Scrum and iterative
development
Scrum
framework actively supports project development in the form of iterations,
known popularly as “iterative development” in technical jargon. Scrum supports
iterative development in the form of sprints. The feature helps to control the
return over investment or the “ROI” in a much better manner, and helps the
stakeholders to decide and prioritize the development activity as well as
production processes. Scrum is all about incorporating dynamic changes during project development, and promotes the primary goal of delivering maximum
business value within a limited or minimum time scale. It is possible to
achieve dynamic development processes by properly implementing scrum and
controlling the sprint activity in an efficient manner.
Importance of sprint activity, or iterations, in catering to
constantly changing project environments
Projects can
be complex. They can also be subjected to ongoing market trends and changing
user- associated requirements. While developing very big or complex projects,
it can be difficult to assign fixed goals or objectives. Development takes
time. More than often, the functionalities or facilities linked up with a
particular project may become obsolete or redundant over time. This can create
problems with the development activity if the organization is following
traditional waterfall or linear development methodologies. It becomes very
difficult to incorporate the changes in such methods since the entire project
has to be initiated right from the beginning – from scratch. This result is a
significant loss of working hours and productivity.
This is where scrum comes
in. Scrum framework supports changes occurring in the project environment in a
dynamic manner. It is also possible to consistently evaluate the development
related requirements, and make amendments in the project development plan in an
instant, without any significant loss of time or resources. Moreover, it is
much easier to identify redundancy levels and put a curb on nonproductive
developmental activities – simply because the sprint process incorporates
dynamic updates within the product backlog as and when required. The product
owner can update, remove, and add user stories or requirements in the product
backlog, and the same can be taken up for development purposes in the sprint
backlog. This is the main essence of scrum, and the primary reason why scrum is
so popular as a development methodology.
How can you dynamically incorporate changes into your ongoing project or
production plan?
Scrum planning and implementation starts with the creation of the product backlog – the list
of requirements needed to develop the project in totality. In a typical
project, the end product is segregated into its basic constituent parts. The
list containing each of the constituent parts forms the product backlog. The
constituent parts are known as user stories in scrum. Therefore, the product
backlog is created out of user stories, or in other words, the list required to
create the product is the product backlog while each constituent part is the
user story. The product owner represents the interests of the stakeholders, and
is therefore responsible for creating the product backlog.
During the implementation process, the product owner determines the priority of the
importance of user stories and transfers them to the sprint backlog for
development purpose. Team members take up user stories on the basis of their
levels of expertise and start developing them during the sprint. After the end
of each sprint, user stories are checked for acceptance levels. If they are
found to be acceptable i.e. “shippable” they are accepted as “Done” and removed
from the sprint backlog. In case the development remains unfinished, the
incomplete user stories still go back to the product backlog, where the product
owner reevaluates their importance and priority, and eventually decides whether
to send the incomplete stories back to the sprint backlog for further
development, or to mark them as redundant and do away with them. This is how
scrum helps to check undue wastage of development time and resources, since the
requirement is evaluated every time the sprint cycle ends. If the particular
development is found to be non-productive, they are simply taken away from the
sprint backlog.
On the other
hand, if the owners or the stakeholders feel a new functionality or facility
might increase the market value of the ongoing project, the new set of
requirements can be easily added as user stories in the product backlog, and
the product owner can simply include them in the sprint backlog for development
purposes. This is how scrum can
dynamically incorporate changes in an ongoing project.
Find out more, and download our free QuickScrum tool which can help you in implementing scrum in an effective and profitable way!
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