Understanding Agile Scrum Methodology

Scrum is the most popular Agile framework used by 87 percent of Agile teams around the world reported by Parabol to deliver projects iteratively in fixed length development cycles called sprints. Scrum provides a lightweight structure that enables teams to deliver value by finding adaptive solutions—allowing them to deliver faster, collaborate more effectively, and learn continuously how to improve. Created in 1995 by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland as a means to apply Agile to software development, Scrum helped birth the Agile movement itself and has been adopted by various industries from finance to marketing and everywhere in between.

Empiricism (learning from experience) and lean-thinking form the two foundational components of Scrum.

Guided by three key pillars, Scrum creates transparency so teams can inspect their work and adapt their processes.

The Three Pillars of Scrum

According to the official Scrum Guide, these three pillars are what make up “the foundation” of Scrum.

Pillar 1: Transparency

Work and processes must be visible to those responsible for delivering and executing on the work.

Pillar 2: Inspection

Teams must regularly check progress toward goals and identify variances from the plan.

Pillar 3: Adaptation

If an inspection reveals a problem, the process must be adjusted to correct course.

These pillars are supported by five guiding values Scrum teams should embrace.

The Five Scrum Values

The five core values are commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage.

Commitment: To the goal and to supporting each other

Focus: On sprint work and team objectives

Openness: About the work we do and the challenges we face with each other

Respect: For every individual on the team as capable human beings

Courage: To do the right thing and work on difficult problems

Notice there are no prescribed practices, techniques, or processes listed. Scrum teams can utilize virtually any technique or methodology to work within this empirical framework. In fact, Scrum is intentionally incomplete to allow organizations flexibility in adopting the framework.

How Scrum Sprints Work: Five Key Ceremonies

Also known as iterations, sprints are a timeboxed period when a team works to produce a usable increment of work. Each sprint lasts between one and four weeks with two weeks being the standard sprint length. Though organizations can customize sprint lengths, each sprint begins immediately after the previous sprint ends.

The five fundamental Scrum ceremonies (meetings) are:

• Sprint Planning: During this session the team plans the work for the sprint by defining their sprint goal and selecting the items from the backlog they will work on to achieve that goal. (Up to 8 hours for a one month sprint)
• Daily Scrum: Also known as the daily stand-up, this is a check-in where developers inspect their progress toward the sprint goal and create a plan for the next 24 hours. (Strictly 15 minutes)
• Sprint Review: Stakeholders review the increment of work that was completed during the sprint and discuss what should be done next. Developers demonstrate the work they’ve shipped and answer any questions. (Maximum 4 hours)
• Sprint Retrospective: The team gathers to reflect on their process during the sprint and identify changes that should be made to improve going forward. (Maximum 3 hours)
• Backlog Refinement: Additional detail is added to future backlog items to better understand the work needed to accomplish them. Stories are refined to be ready for Sprint Planning. (Ongoing)

Teams do not need to dedicate a full 8 hours to sprint planning if their sprint is only two weeks. Each of these meetings are timeboxed, but can end early if the team completes their intended objectives. Lengths can never be exceeded however.

Scrum Roles and Responsibilities: Who Does What?

Scrum recommends small teams of 10 people or fewer that are cross-functional and self-managing. These are called Scrum teams. Instead of traditional job roles, Scrum identifies three team accountabilities that are responsible for driving the process.

Product Owner: Responsible for maximizing value delivered by managing the team’s product backlog. Only one person can be the PO, and they are responsible for clearly expressing the product vision and ensuring everyone understands the most valuable work the team should do.

Scrum Master: Responsible for serving the team by helping them establish and adhere to Scrum practices. Scrum Masters facilitate ceremonies and events, work to remove obstacles (called “impediments” or “blockers” in Scrum) to team productivity, and coach team members to be as effective as possible. Scrum describes this role as a “leader who serves” versus a traditional manager.

Developers: All team members who actually build the increment of work are called developers. Developers plan their own work for the sprint, ensure proper quality controls are met, and adapt each day to reach the sprint goal.

Benefits of Using Scrum: What Teams Gain

Many organizations are adopting Scrum because it simply works. When implemented properly, Scrum has been shown to increase team productivity between 300 and 400 percent with some of the highest performing Scrum teams even seeing increases of 800 percent.

Key benefits of adopting Scrum include:

• Deliver working product faster: By consistently delivering shippable increments each sprint, products get into the hands of users faster
• Ability to pivot: Changed requirements can be accommodated without having to change the entire project scope
• Cross-functional collaboration: Frequent communication and collective ownership dissolve silos
• Improved product quality: Inspection at regular intervals allows the team to discover and address issues early
• Greater customer satisfaction: Customers are happier when involved regularly. According to research by McKinsey, 93 percent of Agile companies experienced higher customer satisfaction
• Increase transparency: Since everyone can see what’s being worked on and what’s coming next
• Better risk management: Risks are easier to spot during regular inspection periods like the daily scrum and sprint retrospectives

Scrum shines when teams are building complex products with evolving requirements. Scrum is ideal for projects where the customer wants to provide regular feedback and where the scope of work will change as the team discovers more about what is needed.

Scrum vs Kanban: Not ALL Agile Frameworks Are The Same

Scrum is not the only Agile development framework around, but it is by far the most popular. The most common framework teams are using alongside Scrum is Kanban, but there are many differences between the two.

How Scrum differs from Kanban:

• Kanban has no predefined iteration length versus sprints in Scrum
• Kanban encourages changing requirements at any time; with Scrum changes are implemented at the start of a sprint
• Velocity and burn-down charts are common Scrum metrics; Kanban focuses on cycle time and limiting work-in-progress (WIP)
• Three formalized roles are required with Scrum teams; Kanban does not prescribe any roles
• Scrum teams plan in sprints; Kanban plans continuously

Scrumban is a hybrid approach that combines elements of both Scrum and Kanban frameworks. Many large organizations use the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) to scale multiple Scrum teams that are working on similar products or solutions. SAFe is used by 70 percent of fortune 100 companies according to Scaled Agile Inc.

3 Biggest Implementation Challenges (and how to overcome them)

With so many organizations turning to Scrum, you’d think adoption was easy. While some organizations have made the transition to Scrum successfully, most fall short. The most common challenges organizations face during implementation are:

• Executives who like to micro-manage will struggle with self-organizing teams and transparency
• Teams start using Scrum but management still expects waterfall delivery
• Companies try Scrum with zero training
• Failure to gain executive leadership buy-in
• Organizations try to skip meetings like the daily scrum or retrospective

Successful implementations follow these best practices:

• Gain executive buy-in and understand Agile at all levels of leadership
• Provide adequate training to everyone involved in the organization
• Start Scrum with teams that are willing to make the change
• Create and communicate a Sprint Goal before each sprint begins
• Keep sprints the same length to establish rhythm
• Never skip the sprint retrospective
• Continuously refine the backlog so it’s ready for sprint planning

How long is the Scrum Guide? Just 14 pages. Spend more time reading it than we did and you’ll already be ahead of most organizations trying to implement Scrum.

Scrum Across Industries: Who’s Using It?

Whether it’s software development, product management, or marketing, Scrum is put into practice around the world. Companies that have reported adopting Scrum include:

Technology: Microsoft is shipping updates to their products every three week sprint. That includes Windows, Office 365, Azure, and more according to Microsoft Learn. Spotify built their entire business on Scrum practices.

Finance: HSBC and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) Bank have moved to agile development with releases monthly. 

Government: Agile methods are being used by 80 percent of all U.S. federal IT projects. Just 10 years prior in 2011 that number was only 10 percent according to research by Parabol.

How Remote Work and AI Are Transforming Scrum Today

The pandemic has already changed the way Scrum is practiced, but new technologies are making an impact as well. Here are two major trends impacting Scrum today.

• Virtual stand-ups, online collaboration whiteboards, and async communication are now table stakes for remote Scrum teams.
• Tools like Jira, Miro, and Confluence help teams collaborate in real-time across different time zones.
• More and more organizations are practicing Continuous Integration along with Scrum. According to industry trends, DevOps and Agile go hand-in-hand.
• AI-driven tools are starting to emerge that help with sprint planning, backlog grooming exercises, and predictive analytics. These tools are helping teams automate manual tasks while identifying trends to discuss in sprint retrospectives.

Teams have also adapted to better facilitate remotely. Scrum Masters have learned new techniques to engage their members and ensure distributed teams can stay as healthy as possible.