What is Agile and Scrum. What is Scrum? Scrum team

Definition

Agile (agile software development) is a family of “agile” approaches to software development. These approaches are also sometimes referred to as frameworks or agile methodologies.

Agile originated in the IT environment, but then spread to other areas – from industrial engineering to artificial intelligence.

The meaning of Agile is formulated in the Agile Software Development Manifesto: “People and interactions are more important than processes and tools. A working product is more important than comprehensive documentation. Cooperation with the customer is more important than agreeing on the terms of the contract. Being ready for change is more important than following the original plan. “

The Agile Manifesto is the master document of all agile development approaches. Created in 2001 by a group of enthusiastic programmers who wanted to understand what exactly lies at the heart of the development of a sought-after and useful IT product, Agile assumes that when implementing a project, you do not need to rely only on detailed plans that have been created in advance. It is important to focus on the constantly changing conditions of the external and internal environment and take into account the feedback from customers and users. This encourages developers and engineers to experiment and seek new solutions without being constrained by rigid frameworks and standards.

Separate agile approaches include scrum and kanban.

Scrum is a “structured approach”. A universal team of specialists works on each project, to which two more people join: the product owner and the scrum master. The first connects the team with the customer and monitors the development of the project; this is not a formal team leader, but rather a curator. The second helps the first to organize the business process: he holds general meetings, solves everyday problems, motivates the team and monitors compliance with the scrum approach.

The Scrum approach divides the workflow into equal sprints – usually periods from a week to a month, depending on the project and the team. Before the sprint, tasks for this sprint are formulated, at the end – the results are discussed, and the team starts a new sprint. Sprints are very convenient to compare with each other, which allows you to manage work efficiency.

Kanban is a “balance approach”. Its task is to balance different specialists within the team and avoid a situation where designers work day and night, and developers complain about the lack of new tasks.

The whole team is one – there are no product owner and scrum master roles in kanban. The business process is not divided into universal sprints, but at the stage of performing specific tasks: “Planned”, “Developed”, “Tested”, “Completed”, etc.

The main performance indicator in kanban is the average time it takes to complete a task across the board. The task passed quickly – the team worked efficiently and smoothly. The task was delayed – you have to think at what stage and why there were delays and whose work needs to be optimized.

To visualize agile approaches, boards are used: physical and electronic. They allow you to make the workflow open and understandable for all specialists, which is important when the team does not have one formal leader.

What is Agile?

Agile is an approach to project management or software development. In Agile, requirements and solutions evolve through the iteration and collaborative effort of cross-functional, self-organizing teams and business users. Agile welcomes changing requirements, even at a later stage. Clients, business participants and developers work together throughout the project. Agile teams adjust their behavior according to the changing needs of the project.

Agile is a philosophy or orientation (Griffin). Agile is widely used as a guide for getting closer to project work. Agile emphasizes development iteration as well as testing in the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Agile breaks down an entire product or project into small assemblies. In Agile methodology, development or testing happens concurrently. Agile supports collaboration as well as direct communication.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is the foundation for project management or software development. Scrum is one of the agile processes. Scrum focuses on delivering business value to business users in a minimal amount of time. Projects are divided into sprints, which usually last from one to three weeks. Scrum has three main roles: scrum master, product owner, and team members.

Scrum emphasizes self-organization and shared ownership among team members. He views project management as a process of creating shared value; and emphasizes collaboration and iterative development to effectively manage change and create better products to meet customer needs. Scrum views time as a constraint. It emphasizes boxing time and uses daily sprint planning and review meetings.

Similarities between Agile and Scrum:

Agile and scrum are both related to project management and software development. Since Scrum is one of the ways to implement Agile, they both have several similarities. Both emphasize optimal use of resources. Both emphasize the efficient and effective management of various tasks.

Agile and scrum, both aim to make the most of business users. They try to ensure that a product or project is delivered to business users as soon as possible. Both emphasize continuous improvement, collaboration, open communication, etc.

The Nature of Agile and Scrum:

Agile is a development methodology based on an incremental and iterative approach; while Scrum is one of many implementation schemes or Agile processes.

Scrum provides incremental modules to the client every week or fortnight.

Usage examples

One of the principles of Agile is based on personal responsibility of a person, and not on debugging internal processes.

(From an article on VC.ru)

When working with professional teams we use Scrum, most often we choose a 2-3 week cycle with retrospective meetings that allow us to keep everything under control.

(From an interview with Vedomosti with Frank Sosier, coach of Freestanding Agility)

The main idea of ​​Kanban is visualization of the workflow. It consists of creating a physical dashboard on which you can visually mark your progress.

(From the translation of the Forbes column on Rusbase)

If we talk about what agile is, I would limit myself to such a phrase – it is a set of values ​​within the framework of which we build our work with products, with processes within the organization.

(Managing partner of ScrumTrek Alexey Pimenov in an article on Rusbase)

How and why the scrum methodology appeared

Before the advent of Scrum, the waterfall approach was adopted in the software development world. The work on the product was carried out according to the following plan.

1. Define product requirements.
2. Plan the entire project from start to finish.
3. Write the code.
4. Test the product.

The developers coordinated the work plan with the customer and strictly followed the terms of reference. When the product was ready, it was tested, but it was no longer possible to change something. Therefore, if errors were detected, they had to start all over again, and the work time increased.

This was until a group of innovators decided to change the situation completely. They watched how successful teams work: without missing deadlines and getting exactly the result that they planned. It turned out that the success was in the flexibility of the process.

The lessons learned helped create the Agile Software Development Manifesto. It included only four points, but they completely changed the process.

Agile software development manifesto

1 People are more important than tools.
2 Product quality is more important than documentation.
3 Interaction with the customer is more important than the contract.
4 Readiness for change is more important than a set plan.

These four points were the foundation for the emergence of Agile, an agile software development process. Later, 12 principles were created, which are still used in any agile methodology.

12 Agile Principles

1 The main thing is good software and a satisfied customer.
2 Readiness for change at any time.
3 Fully working software – as often as possible.
4 Team meeting is best for information exchange.
5 The customer and the development team must work together.
6 Trust people to do their job.
7 There is working software – there is progress.
8 Agile processes – continuous development.
9 Attention to quality fosters flexibility.
10 The simplicity of the process eliminates unnecessary work.
11 A self-organizing team works better.
12 Continuous pursuit of greater efficiency.

Agile and waterfall, scales

One of the agile software development methodologies based on agile principles is Scrum.

Scrum creators Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber have watched the work of the American military, special forces and even rugby players for many years. And they noticed that their success is based on interaction and teamwork. Sutherland and Schwaber realized that this was exactly what software developers needed. This is how the Scrum methodology appeared.

Scrum core principles

Scrum always focuses on the customer who needs to get the desired product on time and at the lowest cost. This can be achieved by following a few essential principles.

Working in short cycles (sprints)

Plan one sprint, not the whole project at once. Each sprint is a period of time during which the team works on a completely finished piece of the product.

Flexibility. “Check and adapt”

Process flexibility and product testing after each sprint. If something goes wrong, the team is always ready to change the development strategy or revise the backlog Backlog An ordered list of tasks that the scrum team is working on when creating a product.

Participation of the customer and users in the creation of the product.

The customer does not stand aside, but is fully involved in the work. For this, there is the role of the owner of the product, which is performed by the customer himself or his representative. It is through him that the team interacts with users. Since the development is carried out in short stages, users get involved in testing almost immediately.

After initial testing, they are given access to the product, and the product owner collects feedback. This is how the team can improve the result.

Team interaction

A Scrum team is a group of people who work for one result and as a whole. Everyone strives for one common goal.

The importance of the scrum team

A scrum team is most often a group of five to nine people. This is the optimal number, but sometimes there are teams of three. If there are more people, then it becomes more difficult for them to interact with each other, which interferes with work and reduces productivity.

Command structure

• Product owner. The person who represents the product and is the intermediary between the customer, users and the development team. Sometimes it can be the customer himself.

• Scrum master. Most often – a specially hired employee who leads the team to the result. He does not manage the team, but oversees the implementation of the basic principles of Scrum. His task is not to pressure, not to do all the work himself and not to distribute responsibilities, but to help, direct and resolve issues that hinder the development process.

• Developers. A scrum team always has people with different skill sets. So, a team of five to nine people leads the entire project from start to finish. One team – one finished product.

What a scrum team looks like

Distribution of roles

Scrum works when there is a distribution of roles. There are three of them.

Team. This is a self-organized group of 3-9 people. The contribution of an individual employee is not evaluated. It is only important what result the team has achieved through joint efforts.

Product owner. This is usually an entrepreneur who knows his business and understands the needs of customers. He has enough experience to know what the finished product should be. The Product Owner is the link between the team, the consumer and the production. He works with feedback, makes important decisions and monitors the project budget. The product owner does not tell the team which path to take, but only looks at the result.

Scrum Master or Team Leader. The Scrum Master is responsible for the success of the team. He does not make decisions and does not lead. His task is to make the team work without management leverage. The Scrum Master is the glue that holds the team together.

Scrum Tools

Scrum is a flexible planning technique that is suitable for any project. With its help, you can increase the productivity of the company and achieve better results. For example, the team used to spend a month on a task, and half a month on improvements. Now the same task will take 2 weeks, and most likely there will be no improvements.

Instructions: how to use Scrum to work like Ajail

Scrum is simpler than other frameworks. He gives the tools and suggests in what sequence to use them in order to achieve the result.

Scrum suggests doing this:

1. To pump over the theoretical base: read books on the topic and watch video lectures. The recordings from the Agiledays conferences are available on YouTube on the channel. In the community, Scrum followers share their experiences – you can learn from them.
2. Select a product owner. This is the person who presents the finished product in detail. He will also assess risks, benefits and make strategic decisions.
3. Assemble a team of 3-9 people. The team must have people who have enough knowledge and skills to work on the project.
4. Appoint a Scrum Master or hire a professional from a consulting agency.
5. Invite the product owner to write a backlog and let the team evaluate it. It's great if the team will rate it not in hours, but in relative units.
6. Schedule a sprint. It must have a fixed duration and a precise list of tasks that cannot be extended.
7. Make the work transparent. Each team member should see which tasks have already been solved and which ones still need to be worked on. To do this, you need tools: a scrum board or a burnout diagram.
8. Conducting daily team meetings is a daily Scrum. At meetings, team members check each other's results, look at what stage the project is at and decide how to move on to the goal. The meeting lasts 15 minutes. If it takes longer, then the team and the Scrum Master are doing something wrong.
9. End the sprint with a review. Sprint review – a meeting attended by any interested person: consumer, customer, product owner, scrum master. At the meeting, the team shows the finished product or part of it. It doesn't matter what it will be, the main thing is that it fulfills its function.
10. Conduct a retrospective meeting immediately after the sprint review. When the team has shown a working product, everyone sits down and analyzes the sprint. What went well? What can be improved? What obstacles did the team overcome? At the end of the meeting, the Scrum Master and the team should think about how to make the next sprint even better.
11. Schedule a new sprint immediately!

Who is Agile for?

Agile is changing the way we approach life and entrepreneurship. He teaches you to quickly respond to circumstances and adapt to them.

Agile works everywhere: in management, trade, services. Someone uses it to manage their own lives and keep up with everything.

But no one can guarantee that he will help a particular company. If the company is small, it is easier to change people's minds. It is more difficult for large corporations: when there are several departments, and each has its own leader, the implementation of Agile can be delayed. The team will resist change. To make it easier, such companies invite Agile coaches.

Agile is not suitable for those who have been making a typical product for many years in a row. It is more profitable for such companies to make a thousand identical chairs at a time: there will still be orders. But as soon as a customer appears with special wishes, you need exactly the same chair, but let the legs be wider, and the upholstery is brighter – Agile is needed.

A word to the experts

Depending on the tasks, we apply different methods within the philosophy – agile, scrum, kanban.

Scrum allows you to develop the necessary qualities in employees – proactivity, independence, organization, communication skills and foresight. The main point of the method is to perform tasks in self-organizing teams, where everyone has their own role and everyone is responsible for their part of the work. Using scrum, we conduct staff surveys, draw up graphs of the expected speed of task completion.

We use Agile in internal communications. We recently held another sprint to eliminate employee tardiness. All the bosses and specialists involved in the project spent the whole day in the meeting, discussing the achievements, challenges and upcoming tasks in the new sprint.

Now we are actively introducing the kanban method in the company. The goal of kanban implementation is to increase production flexibility, better adapt to changing market demands. In practice, the method helped us to achieve a correspondence between the warehouse stock and the products actually used in production.

An important point: agile methodology is a general direction, and kanban and scrum are already its varieties.

We use the scrum + waterfall bundle, and also refined the agile board itself during the year. Main reason for use: transparency and simplicity. In fact, this turns out to be the same Henry Ford pipeline: the transition of a task from status to status with a change of performer, therefore, the main principle to the agile board itself is already simplicity.

We use agile as a direct part of our workflow, so all projects, from branding and website development to our AI and native advertising startup NativeOS, are carried out at Chernika exactly according to this workflow.

A working product is more important than detailed documentation. This does not mean that we do not maintain any documentation, no. It is rather a look towards efficiency with a blow to unnecessary bureaucracy.

Scrum brought rhythm and understanding to our team – whether we are on time or not on time. We see the speed of the team's work, there is no feeling of constant fucking. Previously, there were situations that before hard releases scrum disappeared somewhere and everyone just started to figure it out – now we have lost it, there is a constant feeling that we are on time. If risks arise, we discuss them with PD early on, adjust the plan, or reduce the scope of tasks in some way.

The work became more transparent, the working day began to fit into the 8-hour norm, and it felt like we began to do more. We understand that when you have a feeling that you are not doing enough, you feel that you need to work harder – this has a very bad effect on productivity, you need to get rid of it.

For clarity and openness of the work of the development department, we put up a special board marked “to do”, “in progress”, “review”, “test”, “done”, where all team members stick stickers with tasks (in the column “to do” ), and as they are completed, they are moved to subsequent points, and a happy ending is the final “done.” This helps to get the big picture and makes it possible to see what each participant is working on.

A very important point of the method (and organization of the workflow): after approval of all tasks (“to do”), the list is blocked for insertion. Thus, new incoming tasks do not distract from the process and do not slow down the work.

All participants also evaluate each task in terms of time and material costs that will be required to complete. And the cherry on top is daily meetings at a specific time (Daily Scrum), where each team member briefly talks about what he is going to do today, what he did yesterday (and whether he faced any obstacles). This is important on the way to long-term goals – this is how you can understand in time that it is time to change your strategy.

We implemented Scrum on two tries because everyone, from the team to the users, wants a more predictable result. This is a plus of the methodology – clear rhythms streamline the team, increase the overall level of knowledge about the project. As a result, the result becomes more predictable, including for our “stakeholders” – users.

Teamwork also increases responsibility: everyone receives a bonus only if the team has completed the tasks set at a certain stage.

Inga Koryagina
Agile is a philosophy, scrum is a structure, waterfall is a method, kanban is a management system. Scrum and kanban are agile options, but they have some clear differences. Scrum requires fixed roles, whereas kanban lacks the required roles. Scrum is based on iterations that combine planning, process optimization, and release. In kanban, this can be done regularly or whenever you need to. The scrum team requires an assessment of their work, while the kanban team does not.

Sources used and useful links on the topic: https://rb.ru/story/agile-scrum-kanban/ https://ru.esdifferent.com/difference-between-agile-and-scrum https://skillbox.ru / media / management / kak_ponyat_scrum / https://allo.tochka.com/agile-scrum