The term SCRUM is one that is used within project management a lot these days but what does it actually mean and where did it come from.
Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.
In simpler terms, Scrum is a framework that helps teams work together. It is often thought of as an agile project management framework, scrum describes a set of meetings, tools, and roles that work together to help teams structure and manage their work more efficiently.
Scrum was started in 1995 by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland however the first official SCRUM guide wasn’t published until 2010 so it is still a relatively new concept of project management.
You probably wondering why am I talking about SCRUM?? So, before Christmas, I enrolled on a SCRUM master training course as part of ubloquity’s continuous improvement. More recently I have just passed my exam and become a Certified Scrum Master.
The training was a 3-day online course with the same teacher for the entire program and a class of approximately 30 people. We were split into smaller teams of about 5-6 and throughout the training we broke out into our teams to complete tasks aligned with Scrum.
It was a very interactive training program, and I learned every detail of Scrum and how to apply this agile project management within ubloquity.
A scrum team is made up of 8-10 people, 1 scrum master, 1 product owner and developers. The team follow the scrum framework and understand the values of scrum which are Courage, Focus, Commitment, Respect, and Openness. Scrum also consists of events and artifacts. The events include the sprint, sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review and sprint retrospective. The artifacts include product backlog, sprint backlog and increment.
Below I’ve included a simple diagram that illustrates how all of the above fit into Scrum.
The main difference between scrum or agile project management and other project management methods is that the stakeholders or customers are fully involved throughout the completion of work rather than a large piece of work delivered at the end of a project.
Sprints are the heartbeat of Scrum, where ideas are turned into value.
Sprint Planning initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for the Sprint.
The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team.
The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal.
The Sprint Review is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations. The Scrum Team presents the results of their work to key stakeholders and progress toward the Product Goal is discussed. This is where the involvement of customers and stakeholders is key.
A Sprint Retrospective is used internally within the SCRUM team to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness. It’s a method of assessing what went well, what could be improved and actions.
I will be able to apply scrum within my day job at ubloquity to help organise teams on projects, align our goals and ensure the intended outcome is met. This method of project management also ensures the team works collaboratively and any issues can be raised freely and dealt with in the best possible way. SCRUM also allows teams to break down the task at hand into small pieces of work, therefore when a sprint is complete there is a great sense of accomplishment for the entire team.
SCRUM doesn’t have to be applied within the technology industry the beauty about scrum is that it is a baseline project management method therefore aside from the day job it can be applied to any project, be it a house renovation or any other industry you may find yourself working in.
