discuss the status of the work.
   - The Scrum Master facilitates the meeting for the team members to achieve the common goal.
   

Who Is/Are Involved In Scrum?

In software development, three roles are defined in the Scrum framework as follows:

1. The Scrum team is comprised of individuals who are working together in Sprints to meet the project goal.
2. The Scrum Master is a servant leader for the Scrum team and makes sure that the team is following the Scrum rules.
3. The Product Owner represents the customer. The PO prioritizes the backlog and coordinates the Scrum team's efforts.
   

Scrum Best Practices

The development team can create quality products by following the Scrum practices mentioned below:

1. Define the requirement ‘just-in-time’ to keep the product features more relevant.
2. Take Product Owner’s feedback daily.
3. Regular Sprint Reviews should involve the stakeholders
4. The Scrum team should arrange an event called Sprint Retrospective to improve how they work.
5. Arranging offline meetings to carry out face-to-face conversations.
6. Don’t burn out the team members.
7. Trust the team members.
8. Respect the balance between the team members’ personal and professional lives to ease the work.