What Is Agile Methodology and Scrum Framework

We know that in the past three months, the entire working system of an organization like working time, working style everything changed due to COVID. Everyone had to face unexpected difficulties in adapting to the new changes. And it is not that everyone gets an opportunity to grow even during a difficult time like this. But, I feel blessed to be a part of an organization, who gave a new opportunity to the employees to grow. One such opportunity that I got is to handle a team.

During this course of the project, I came across the Scrum and Agile methodology. I felt it was very interesting on the very first day, and it is very much different from the traditional project methods. All these were very new and interesting to me and, I feel this is very important for everyone to know.

So, here I'm again with yet another article on Scrum and Agile Methodology to help you know more about it.

The Scrum Agile methodology is a project management system that is based on incremental development. Each iteration consists of sprints from two to four weeks, in which the goal of each sprint is to build the most important features first and to create a potentially deliverable product. Other functions are integrated into the product in subsequent sprints and are regulated based on feedback from stakeholders and customers among the sprints.

While other project management methods emphasize building an entire product in an iteration from start to finish, the scrum agile methodology focuses on providing several iterations of a product to provide stakeholders with maximum commercial value in the shortest possible time. .

The agile scrum methodology has several advantages. First, it encourages products to be built faster, as each set of goals must be completed within the time frame of each sprint. It also requires frequent planning and goal setting, which helps the scrum team focus on the goals of the current sprint and increase productivity.

 AGILE

Agile is a process that allows a team to more efficiently manage a project by breaking it down into several stages, each of which allows for consistent collaboration with stakeholders to promote steady improvements at every stage.

Benefits of Agile

• High product quality
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Increased project control
• Reduced risks
• Faster ROI

SCRUM

In short, scrum refers to a framework that makes for effective collaborations among teams that are working on complex products. Although it is most often used by software development teams, scrum can essentially be beneficial to any team that is working toward a common goal. In particular, scrum is a collection of meetings, roles, and tools that work together to help teams to better structure and manage their workload.

Benefits of Scrum

• Complicated projects: Scrum methodology is ideal for projects that require teams to complete a backlog.
• Companies that value results: Scrum is also beneficial to companies that value results over the documented progress of the process.
• Companies that cater to customers: Scrum can help companies that develop products following customer preferences and specifications.

Here are some of the collective benefits of agile scrum methodology:

• Flexibility and adaptability
• Creativity and innovation
• Lower costs
• Quality improvement
• Organizational synergy
• Employee satisfaction
• Customer satisfaction

The greatest advantage of agile scrum methodology is its flexibility. With the sprint-based model, the scrum team typically receives feedback from stakeholders after each sprint. If there are any problems or changes, the scrum team can easily and quickly adjust product goals during future sprints to provide more valuable iterations. This way, stakeholders are happier because they get exactly what they want after being involved in every step of the way.

Compare this with traditional project management systems, in which stakeholders do not provide frequent feedback and time is wasted making changes to the product halfway through development – or, worse, the teams need to start from scratch after the product has already been built.

There are three core roles: scrum master, product owner, and scrum team. All of these people are committed to the scrum project.

1. Scrum master. The scrum master is the facilitator of the scrum development process. In addition to holding daily meetings with the scrum team, the scrum master makes certain that scrum rules are being enforced and applied as intended. The scrum master's responsibilities also include coaching and motivating the team, removing impediments to sprints, and ensuring that the team has the best possible conditions to meet its goals and produce deliverable products.
2. Product owner. The product owner represents stakeholders, which are typically customers. To ensure the scrum team is always delivering value to stakeholders and the business, the product owner determines product expectations, records changes to the product and administers a scrum backlog, a detailed and constantly updated to-do list for the scrum project. The product owner is also responsible for prioritizing goals for each sprint, based on their value to stakeholders, such that the most important and deliverable features are built-in each iteration
3. Scrum team. A scrum team is a self-organized group of three to nine individuals who have the business, design, analytical, and development skills to carry out the actual work, solve problems, and produce deliverable products. Members of the scrum team self-administer tasks and are jointly responsible for meeting each sprint's goals.

Sprint Planning

The sprint planning meeting consists of the team, the Scrum Master, and the Product Owner. In the meeting, the product backlog items are discussed so that they can be prioritized and then the team selects which ones to do. The sprint planning meeting determines what will be worked on and it also helps to develop a considerable understanding of what needs to do to carry it out. 

Daily Scrum

The daily Scrum meeting is held daily for about 15 minutes. This is not a problem-solving meeting. The daily Scrum helps avoid unnecessary meetings. In the daily Scrum everyone answers three questions, the questions are:

• What did you do yesterday?
• What will you do today?
• Is anything in your way?

Sprint Review

In the sprint review, the team presents what has been accomplished during the sprint. It is a demonstration of new features or the existing architecture. It is an informal presentation and the entire team participates in it.

What are the differences between scrum and agile?

• Scrum values rigidity, whereas agile is more flexible.
• Agile leaders play a vital role, while scrum promotes a cross-functional team that is self-functioning.
• Agile involves face-to-face interactions between cross-functional team members, while scrum involves daily stand-up meetings.
• Agile is meant to be kept simple, while scrum can be innovative and experimental

Agile is all about adapting to the changes; it was built on the foundational principle that business drivers will change and the development teams must be ready to adapt.

I hope my efforts did help you to know more about Scrum and Agile Methodology.

 Please do feel free to share your thoughts.