Quick Overview on Agile Scrum

Before we do more Scrum, we should know what is Agile:

What is Agility?

“Values, principles and practices that foster team communication and feedback to regularly deliver customer value through working software.”
 

• Team communications - Concentrate more on communication and collaboration rather than process and tools 
• Feedback - lots and lots of daily feedback with all stake holders involved - 
• Regularly Deliver - Software releases every quarter with internal releases weekly or bi-weekly
• Value - Focus on highest valued features first
• Working Software - Focus on getting S/W working early and keeping it releasable rather than big-bang waterfall approach 

Agile Values 

• Emphasize face-to-face communication over written documents.
• Agile teams are located in a single open office sometimes referred to as a bullpen.
• Highlight working software as the primary measure of progress. 
• Produce very little written documentation relative to other methods 

What are the Agile methods ?

• SCRUM
• Adaptive Software Development - replaces the traditional waterfall cycle with a repeating series of speculate, collaborate, and learn cycles.
• Crystal - contains the following properties frequent Delivery of Usable Code to Users , reflective Improvement.
• Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM) - Its goal is to deliver software systems on time and on budget while adjusting for changing requirements along the development process.
• Extreme Programming - it advocates frequent "releases" in short development cycles (timeboxing), which is intended to improve productivity and introduce checkpoints where new customer requirements can be adopted.
• Feature Driven Development (FDD) –At start of project: Develop an Overall Model, Build a Features List, Plan by FeatureWithin each iteration: Design by Feature, Build by Feature

Scrum - Introduction

• Scrum (an abbreviated form of scrummage), in the sports of rugby, is a way of restarting the game, when the ball has gone out of play.
• Scrum is an iterative incremental framework for managing projects.
• Focuses on managing systems with changing requirements
• The goal is to deliver as much quality software as possible within a series of short intervals. 

Scrum - Process

 

 Sprint

• Scrum projects make progress in a series of “Sprints”
• Timeframes are called Time-boxes (typically 2 – 4 weeks)
• Every Sprint team does the following: Analysis -> Design -> Code ->Test
• At the end of each Sprint, the Team must produce a potentially shippable product increment.

Scrum Framework 

1. Roles : Product Owner, Scrum Master, Team
2. Artifacts : Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Burndown Chart
3. Ceremonies : Sprint Planning, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, & Daily Scrum Meeting  

Product Owner

 

• Represents (or is) the user or customer for the project.
• Defines goals for the overall project
• Knowing what to build and in what sequence
• Defines and Prioritizes Features
• Set length of calendar time for Sprint
• Typically 2-4 weeks
• Does not interfere with Sprint (no scope creep)
• Release dates. Accepts or rejects work.

 Scrum Master

• Supports the Team
• Facilitates the Daily Scrum meeting. Asks each developer:
• What did you do yesterday?
• What are you doing today?
• What is in your way?
• Listens and watches carefully during Scrum meeting
• Secures resources if needed
• Communicates to Product Owner

Scrum Team

• Typically 5-10 people
• Cross-functional - QA, Programmers, UI Designers, etc.
• Members should be full-time/dedicated
• Teams are self-organizing
• Members can change only between sprints 

Scrum’s three Artifacts

Product Backlog :

• Requirements
• A dynamic list of all that is desired to work on the project
• Prioritized by the Product Owner based on business value
• Reprioritized at the start of each Sprint
• Each feature has an associated estimate, provided by the ACTUAL team who will do the work
• High priority features are split into “stories” achievable within an iteration.
• Each “story” is prioritized and scoped.
• Prioritized based on business value (Very High, High, etc.) by the Product Owner. 

Sprint Backlog :

 

• A subset of Product Backlog Items, which define the work for a Sprint 
• Usually has more details including planned hours and primary person responsible to do the work during the Sprint 
• Is created ONLY by Team members 
• Should be updated every day 
• If a task requires more than 16 hours, it should be broken down 
• Team can add or subtract items from the list. Product Owner is not allowed to do it

 

Sprint Burndown Chart:

• Provides visibility into the Sprint 
• Demonstrates progress by the team 
• Work on the Horizontal, Time on the Vertical 
• Depicts the total Sprint Backlog hours remaining per day. 
• Ideally should burn down to zero to the end of the Sprint 
• It is never a straight line. 

Scrum’s three ceremonies:

 

Sprint Planning Meeting:

 

• Product Owner reviews: Vision, Roadmap, Release Plan 
• Team reviews: Estimates for each item on Backlog that is a candidate for the Sprint
• Team pulls the work: From the Product Backlog onto the Sprint Backlog

Daily Scrum Meeting 

• Short (15 - 30 min) frequent meetings, facilitated by the Scrum Master
• All team members attend
• One activity – Scrum Master asks each attendee 3 questions 
• Both Chickens and pigs are invited 
• Only pigs can talk

Sprint Review Meeting 

• Team presents what it accomplished during the sprint 
• Typically takes the form of a demo of new features or underlying architecture 
• Informal  2-hour prep time rule 
• Starts with: Product Demo Led by Product Owner 
• Ends with: Sprint Retrospective Led by Scrum Master
  •What worked?
  •What didn’t?
  •What adjustments can we make now?

What is a User Story? 

 

• Short descriptions of features that need to be coded and tested
• Simple requirements
• Generally written on 3X5 index cards 
• Form: As [a type of user] I want to [perform a specific action] such that [result]
• Example: “As a web user, I want to
• Make safe searches, such that I may
• have filtered search results”
• Stories that are big are called EPICS