Agile and Scrum

What is Agile?

Agile is a technique for designing software. It is an approach that aims to continuously iterate the development and testing of the SDLC process. The Agile approach splits the product into smaller segments.

Unlike other software development methodologies, this approach allows for concurrent development and research. Collaboration and face-to-face interactions are also made easier. Stakeholders, developers, and customers must collaborate to create a product.

Agile Software Development

The agile approach to product development is one of the fastest and easiest ways to transform a vision for a consumer need into software products. Agile is an action strategy for developing software including continuous planning, testing, growth, team collaboration, and new methods. This encourages transitions to be more flexible.

Four main concepts are used for the agile development of applications:

• Individual and team interactions through technologies and strategies
• Functional applications take precedence over lengthy documentation.
• Cooperation from customers during contract negotiations
• Reaction to Changes

What is Scrum?

A scrum is an agile strategy that is most generally used in product development, especially software development. However, Scrum is a generic project management structure that applies to any project with strict timelines, difficult criteria, and a level of uniqueness. Sprints are Scrum projects that continue through a series of iterations. Each sprint normally lasts 2–4 weeks.

Agile Scrum Methodology

The agile Scrum Approach is a technique that allows product development teams to focus on delivering market performance in the shortest time possible by effectively and constantly reviewing existing functioning software. It stresses transparency, collaboration, and incremental progress toward well-defined targets. The Scrum Framework is designed to deal with the fact that specifications are likely to change or are largely unknown at the start of a project.

Roles in Agile Scrum Methodology

Product owner: The owner of the product is the primary stakeholder in the project and communicates with users, clients, and others in the process. The product owner may be a member of sales management or marketing, a key stakeholder, or a key customer. A product owner is the one who maximizes the worth of the products developed by a Scrum team. The worth represents the product’s business value. The responsibilities of product owners are to:

• Create and maintain a product backlog.
• Closely collaborate with the company and staff to ensure that everyone is aware of the product backlog’s work items.
• Give the staff specific instructions on which functionality to develop next.
• Make a decision on when to ship the order, with a preference for more regular deliveries.

Scrum Master: The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the staff operates as effectively as possible. Scrum Master accomplishes this by introducing the Scrum method, removing barriers to progress, and protecting the team against outside forces, among other aspects. He also holds meetings and serves as a liaison between the product manager and the production team. A successful scrum master has a thorough understanding of the team’s work and can assist them in improving their transparency and execution flow. He/she plans the requisite tools for sprint preparation, stand-up, sprint review, and the sprint retrospective as the decision-maker.

Team members: The team does its work and classifies the task to finish the sprint or process. The team members are responsible for taking input from the scrum master and product owner so that the product does not deviate from the business perspective and is implemented within the agreed-upon time period.

Artifacts in Agile Scrum Methodology

User stories: User stories include a brief overview of the program’s functionalities that are being tested. A user story aims to describe how a piece of work can have a specific benefit to the consumer. It’s important to remember that “customers” don’t have to be external end consumers in the conventional sense; they may even be internal customers or co-workers. User stories are a few phrases that outline the desired result in clear terms. They don’t get over the details. Requirements are added later after the team has agreed on them.

Sprints: The product owner and developer team set a fixed deadline for completing the user stories, which is normally 2–4 weeks. At the beginning of the project, the number and duration of the sprints shall be determined. Sprints divide a project into manageable segments. Teams schedule a single sprint at a time, and subsequent sprints are adjusted depending on the results of the previous one. Although each sprint is separately scheduled, you can decide at the outset the number and duration of sprints in your project.

Product Backlog: The product backlog is a repository in which requirements for each release are registered, along with information on the number of desired requirements to be completed. A product backlog is a set of user stories presented by the product owner that acts as an enhancement to the current product or as a deliverable that must be completed within a specific time frame. It should be handled and aligned depending on its importance and allocated to the members of the scrum team. The team members may also order additional inclusions or improvements or omissions.

Release Backlog: A release is a timeline for fulfilling the number of iterations. The product owner consults with the scrum master to decide which stories can be prioritized for release. The stories in the release backlog will be completed in a release.

Sprint backlog: A sprint is a time limit for completing various activities that must be ready for review. The sprint backlog aims to communicate and organize the user stories that will be moved to the sprint. Any member of the squad should be actively participating, according to the scrum master. Neither the scrum master nor the product owner can use threats or manipulation to force team members to follow the desired perspective since this compromise the purpose of using the agile technique.

Block List: The blocklist is a list of blocks and decisions that are handled and updated frequently by the scrum master.

Burndown chart: Burn-down diagrams demonstrate the overall progress and completion of the work. The incomplete stories and functions are represented in the graph chart. By plotting user stories against time, burndown maps graphically show how efficiently the team is functioning. Since it is designed with the end-user in mind, the map is only revised after a customer narrative has been completed successfully. A burndown map can also be used to monitor a team’s velocity and forecast their results. Burndown charts in agile programs are usually divided into two categories: product burndown charts and sprint burndown charts.

Product burndown maps imagine the whole project and concentrate on the wider picture. The graph shows how much of your team’s product targets have been reached so far, as well as how much progress remains. Instead of numbers, the horizontal axis displays the sprint. The horizontal axis displays the sprint number, while the vertical axis displays the story points, instead of times.

The sprint burndown map only shows the sprints that are currently running. It shows user stories chosen by the team during the sprint planning session. This burndown table, unlike the commodity chart, calculates results using days on the horizontal axis.

Scrum Practices

Practices are illustrated in the below figure:

Scrum Events

Sprint: If a milestone is met, incremental timelines are used. The length does not exceed four weeks and should be consistent over the whole growth phase.

Sprint Planning: The whole Scrum team gathers to plan for the next sprint at the start of a Sprint.

Daily Scrum: A 15-minute session held simultaneously on each sprint day to discuss the previous day’s results and the goals for the next day.

Sprint Review: At the end of each sprint, an informal meeting is held at which the Scrum team announces their improvements to the shareholders and collects feedback. The Sprint Review will evaluate Sprint’s results and make recommendations for potential progress.

Sprint Retrospective: The Scrum team reflects on the previous Sprint’s activities and recommends new changes for the next Sprint during this session. A sprint retrospective meeting is held to decide which tasks are being performed well by the team, which should be pursued, and what changes can be made to make the next Sprint more effective.

Agile & Scrum Major Difference

• Agile is a continual iteration of development and testing in the software development process, while Scrum is an Agile process that focuses on achieving market performance in the shortest possible time.
• The agile methodology also offers applications with feedback, while Scrum releases applications after each sprint.
• Leadership is essential in the Agile process, while Scrum facilitates a self-organizing, cross-functional team.
• Scrum coordination is achieved in daily stand-up meetings, while Agile offers collaborations with participants of various cross-functional teams and face-to-face experiences.
• The Agile process’s design and execution should be kept simple, while the Scrum process’s design and execution can be innovative and creative.

Principle of Agile

The Agile concepts are as follows:

• Changes in demand are welcome, even though they emerge late in the development process. Agile procedures allow improvements based on the customer’s competitive advantage.
• Stakeholders and developers will collaborate regularly during the project.
• Flexibility is increased by paying attention to technical excellence and proper architecture.
• Agile teams aim to enhance their performance to tailor their decisions to the project’s needs.

Principle of Scrum

The following are the principles of scrum:

• Self-organization: It leads to a healthy division of responsibilities among team members. it provides an atmosphere where people can be innovative and inventive, which contributes to the development process.
• Collaboration: Another important principle that focuses on teamwork is collaboration. It requires a Consciousness, Authorization, and a Collective approach. It also demonstrates that project management is a collective value-creation process through which teams cooperate to produce the best outcomes.
• Time-boxing: In the Scrum method, this theory determines how time is a constraint. Daily Sprint Planning and Review Sessions are critical elements of the time-constrained components.
• Iterative Development: This concept focuses on better management of enhancements and production of products that meet the needs of customers. It also establishes the organization’s obligations for iterative growth.

Agile Scrum Methodology Benefits

The agile scrum approach is a widely used strategy for the development of applications due to its advantages and better utilization rate as compared to other methodologies.

Benefits of Agile Scrum Methodologies are:

Improved Product efficiency

Because of continuous input from the product owner, customers, and the scrum master, the product developed using this approach is error-free or has few errors/bugs. High-quality goods see a significant boost in demand.

Improved Return on Investment

Return on Investment (ROI) means the sum of cash you have earned or lost corresponding to the amount you have spent. Thus, before implementing modern software development strategies, ROI is an important parameter. Agile is 63% more beneficial than the plan-driven strategy.

Flexibility

Scrum is the most adaptable system in comparison to others. As a result, it can be used by both software and operating processes. Scrum guarantees that resource consumption is optimized and waste is minimized.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

The agile principle places a high value on consumer loyalty. Brand features and services that add value to consumers are provided more easily. The deliverables are tailored to the customer’s specifications, and they are delivered not once but regularly during the project, resulting in higher customer loyalty.

Agile Scrum Methodology Limitations

Any methodology has its flaws, and Agile Scrum is no exception. The advantages of the Agile Scrum technique outweigh the disadvantages. As a consequence, it is the most preferred technique for many companies.

The following are the most important drawbacks of the Agile Scrum technique.

• Only seasoned individuals must practice scrum or it will eventually become the organization’s Kryptonite.
• If the tasks are incorrectly defined, the project is more inconsistent.
• Since it is modern technology, every company will need time to get used to it.