Scrum
Scrum is an agile framework from software development, which is now also used in many other areas. Scrum uses a few rules and three standard parts (product owner, scrum master and development team) to make a complex process workable.
This process is based on the realization that, above a certain level of complexity, projects can no longer be planned in advance in a meaningful way and that it makes more sense to control them via intermediate goals and to leave as many decisions as possible to the judgment of the participants and to self-organization.
Empirical improvement is based on three pillars:
Transparency – progress and obstacles of a project are regularly recorded for all to see.
Review – product functionality is delivered at regular intervals and both the product and the approach are assessed.
Adaptation – product requirements, plans and procedures are not defined once and for all, but are continuously detailed and adapted.’SCRUM’ does not reduce the complexity of the task, but structures it into smaller and less complex components, the increments.
Scrum Tools
With the popularity and increasing spread of Scrum, the market now offers a number of agile tools that are used in Scrum or Kanban projects. These are for example Asana, Redmine, OpenProject or Jira.
Sprint
- Time window in which a defined part of the product backlog is realized.
- Starts with Sprint Planning, ends with Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective
- Duration 1-4 weeks but usually the same within the project
Time window must not be exceeded
Sprint Backlog
The Sprint Backlog is the plan for Sprint execution that the Scrum Team creates during Sprint Planning. It includes the entries selected from the Product Backlog that are to be implemented in the upcoming Sprint, supplemented by all the necessary information for achieving the Sprint goal.
Sprint Planning
Sprint Planning is a meeting to define a “valuable” sprint goal as a stage to achieve the product goal and to plan the backlog items to be implemented in the current sprint.
Sprint Retrospective
A sprint retrospective is a special meeting within the Agile framework where teams assess what went well and what could be improved for the next sprint.
Sprint Review
As one of the four Scrum ceremonies, the Sprint Review (also: Scrum Review) is an important practice of agile working methods. In this structured meeting segment, agile teams demonstrate their work results, talk about the status of their product and the next development steps.