What is Scrum?
Scrum is a framework that people use to address highly complex and adaptive problems, in terms of software development, it is to produce products with the highest possible value.
What is Scrum decidedly NOT?
Scrum is not a set technique, method, or tactic. It is a way of thinking and a way of approaching complex issues and products, a set of values.
What is the Scrum framework consist of?
It is consisted of a scrum team of people, each with defined roles, rules they abide by, artifacts they produce, events that they participate in.
What is at the core of Scrum, the essence of it?
It is a small highly adaptive and flexible team of people. T
What are the pillars behind Scrum Theory?
Transparency, inspection, adaptation.
What does Transparency mean?
The people responsible for the outcome or the product must be able to see all relevant aspects of the process.
- A common language so everyone shares common understanding.
- A common standard or definition of done, so those doing the work and those inspecting the work is on the same page.
What does Inspection mean?
The work being produced during a sprint must be frequently inspected to see if it has undesirable variances. Is it going off track? is it still progressing towards the sprint goal?
Inspection should be done by skilled inspectors and not so frequent that it gets in the way.
What does Adaptation mean?
When an inspector finds that something is deviating outside of acceptable limits,or what’s being created isn’t on track anymore or may be unusable, it must be addressed and adjusted as soon as it is detected.
What are the Scrum values?
Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, Respect
What are the roles within a Scrum team?
There’s a Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team
What is the Product Owner responsible for?
The PO is responsible for maximizing the value of the product being produce by the team.
- Solely responsible for the Product backlog
- Clear expression of items within the product backlog.
- Prioritizing backlog items to best achieve goals.
- Optimising value of dev team work.
- Ensure items are visible, transparent and provide enough detail to the level needed by dev team.
PO can delegate out the above tasks but remains accountable.
What is the Development team responsible for?
Dev team is a team of professionals who do the work of delivering an increment of “done” product at end of each sprint.
- Only members of the dev team create the increment.
What is the Scrum Master responsible for?
The Scrum Master is responsible for promoting and supporting the scrum framework by helping everyone understand the theory, rules, and help facilitate scrum events.
What are the characteristics of a PO?
PO is one person, not a committee. They represent the interests of multiple stakeholders within the company and may represent a committee. Their decisions must be respected and supported by the whole organisation if they’re to be successful. No one can make the dev team work off of a different set of requirements or priorities.
What are the characteristics of the dev team?
- Cross functional - they have all competencies to deliver a done increment of product. No dependence on outside help.
- Self organising - they are empowered by the org to manage and organise their own work. No one tells them how to translate a backlog item into an increment of work
- No titles, no sub-teams - no unnecessary tiers or structures.
- Accountability shared by all - each individual may have specialised skill and focus but the team as a whole is accountable for the product increment.
What are the characteristics of the Scrum Master?
The Scrum Master is the servant leader for the whole team. They remove impediments and help advocate and communicate with people outside of the Scrum team on what interactions are helpful and which aren’t.
What is the key theory behind Scrum?
Scrum framework is based on the empirical process control theory, or empiricism.
Empiricism means knowledges comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known.
What is the ideal dev team size and why?
Should be between 3 - 9 members, not including PO/SM, unless they’re also working on dev. Small enough to be agile and large enough to complete significant work.
Less than 3: Skill constraints that may jeopardize producing a potentially releasable increment, decreased interaction, smaller productivity gains.
More than 9: Too much coordination and too much complexity.
How can you tell what the PO has decided regarding the product?
This is visible via the Product Backlog, it is the content and the order of the items.
How does the Scrum master serve the PO?
Essentially helping PO accomplish his responsibilities and all things related to the backlog:
- Ensuring the product goals and scope is understood across the whole team.
- Finding techniques related to better backlog management.
- Making sure that the team understands why the back log items need to be clear and concise.
- Making sure the PO knows how to prioritise the backlog to maximise value.
- Facilitation Scrum events.
How does the Scrum Master serve the Dev team?
Also helping them understand their jobs and help support them:
- coaching on cross-functionality and self organisation.
- Removing impediments
- Facilitate scrum events
- Support and coaching when the overall org hasn’t fully adopted Scrum.
How does the Scrum Master serve the Organisation?
Essentially they’re the Scrum advocate within the organisation, advocacy and facilitating adoption:
- Leading/coaching scrum adoption
- Facilitate Scrum implementation
- Helping everyone in org to understand Scrum and empirical product management.
What is a Sprint?
A time box of a month or less, during which an increment of “done” work is produced that’s usable and potentially releasable.
What are the characteristics of a Sprint?
Each spring can be treated like a project that contains a goal of what’s to be built, a design, a flexible plan to accomplish it and the end creation.
- A new sprint starts immediately after the previously one ends.
- no changes are made during that would endanger sprint goal.
- Scope of work maybe re-negotiated or clarified between PO and dev team as more is learned.
