Scrum

Scrum is probably the most widely recognized framework for Agile. It was invented by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland and emerged in the early 1990s.

According to the Scrum Guide, “Scrum is lightweight, simple to understand, and difficult to master.”

Scrum theory

Scrum is based on empiricism, in which knowledge comes from experience, and decision-making is based on what is known and observed.

The three pillars that support Scrum are transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

Scrum roles

There are three roles in the Scrum framework.

(Take a closer look)

• Product Owner: responsible for prioritizing the work and determining what is billed.
• Scrum Team: decides how to carry out the work.
• Scrum Master: provides support for the team and helps remove impediments that might slow the team down.

Scrum events

Here are the main components of Scrum:

• Sprint – a period during which the work is done, typically lasting between one and four weeks.
• Sprint Planning – the event that starts a sprint, it’s where the product owner and the team decide on the work they will attempt to complete during the sprint.
• Sprint Review – a presentation or demonstration of the work product achieved during the preceding sprint.
• Retrospective – an opportunity for the team to step back and look at how they have been performing the work as well as identify improvements to their processes.
• Daily Scrum (a.k.a. the daily stand-up) – a daily opportunity for the team to get together for a short meeting (never longer than 15 minutes) and plan out the work of the day.

Reading

Below are additional resources for your consideration as you explore and learn more about the scrum approach:

• Schwaber, K. & Sutherland, J. (2017). The Scrum Guide
• Scrum Alliance. The 2020 Scrum Guide and Related Content.

What are your thoughts?

• Can you think of any examples either in your experience or one you have heard of where you think this framework might be appropriate? Try to justify your answer.
• Take a look at the responses from your peers. Do you agree with their responses? If not, explain why.

Use the Comments section below and let us know your thoughts. Try to respond to at least one other post.

Once you are happy with your contribution, click the Mark as complete button to check the step off, then you can move to the next step in which we look at Extreme Programming (XP).