Agile & Scrum 101

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working product* over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

• Cross-functional: the Scrum Team possess all the skills needed to do the work
• Self-managing: they decide how much work they can do in a Sprint and how they will do it
• Collaborative: they work together to achieve a Sprint Goal
• Small: typically, fewer than 10 people including the Scrum Master and Product Owner

Design Thinking be integrated into the Agile development process which is a human-centered approach to problem solving. It focuses on understanding the user and their needs. The process is iterative and non-linear, meaning that teams can revisit stages throughout the process.

Below is the following stages of design thinking:

• Empathize: In this stage, designers learn about the users by conducting user research such as interviews and usability testing.
• Define: Once they have a better understanding of the users needs, they use the information to define the problem statement.
• Ideate: In this stage, the team comes up with creative solutions to the problem statement.
• Prototype: They then create a basic model or prototype of their solution to test with users.
• Test: The team gets feedback from users on the prototype and use this feedback to improve their design.

The key differences between Agile and traditional project management methodologies include:

Flexibility vs. Predictability:

Agile: Emphasizes flexibility and adaptability to changes throughout the project lifecycle.
Traditional: Focuses on thorough upfront planning and predictability, with a linear, sequential approach.

Delivery:

Agile: Involves iterative cycles, delivering small increments of work frequently.
Traditional: Aims for a single final delivery after all project phases are complete.

Customer Involvement:

Agile: Continuous customer feedback and collaboration are integral.
Traditional: Customer involvement is typically limited to the initial requirements phase and final delivery.

Project Structure:

Agile: Continuous customer feedback and collaboration are integral.
Traditional: Customer involvement is typically limited to the initial requirements phase and final delivery.

Team Collaboration:

Agile: Encourages close collaboration among cross-functional teams with shared responsibilities.
Traditional: Operates with a hierarchical structure and clearly defined roles and responsibilities.

Change Management:

Agile: Welcomes and easily incorporates changes even late in the project.
Traditional: Manages changes through formal change control processes, which can be cumbersome.

Documentation:

Agile: Focuses on essential documentation that adds value, often minimal.
Traditional: Requires extensive documentation throughout the project lifecycle.

Risk Management:

Agile: Manages risk through frequent reassessment and adaptation, addressing issues quickly.
Traditional: Identifies and mitigates risks early through detailed planning and analysis.

Success Measurement:

Agile: Measures success based on the value delivered to the customer and the quality of the product.
Traditional: Measures success based on adherence to the initial scope, schedule, and budget.

Focus on Learning

Both methodologies emphasize learning and iterating based on customer feedback.

Build-Measure-Learn

The Lean Startup cycle (Build-Measure-Learn) is similar to the Agile cycle of sprint, plan, develop, test, review.

Agile Development

Lean Startup incorporates Agile development practices to deliver products in iterations and gather customer feedback quickly.

Reduced Risk

Both approaches aim to reduce development risk through iteration and testing.

Overall, Agile provides a framework for iterative development and project management, while Lean Startup focuses on validating assumptions about the product through a Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. They work well together to develop products that meet customer needs.

Sprint:

Purpose: To enable predictability by ensuring inspection and adaptation of progress toward a Product Goal at least every calendar month.

Sprint Planning:

Purpose: To determine the work to be completed in the upcoming sprint and how it will be accomplished.

Daily Scrum:

Purpose: To synchronize the team’s activities and plan the day’s work, discussing progress and any blockers.

Sprint Review:

Purpose: To inspect the increment of work completed during the sprint and gather feedback from stakeholders.

Sprint Retrospective:

Purpose: To reflect on the sprint process and identify areas for improvement.

• Increasing focus and transparency.
• Enabling empiricism and iterative development.
• Encouraging self-organizing teams.
• Reducing complexity.
• Improving communication and collaboration.

Resistance to Change

Teams accustomed to traditional methodologies may resist adopting Agile practices. Overcoming this requires clear communication of benefits and gradual integration of Agile principles.

Lack of Experience

Teams may lack the necessary skills and experience with Agile and Scrum. Providing comprehensive training and continuous learning opportunities can address this issue.

Poor Collaboration

Effective Agile implementation depends on strong team collaboration. Facilitating open communication channels and fostering a collaborative culture is essential.

Incomplete Backlog Management

Inadequate backlog grooming can lead to scope creep and prioritization issues. Regular refinement sessions with the product owner can help maintain a well-organized backlog.

Misunderstanding Roles

Misunderstanding of Scrum roles (Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team) can impede progress. Clear role definitions and responsibilities should be emphasized through training and coaching.

Tools and techniques used are a set of 3 roles, 5 events, and 3 artifacts to track progress and ensure project success. These are:

3 Roles:

Product Owner: Represents the voice of the customer and ensures the product backlog reflects their needs.
Scrum Master: Facilitates the Scrum process and ensures the team is following the rules.
Development Team: A group of self-organizing professionals who do the work of building the product.

5 Events:

Sprint Planning: The team collaborates to plan the work for the next sprint (typically 1-4 weeks).
Daily Scrum: A brief daily meeting for the development team to discuss progress and identify any roadblocks.
Sprint Review: The development team showcases the work completed in the sprint and gathers feedback from stakeholders.
Sprint Retrospective: The team reflects on the previous sprint to identify areas for improvement.
Product Backlog Refinement: An ongoing process to review and refine the product backlog, which is a prioritized list of features for the product.

3 Artifacts:

Product Backlog: A prioritized list of features that represent the work to be done on the product.
Sprint Backlog: A subset of the product backlog selected for a particular sprint.
Product Increment: The sum of all the work completed in all the sprints.
These elements work together to provide transparency and foster collaboration within Scrum teams, which helps ensure project success and all this can learn in our scrum and agile course.