ScrumAn introduction

Tricode Professional Serviceswww.tricode.nl

03-04-2009Sander van Beek

What is Scrum?

• An adaptive framework that can be understood and implemented in a few days

• Optimized for new product development• A collaborative effort involving developers and

customers in ongoing dialog• A management wrapper around existing

engineering practices, driving incremental improvements.

What is Scrum NOT?

• Entirely new• A silver bullet• Scrum does not handle

– Raises, promotions, job titles– A team member is incompetent, lazy, etc– Half the team is in India– PRINCE2, CMMI, ISO9000, Sarbanes Oxley, etc– The scrum master is allergic to cats

Small teams, short iterations, clear goals

Scrum process

Artifacts

The product backlog

• Contains user stories (!= use cases)– As a ... I want ... so that i can ... (functionality)

• Each user story contains– Description– Estimate– Definition of done (DoD)– Business value

• Prioritized on business value

The sprint backlog

• User stories split up into tasks• Every sprint must yield something to

demonstrate -> vertical slice of the product (e.g. Only hello world is enough)

• Tasks include analyse, design, build, test

Burndown chart

• Shows progress, work to be done, work added• Velocity

Roles

Roles in scrum

• Product owner• Scrum master (!= project manager)• Scrum team

Product owner

• Single point of contact for stakeholders• Synthesizes interests of stakeholders• Makes business decisions• Keeps eye on business value• Accepts or rejects result of a sprint• Decides wether to ship

Scrum master

• Facilitates the Scrum process• Takes away impediments, shields team• Helps team self organizing• Helps product owner with prioritizing• Advocates improved engineering practices

• Has NO authority

Scrum team

• Cross functional (designers, developers, testers, etc)

• Self organizing• Autonomous• Held responsible for commitments• +/- 7 members (min 5, max 9)

Meetings

Meetings in scrum

Sprint planning meeting

• Add estimates to user stories• Moving PBI’s to spring backlog

Daily scrum

• Timeboxed to max 15 minutes• Stand up meeting• 3 questions:

– What did I do yesterday?– What will I do to today?– What problems did I encounter that prevent me from

doing my work?

Sprint review

• Present the sprint product• Includes stakeholders• Approval of backlog items implemented

• New feature requests added to product backlog

Sprint retrospective

• What went well / what could be improved• Silent writing• Combined with coach meeting?

Backlog refinement

• Every time when changes occur on the backlog• Scrum master advises on dependencies

Now you know Scrum!

When to use Scrum?

Scrum vs Waterfall

Scrum vs Waterfall (2)

• feedback loop

Timeboxing

• Requirements• Time (fixed)• People (fixed)

Technical debt

Converging burndown chart

Planning & estimation

• Estimation poker• S, M, L, XL (epic)

• Relative distances• Learning from others

Stories

• Non technical!• Definition of done

Stories (2)

Good practices that go with scrum• Continuous refactoring • Test driven development

– Unit tests vs System tests

• Continuous integration• Pair programming

Advantages of Scrum for the business

• Maximize business value• Early warning when deadlines will not be met (if

you fail fail as early as possible)• Better end product• A working product very quickly

Advantages of Scrum for developers

• Clear goals• Focus on your real work• Choose the work you like• Responsability• Not a peon