Scrum Methodology

Scrum Methodology

Scrum is one of the most popular project management method these days. If we talk about Software development life cycle, Scrum is the one which people are using these days. Top companies are using scrum as their project management techniques.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is basically an iterative & incremental software development approach. It is one of the most popular Agile methods.

Scrum emphasis on customer involvement from starting till the end of the software development life cycle enabling customers to get hands on experience on the software.

Unlike waterfall, scrum allows us to ensure customer involvement in every duration of 1-4 weeks. This particular cycle of duration is called as Sprint. Before understanding the Scrum process, Let’s have a look at 3 Scrum Roles:

1. Product Owner: The one who decides “What needs to be built?“. Product Owner as the name says, is the owner of the product. This is generally a person from client end. Product Owner is one of the most important stake holder of Scrum project. What needs to be built and in what order, deciding the priority is another important aspect which is fulfilled by the product owner.
2. The Team: The team consists of “Cross-Functional” & “Self-Organized” team members. Unlike other teams, this team consists of designers, developers, testers, etc… They are also self organized, knows who will do what part of the project and are responsible for their part of work. Team decides “How it needs to be built?“
3. Scrum Master: Scrum Master ensures that product owner and team, both follows the scrum effectively. This person is responsible for making sure everyone understands scrum. This person is not a manager, instead this person serves the team and the product owner for the requirements and also for removing impediments which come across the software development life cycle.

Now, as we understand these 3 roles, it’s easy to understand Scrum Process.

Scrum Process

Have a look at the above picture, This will help understand the process

How it works?

Product Owner prioritize requirements into features and create product backlog. Team chooses items from the product backlog and commits to complete them during certain amount of duration. This duration of time is generally 1 to 4 weeks and is known as Sprint. Everyday during each sprint, whole team gathers to discuss the challenges and progress. This is known as Daily Scrum Meeting.

At the end of the sprint, team delivers potentially shippable product increment, which product owner can check.

These ongoing sprint cycles results in iterative and incremental approach towards software development.