Scrum @ High Level
SCRUM @ High Level
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Scrum @ High Level
Agenda
Introduction (Covering about the agenda of this session)
Scrum history (Origination and present practices)
Different Agile methodology (Brief about Agile and how Scrum is
connected to Agile and other methodologies)
Definitions (SCRUM)
Different terminologies used in Scrum (Sprint, product backlog,
sprint backlog, review, retro perspective)
Different roles (Roles in Scrum)
Best practices of Scrum (About meetings, agenda, and duration)
Target audience (Who can take up this role?)
Certifications overview (Different levels of SCRUM)
How to get the CSM certification (Explanation about workshop)
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Scrum History
In 1986, Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka described a new
approach to commercial product development.
In the early 1990s, Ken Schwaber used what would become Scrum
at his company, Advanced Development Methods
Jeff Sutherland, with John Scumniotales and Jeff McKenna,
developed a similar approach at Easel Corporation, and were the
first to refer to it using the single word Scrum.
In 2001, Schwaber and Mike Beedle describe the method in the
book Agile Software Development with Scrum.
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What is Scrum?
It is a methodology for software development that adheres to
Agile principles of iterative and incremental development
The term “Scrum” refers to the team huddle in rugby just before
the start of play; many practices in the methodology originate in
the game of rugby
Scrum is by-far the most popular Agile methodologies
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What is Agile?
Agile is a project management method based on iterative
methodology, most typically used in software, website,
technology, creative, and marketing industries.
Agility is the ability to deliver customer value while dealing with
inherent project unpredictability and dynamism by recognizing
and adapting to change.
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Why Agile?
Reduces waste.
Requirements are completely & correctly understood.
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Agile Methodologies
AGILE
Scrum DSDM Atern
Crystal Agile Unified Process (AUP)
Extreme Programming (XP) Feature-Driven Development
Fuller Approaches (but still
Lightweight Approaches
Agile)
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Scrum Life Cycle
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Terminologies used in SCRUM
Some of the frequently used terminologies under SCRUM are:
Sprint
Timebox
Done
Daily SCRUM
Product backlog
Sprint backlog
Retrospective
Release
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Sprints
Sprint is a timebox within which the team needs to complete an
agreed upon set of deliverables.
The goal of each Sprint should be to produce “working software”
having “near releasable” quality.
The duration of a Sprint is typically 1-4 weeks.
Once agreed, the Sprint deadline CANNOT be extended.
Sprint duration can change over a period of time or during the
duration of the project.
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Timebox
Timebox sets a fixed time limit to any activity and lets other
characteristics such as scope vary.
Scrum relies heavily on the principle of timebox. All meetings,
ceremonies, and project time windows are timeboxed. The sanctity of
the timebox MUST be respected. This is a non-negotiable attribute of
Scrum.
Timebox can be any length of time [1 year, 1 month, 1 day, or 1
hour].
If you are running behind the schedule, postpone it to the next
timebox.
It fixes the length of the iteration and the team determines how
much functionality can be delivered in that fixed length of time.
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Advantages of Timebox
Focus
Helps one to focus his attention on the job at hand for the specified period
of time.
Increased productivity
Defining a fixed time period and working diligently in a focused manner on
the identified task, helps one to work smarter and harder and get more
done.
Realization of time spent
Defining a fixed time period helps you identify how much work is done in
the specific time and avoids the idling time.
Time available
Helps one to be consciously aware of the time available to perform the
task at hand.
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Release
The concept of a “Release” has been removed from the latest Scrum Guide. The
idea being that each sprint should be considered a mini-release.
Release Plan
A release plan presents a roadmap of how the team intends to achieve the
product vision within the project objectives and constraints identified in the
project data sheet.
It helps the product owner and the whole team decide how much must be
developed and how long it will take before they have a releasable product.
A release conveys expectations about what is likely to be developed and in
what timeframe.
A release plan serves as a guidepost toward which the project team can
progress.
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Daily Scrum
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Daily Scrum
Each participant answers 3 questions:
1 What did you do yesterday?
2 What will you do today?
3 What’s in your way?
These are not status sessions for the manager.
They are team member commitments in front of the team.
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User Story
Is the most granular unit of requirement.
Provides a simple medium for:
Gathering basic information about stories,
Recording high-level requirements,
Developing work estimates, and
Defining acceptance tests.
Acts as agreements between customers and team members to
discuss detail requirements during an sprint.
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Story Card Information
Story identifier and name
Story description: A sentence or two that describes the feature in
customer terms
Story type (C=customer domain, T=technology domain)
Estimated work effort: The estimated work effort needed to deliver
the story, including time for requirements gathering, design, coding,
testing, and documentation
Estimated Value Points
Requirements uncertainty (erratic, fluctuating, routine, stable): An
"exploration factor" for a specific story
Story dependencies: Dependencies that could influence
implementation sequencing
Acceptance tests: Criteria the customer team will use to accept or
reject the story
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Definition of “Done”
It is a good idea to clearly define the meaning of the term “Done.”
For example, a story can be DONE when:
Design is completed and reviewed by the architect.
Coding is completed for 100% of the paths described in the story.
Testing is completed for the story.
Regression testing is done to ensure no unexpected impacts.
All identified bugs are fixed.
Technical and user documentation is updated for the added/changed
functionality.
Similarly, you can define DONE criteria for sprints or releases.
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Product Backlog
Collection of everything that the team could do to add value
to the customer
Defined in terms of user stories
All items in the backlog must be ranked in priority order
Needs to be well defined for the next 2 or 3 sprints
Rest could be defined at a high level
It is a “live” list maintained during the project
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Sprint Backlog
Sprint backlog is the set of product backlog
Sprint backlog is a forecast
Sprint backlog converts the product backlog items into a
“Done.”
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Sprint Planning
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Sprint Planning
The goal of sprint planning is for the team to make a “good
commitment” about what they will deliver at the end of the sprint.
A “good commitment” means:
Everybody is clear about the goals.
Everybody agrees that it is “achievable.”
It should be achievable without sacrificing:
Sustainable pace.
Quality (near releasable quality).
A sprint pre-planning meeting and preparations would help
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Sprint Review
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Sprint Retrospective
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Making Retrospectives Effective
Get input from everybody
Prioritize the list and agree upon few things to try
Assign actions and follow up
Agree on token penalty of actions that are incomplete
Find a way to make the meeting fun
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Different Roles
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Developer
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Product Owner
One of the most critical roles in Scrum
Product owner is part of the “Scrum Team”
Which also includes the Scrum Master and the “Developers”
Product owner provides “direction” to the team
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Product Owner’s Role
Manage the Project’s ROI and risk
Build business cases for projects and features
Be cognizant of the risks
Take inputs from all stakeholders about what the team should
do
And translate that into a “backlog”
Assign “priority” to items in the backlog
Determine the “release plan” with help of the team
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Product Owner’s Role
Communicate the plan and roadmap with the external
stakeholders
Participate in the important Scrum meetings
Release and sprint planning
Sprint review
Be “available” to the team for:
Clarifying requirements
Answering questions
Providing feedback
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Scrum Master
Scrum Master is a critical role in the methodology
The Scrum Master helps the team achieve its goals by doing the
following:
Serving the team
Protecting the team
Supporting the team’s use of Scrum
Remember:
A project manager can become the Scrum master, if he/she is working
in a matrix organization doing the coordination role
A line manager (one with reporting authority) ideally should NOT
become the Scrum master
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What does a Scrum Master Do
Serves the team
Facilitates the team’s interactions – organizes the Scrum rituals and
other meetings
Removes the obstacles that are blocking the team
Protects the team
From interference or disturbances
Resolves conflicts
Supports the team’s use of Scrum
Provides process guidance – shares best practices, templates, etc.
Audits that the methodology is used correctly
May “stand in” for the product owner in his absence
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What the Scrum Master Should NOT Do
Manage the team
Direct the team members
Assign tasks
“Drive” the team
Make decisions on behalf of the team
Over-rule the team members
Direct product strategy
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The Team – Developers
Each member of the team is called a “Developer”
Because they all contribute to the development of the product
The team is SMALL (ideally 7 + or – 2)
The team is cross-functional
Should contain all skills necessary to deliver value to the customer
The team is self-managing
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Building a Scrum Team
Team members will need to “collaborate” a lot more
Hence look for people who are good at communication skills and
team working
You need some specialists but more generalists; e.g., testers who
can code
You need a team that will make decisions and take responsibility
for them
Promoting the right attitude
Make it “safe” for people to make mistakes
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Building Empowered Teams
Empowerment Is…. Empowerment Is Not….
Responsibility and ownership Throwing out the rule book
Working independently towards Bypassing everyone who will say
common objectives “No”
Understanding “Why”, so that Doing the “Fun Parts” of
guidelines can be applied someone else’s job
Weighing the impact of decisions Freedom to unilaterally make
on all affected stakeholders decisions that impact others
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Role of a Manager
The Scrum life-cycle does NOT mention the “manager” at all
The team in Scrum is supposed to be “self-managing” and is
supported by the Scrum Master
The team takes directions from the product owner in terms of work
needed and prioritization
So what does a functional or line manager do in Scrum?
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A New Role for a Manager
Play an active role in recruiting “right” members
Be the mentor/coach for the team
Bring the right “culture” into the team
Help the team understand the “big picture”
Develop skills – address training needs
Administer rewards and recognition
Protect the team in prioritization battles
Deal with escalated issues
Keep abreast of technology, industry, and business trends and
prepare for the future
Represent the team at external forums
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Some Specialist Roles You May Want
Scrum refers to each team member as a “developer” and makes no
distinctions
However, based on your specific needs, you may want to consider
assigning specific roles. For example,
Architect: Automated tester: Configuration
Comes up with Builds frame-work for Manager:
“technical test automation Maintains code
roadmap” Builds suite of repository
Decides about automated tests Automates source
framework, model, Helps moving towards code control, build
etc. test-driven- and release
Reviews designs, development processes
code
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Distributed Scrum Teams
No doubt, running a distributed Scrum team is challenging:
Scrum emphasizes face-to-face communication, cross-functional
teams, and close collaboration
Scrum rituals like daily stand-ups, sprint planning, review, and
retrospective become more challenging
However:
Distributed Scrum is still better than distributed waterfall
It is still possible to implement Scrum with distributed teams with
some best practices to help
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Best Practices in Distributed Scrum
If you had a distributed team with time zones nearly 12 hours
away, what would you prefer?
Teams working away on huge requirements documents and come
back with something after 6 months. OR
Frequent check points – preferably something tangible to see every
week.
Three important things to keep in mind:
Apply/tailor Scrum practices effectively
Follow good software engineering practices
Work on the people-to-people equations
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Target Audience
Members of Scrum teams: Developers, Scrum Masters, Product
owners
Managers of Scrum teams
Teams transitioning (or intending to transition) to Scrum
People intending to pursue the Professional Scrum Master
certification
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Certifications Overview
Following certifications are available in Scrum
Professional Scrum Master/Product Owner (www.scrum.org)
• Participants need to clear online test after the course
Certified Scrum Master/Product Owner (www.scrumalliance.org)
• Participants need to take a training from a Certified Scrum Trainer
AND clear online test
Scrum guidelines can be found on
www.scrumalliance.org and/or www.scrum.org
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Scrum with SimpliLearn
Two days workshop facilitated by experienced faculty, having many
years of live project experience
Full of practical examples and activities to simulate real world
scenarios
Access to additional material online and offline support
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Contact us for more information
www.simplilearn.com
[email protected]
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