Contents
Scrum refers to an agile way of managing a project mostly in software development. It is a framework given for achieving the required results.
A scrum team, is composed of a collection of around 5 – 9 individuals working together with the aim of delivering the required product. This framework encourages good communication among the members of the team so they can:
- Achieve the same goal
- Follow the norms and rules laid out
- Work together in a respectful and collaborative way
Team members all have different responsibilities and tasks that are related to overall product delivery. However, the roles are inter-related with each other. It is recommended that the team members should be in the same place whenever possible.
How does an Agile Scrum Team work?
The working of the Scrum Framework is defined by identifying the three core roles and their responsibilities. Within the team, these are:
- Product Owner
- Scrum Master
- Development Team
The Product Owner
As a team member, the Product Owner understands the customer’s wants and how valuable these wants are to the business. They must translate the wants back to the team in order to come up with a product that will satisfy the customers. To equip themselves with the essential skills and knowledge for this demanding role, a product owner will possess all of the necessary qualifications needed to meet the demands of the industry. For example, they will have likely undergone a SAFe agile certification training course, in order to navigate their business through the complexities of scalability and agile principles.
They must always be available for consultations with the team, and always ensure that they implement the vision of the product correctly. They have the authority to make decisions that are necessary for the completion of the project and are also responsible for managing all Product Backlogs.
Their roles include;
- Articulating backlog items clearly
- Ordering the Backlog items that will best achieve the missions and goals
- Optimizing the value of the team work
- Making sure the Backlog is transparent, visible and clear for all
- Ensuring that the team members fully understand the Backlog to their level
The Scrum Master
This team member’s main responsibility is to keep things moving. They remove all roadblocks that may impede on the productivity of the team. They are required to regularly review the work done against the deliverables and most often they do this on a weekly basis.
They coach and motivate all the team members about Scrum best and enforce rules or operation. Here are a few responsibilities:
- Driving Standups – Facilitating the daily scrum or the daily standups as needed
- Sprint Reviews – participating in meetings and capturing the feedback
- Board administration – they work as administrators of the scrum board, which ensures that all cards are up to date and all tools are working well.
- Internal Consultations – the Scrum Master must always be prepared to meet and consult with the stakeholders as well as the team members in order to give direction on how best to achieve the goals.
The Development Team
The development team is empowered and structured by the company to achieve the goals set out. It should be optimized for overall effectiveness and efficiency. The team should have the following characteristics;
- Must be able to self-organize – Nobody should tell them how the Product Backlog can be transformed into achieved goals, including the Scrum Master.
- Must be cross-functional – they should possess all the skills necessary for the team to create the product increment.
- Must have product management software to deal with teams
- They shouldn’t be concerned with titles, but rather work as a team, regardless of the work they are performing.
- They shouldn’t have any sub-teams while working on the products regardless of their domains such as architecture, testing, operations or even business analysis.
Scrum Events
The Framework of an Agile Scrum Team is marked by 5 main events;
The Sprint
Also known as the Iteration, it is the basic development unit in the Scrum. It is a Time-Boxed effort that is usually restricted for a specified duration. This duration is normally fixed early on in advance for each sprint and can be between one week and one month. The most common however is two weeks.
The Sprint Planning
This is an event in the Scrum framework in which the team members determine the Product Backlog items they need to work on during the Sprint time and they discuss the plan they have of completing these items.
Daily Stand-up
This is also called the Scrum meeting. It is a short meeting that is held each day, and is limited to between 5 and 15 minutes.
The Sprint Review
This takes place at the end of the Sprint. The Product Owner is usually present in the review and he explains whether the work that was planned was completed or not. He then gives direction.
The Sprint Retrospective
This is usually held after each review and offers the team members and opportunity to inspect the progress and create a plan for improvements, to be carried out during the next sprint.
Conclusion
An Agile Scrum Team’s main purpose is to break down large developments into smaller pieces that are easy to complete and release faster. Transitioning into an agile team framework requires a company to have a new mindset and an overall cultural adjustment.
Of course it’s not easy, and does not come easy, but teams and organizations can fully commit to Scrum. Once they do, they can discover a new sense of creativity, flexibility and inspiration. All the best.
