Scrum is an Agile development process. It was originally conceived for software development, but can be applied to other sorts of development as well.

The process is incremental and iterative. Each iteration is called a Sprint is time-boxed to 2-6 weeks, typically 4. The Sprint length should remain steady over time to get a rythm.

An easy way to remember the elements of Scrum is 3x3: 3 roles, 3 meetings, 3 artifacts.

Roles

The Team

The team ideally consists of 5-9 team members, and is responsible for delivering a product. Although members can have a their fields of expertice, there are no defined roles within the team. The team is self-organising, and cross-functional.

ScrumMaster?

Facilitator who ensures that the team is not impeded in their work. He enforces the rules of the Scrum process, and protects the team from unnecessary disturbance.

Product Owner

Represents customer and stakeholders. His job is to make sure that the right things are being built from a business perspective.

Meetings

Sprint planning

Time boxed to 8 hours. The Product Manager and the Team agrees on the backlog to be delivered during the next Sprint. Then the Team plans how it will acheive the Sprint goal, that is completing the selected Backlog items. The output should be the Sprint Backlog.

Daily Scrum

A 15-minute (max!) stand-up meeting. Each team member tells the rest of the team:

• What was done since last meeting
• What he will do before next meeting
• Anything that is preventing him from doing a good job

Sprint ending

Actually this is 2 meetings, but that breaks the rule of three. The first part is a demonstration of what has been done during the Sprint. Only completed items can be demonstrated, and only one hour of preparation is allowed. The presentation is working software, not PowerPoint? or similar.

The second part is called Sprint Retrospective. The team will answer the questions:

• What went well during the Sprint?
• What can be improved?

The points of improvements are then discussed, and should result in actions that can be implemented in the next Sprint.

Artifacts

Product Backlog

The document describing the whole product. It is a list of backlog items, typically the features. Each item has a business value, set by the Product Owner, and a development estimate, set by the team. The Product Backlog is a tool to get a high Return on Investment (ROI) by jugding the business value against the required effort to produce a given item.

Sprint Backlog

A detailed plan valid for one Sprint. The teams sets the tasks and do the estimates.

Burndown chart

A chart showing remaining work. It is updated daily and shows the teams progress during the Sprint.

-- EirikMidttun - 16 Feb 2009