Why Is It Necessary To Computerise Scrum Process And Its Implementation?

Human memory is fallible – people who rely a lot upon their memories tend to make mistakes when they have a lot of things to remember. Even though a person might be God gifted to remember things, human beings are subjected to limitations dictated by nature, and there is a limit to how much the human brain can absorb and retain. This is why people, especially those who are appointed to work at senior levels, have a habit of making notes. Notes can be extremely useful, and depending upon the nature of your work and profession, they can prove to be indispensible. Note “making” can be simple in nature. An individual can jot down a few reminders on a piece of paper, refer to it from time to time, and accomplish the tasks given to him or her. 

For project managers, who have to professionally deal with work which requires a lot many things to remember, a simple “note making” process may not suffice, or prove to be insufficient. To overcome this difficulty, many “C” level individuals make use of digital pocket diaries and organizers to assist them in their note making activities.

Importance of lists and the need to create them in scrum

Scrum project managers too have a lot many things to remember.  The most important thing for them is the product backlog. A product backlog is nothing but an organised list of development related requirements, referred to as “user stories” in scrum terminology. Within Agile framework, a specific process is defined to create the list of user stories which together form the product backlog. As per the scrum manifesto, the product owner, who represents the stakeholder’s interests, prepares a detailed list of requirements which are absolutely necessary to develop a particular product. Actually, the entire product is initially broken down into small functionable parts (user stories) which can be developed independently. Each functionable part is further segregated into its sub components which are known as “tasks”. The development team is assigned these tasks depending upon their levels of expertise. Each team member takes up a list of tasks which he or she is supposed to complete during the product development cycle known as a “sprint”.

Scrum management and the need to organize information and user lists

If you look at scrum from a subjective point of view, the framework is all about planning, implementation, self-evaluation, and repeating the same process all over again until the product is eventually developed. There is a lot of list making to do during the implementation of scrum framework. With so many types of lists required to implement scrum, it is almost impossible to remember each and every list item, and recall them at a moment’s notice. So the question arises – how can a scrum project manager or development team members remember things? The answer is – they cannot do so. They need an organised system which can retain and store the lists in an organised manner. Moreover, such a system should also be capable of retrieving the list items as per the user’s requirements. A dump of all the list items may prove to be cumbersome, since individual scrum tem members only require information that is useful to them in their work. A simple, or even a sophisticated digital diary, or a pocket organiser will not suffice. What is actually needed is to harness the computing power and memory retention capabilities of computers. A good quality software which can take care of all the lists, filter them out as per the user’s requirements, and even assist them in their daily work, can go a long way in implementing scrum successfully.     

How can a computerized scrum management system help in scrum implementation?

A computer based scrum management system can be very valuable while implementing scrum. Besides saving time and making the implementation easy, it offers many other advantages too.

• Product backlog

A product backlog is an organised, and an ordered list of everything needed to develop, or to manufacture a particular product. It is used for:

o   Storing the requests or requirements, known as user stories, needed to develop or modify a particular product. It can include new features, or may also consist of features required to modify, or update additional functionalities associated with the product.

o   Organising the user stories in accordance to their priorities or importance. A small portion of the list is "extracted" and transferred to the sprint backlog to carry out the sprint. The user stories in sprint backlog are taken up by team members for development purposes.

Computerised product backlog

The product owner can create an effective product backlog and organise the user stories depending upon their importance. Typically, user stories are prioritised depending upon how much important they are, and their importance to the stakeholders i.e. how much they are worth in terms of revenue generation and product development. Computerized systems can offer a dynamic way of generating product backlogs, which can also be modified or updated, rearranged and prioritized as per need. A lot of time is saved by the product owner.

• Sprint backlog

The sprint backlog is a list of carefully selected product backlog items or user stories which are to be developed, or processed during the sprint by the development team. It also reflects the team's objectives and the forecast of the planned sprint results.

o   When the sprint backlog is specified for inclusion by the product owner, it is further broken down into individual tasks by the team members during the second part of the sprint planning meeting.

o   Once individual tasks are created, they are to be allotted to team members.

Computerized sprint backlog

The product backlog created by the product owner is stored within the system. The computerised system makes the entire list of product backlog items available to the product manager, and he or she can easily select, or “pick up” user stories from the list and transfer it to the sprint backlog. Team members can avail the sprint backlog from the system, and further break it down into tasks with the help of the system. The scrum management system also aids the team members in transferring the tasks using drag-and-drop features, which make the entire activity effortless. 

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