Preface:
If you are facing a problem or project, which constantly encounters various changes during the implementation, in other words, the end, the end is not clear, and seeing the outputs, the problem becomes clearer step by step, Scrum is a suitable option for you, It can be.
Framework or process?
Without going into the definition of the scrum or reviewing its history; Want to know what Scrum is in plain language and how it works? How can we define and develop our work and projects in Scrum? What to do to use Scrum and where to start?
First, we need to clarify an important issue: Is Scrum a framework or process and methodology? That is, with Scrum, can we draw the general structure of a project and determine the stages of work, or does Scrum want to teach us how to do work and project and accurately describe the duties of each person involved in the project or product production?
Most experts refer to the Scrum framework. Ken Schober, the creator of Permanent Scrum, uses the term “framework” to emphasize that Scrum is a framework and does not want to go into too much detail about how things should be done in the project. Scrum tries to provide general and suggestions for improving and accelerating the project, and the Scrum manager himself and the Scrum team must decide how to do things and their details. There is no “should” and “should not” in Scrum, and there is no complicated version for running the Scrum team. So, before we get into the components and structure of Scrum; We need to visualize Scrum as follows: “Scrum is a framework for software development and optimizing project management to reduce risks and problems.”
Scrum structure
Scrum is an iterative framework for doing complex projects and products. Scrum tries to divide a large project with many steps and complexities into several fixed and repeatable tasks or sections. Each of these fixed-length repetitions is called a sprint. Each sprint has a period of one to two weeks, and after each sprint, the scrum team must sit down and hold meetings, and after specifying the next steps, move on to newsprints. Also, over time, teams try to do their one-week or two-week sprints to develop software or product at a certain pace and pace.
Next, by examining the structure and components of a scrum (Figure 1); We explain its basics and principles and proceed as a scenario, the production of a product or service.
Step 1: Prepare a Product Backlog
Imagine a customer requesting to build a new product or service. For example, you would design an online store for a customer or set up a data center for a bank branch. The managers of the company hold several meetings with the customer and the general work is specified and agreed upon by the parties.
Starting a scrum with a product owner. The product owner prepares and submits complete documentation about the project or product. These documents must clearly state the answer to each question, including project and product objectives, product specifications, requirements, do’s and don’ts, project or product production time, and any other issues. At this stage, the design and development team can come to the aid of company managers and prepare a complete upstream document with specific details.
Second stage: phasing
A product is never fully delivered to the customer and must be completed and developed step by step. So at this stage, the employer or the development team must divide the whole project into several specific phases A, B, C, D, etc., and specify the time for each. Here, it is determined at what date each phase begins and ends and whether several phases need to run in parallel. In some projects, it is possible to advance several phases simultaneously, but in some projects, starting one phase requires the complete completion of the previous phase. All of these issues should be identified and agreed upon at this stage through meetings between the client, the employer, the design, and the development team.
Step 3: Plan Sprint and Prepare a Sprint Backlog
Product Backlog document and project phasing are done and should be determined by holding meetings, goals, and how to do sprints. Sprint is a recurring period of time in Scrum that leads to product completion. Sprints are the heart of Scrum and include daily chores, product development tasks, and planning, review, and rethinking sessions. At this stage, the model for doing sprints should be determined so that the team members know how many hours, days, or weeks they are faced with sprints and when and how the meetings are held. At this stage, companies try to prepare sprint documents that include intra-group issues, staffing, how things are done, and group schedules.
Meetings are held with the presence of members of the sprint teams, and each member explains his or her duties and is justified in scheduling the entire sprint. Scrum people try to write their work on sheets of paper or sticky notes and specify which sheets to do each day.
By preparing a Sprint Backlog, it is determined what role each team and its members have in the various phases of the project and what sprints they need to do. Each team in a scrum can be from 3 to 9 people. The time of each sprint can also be defined as several hours, 24 hours, and several weeks based on the sprints defined in each phase of the project.
Step 4: Run the sprint
Once the job description of each team and individual in the project is specified and the sprint document is prepared, a work sprint (ScrumFlow) begins. At this point, ScrumMaster tries to track the progress of the sprints on each team and hold 10- to 15-minute outpatient sessions. These meetings can be daily so that each team member can quickly report on the progress of their work and Scrum Master knows what the project is like. People in a sprint try to exchange ideas in these sessions and move on to what has been done or what is left. Everything is engraved on the Sprint board and updated daily. If something goes wrong or has not been done yet; It is quickly identified and a solution is devised for it. Reports provided by sprinters should be accurate, serious, and honest, but no technical details are required.
Step 5: Deliver and check the sprint
When a sprint is over; Delivered to Scrum Master and examined. Was everything done and there is no defect? Is the work done fully compatible with the Sprint document and the Product Backlog document? Usually, at this stage, a general report of how to do the sprint is given, which is known as the sprint report. This report addresses the challenges, problems, and weaknesses of Sprint to address in the future. If necessary, a short session is held to summarize the entire sprint.
Step 6: Review the Sprint
If a sprint is not complete or has weaknesses, we need the Sprint Retrospective step. Sprinters usually reunite and hold 2-3 hour sessions, examining the strengths and weaknesses of the work, identifying ways to improve the sprint or performance, and trying to complete and re-deliver the sprint quickly. At this stage, it may be necessary to do new work or use other tools and facilities in the project. Scheduling is completed by the time the sprint is completed, and again each person must specify their worksheets and tasks within a few hours or a day.
After completing a sprint and delivering it, a long meeting between Scrum Master and Scrum team members was held and done again after checking the sprint and if necessary a new division of labor, a new sprint begins. This iterative process continues until the project and product are nearing completion and enter the so-called Potentially Product stage. Sometimes a project or product is really completed at this stage, but often it still needs to be debugged or done with some details and additional work.
There should be a physical or digital board available at all stages of the scrum so that team members can track their work and know what each task is and what stage they are at now. In outpatient sessions, try to update the content on the board and replace yesterday’s sticky notes with today’s sticky notes. Each Scrum team member tries to move their worksheets regularly, moving the day worksheets from the To-Do section to Doing and the worksheets they did yesterday from Doing to Done (Figure 2).
This board should be installed in a place that is in front of the work team so that they can refer to it in the shortest time. Some companies and software developers use Whiteboard applications that can be shared between multiple users on different devices and platforms. Especially if some team members are telecommuting; They need to always have remote access to the scrum board. Some Scrum software also has a section for tracking To-Do, Doing, and Done tasks that are implemented based on different colors and categories.
Successful sprint
One of the goals of Scrum agile or Agile in the business. The product, marketing, sales, and service sectors can be more productive with Scrum, transforming their processes and delivering more valuable work.
But running a scrum alone is not successful, and may make the production process longer, more complicated, and more challenging. Businesses need to be able to scrumImplement the successful. A scrum relies on three rules: “self-organization,” “timeframe,” and “continuous improvement,” and businesses need to learn how to enforce these rules in different parts of their company. In the previous section, we said that sprint is the heart of a scrum. If teams can implement a successful and correct sprint and well-established Scrum work culture among their employees; They hope to see the goals and achievements of Agile Project Management soon. For a successful sprint, several factors seem to be essential:
1. The time of a sprint should be clear: Usually a sprint is not less than a week or more than four weeks. Sprints must have a certain duration and it is emphasized that they start and end at the appointed time. Teams that fail to schedule sprints disrupt the entire project and agility of a business and slow down the workflow in collections. If one team fails to meet the specified sprint time, it will naturally affect the performance of other teams.
2- Emphasis on daily standing sessions: In all Scrum, guides emphasis is placed on holding 15-minute daily sessions. In these meetings, team members gather for a few minutes, review the obstacles, and give an overview of the progress. These outpatient sessions should be precise and concise. Standing sessions are an important part of a scrum process. Holding these sessions is essential for a new Scrum team and will eventually create a Scrum work culture.
3- Continuous check of sprint: after the end of each sprint; It is better to hold 2-3 hour meetings and review the whole work. It is essential to summarize each sprint and find ways to advance the project. Identify tasks completed and unfinished tasks to be addressed in future sprints.
4 – Continuous and slow improvement: Do not expect a new team to appear successfully in the first sprint and complete the next sprints with the highest efficiency and speed. Sometimes a team has to do several sprints and progress step by step. Therefore, first emphasizing the implementation of scrum and sprints and then trying to take an effective and improving step at the end of each sprint can create a work culture that leads to agility and business intelligence.
5- Documentation: Organizations that can perform better in documenting experiences and projects; will have more successful productivity. Teams must learn to document each sprint for future use. What lessons did this sprint teach people? How were the challenges addressed and solutions suggested for the problems? Are these solutions for the next sprint as well? How can a similar sprint be completed faster and more efficiently? The answers to all these questions must be documented and accurately documented and turned into knowledge and information capital for businesses.
Concluding remarks
We are in a decade where all companies, organizations, and businesses, regardless of their size, need to be faster and more agile. These businesses need project management and product development frameworks, and scrum is one of the solutions available. But Scrum is not the answer to all the problems, and sometimes even at the beginning it causes more slowness and clutter until the Scrum work culture is formed due to continuity in its implementation and work teams appear happier, with less stress and higher productivity.
About KSRA
The Kavian Scientific Research Association (KSRA) is a non-profit research organization to provide research / educational services in December 2013. The members of the community had formed a virtual group on the Viber social network. The core of the Kavian Scientific Association was formed with these members as founders. These individuals, led by Professor Siavosh Kaviani, decided to launch a scientific / research association with an emphasis on education.
KSRA research association, as a non-profit research firm, is committed to providing research services in the field of knowledge. The main beneficiaries of this association are public or private knowledge-based companies, students, researchers, researchers, professors, universities, and industrial and semi-industrial centers around the world.
Our main services Based on Education for all Spectrum people in the world. We want to make an integration between researches and educations. We believe education is the main right of Human beings. So our services should be concentrated on inclusive education.
The KSRA team partners with local under-served communities around the world to improve the access to and quality of knowledge based on education, amplify and augment learning programs where they exist, and create new opportunities for e-learning where traditional education systems are lacking or non-existent.
Professor Siavosh Kaviani was born in 1961 in Tehran. He had a professorship. He holds a Ph.D. in Software Engineering from the QL University of Software Development Methodology and an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Chelsea.
Executive-level IT strategist with over 20 years of experience in successful IT, product management, and business information systems initiatives. Senior liaison and progressive leader with the ability to plan broad-ranging initiatives while understanding impact and requirements from both business and technology perspectives. Strong employee advocate dedicated to aligning staff skills with product needs, and mentoring personnel in growing skills and career paths. Well-versed in a variety of design, development, and project management methodologies (i.e. SAFe Agile/Scrum, Lean Six Sigma, CMMI, UML, etc.), with a talent for guiding business process improvement through the adoption of industry best practices and standards.
Malaysian University of Technology (UTM)— Ph.D. Computer Engineering (Software). Skills:
Organizational Architecture — Implementing Information Structures — Software Engineering — Agent-Oriented Architecture — Software Project Management
