Posted by SCRUMstudy® on March 27, 2023
Categories: Agile Product Owner Scrum Guide Scrum Master Scrum Team
In order to successfully run a Scrum Project there are five Scrum aspects that must be addressed and managed throughout the project life cycle.
We will see what those aspects are in detail.
Organization
Understanding defined roles and responsibilities in a Scrum project is very important for ensuring the successful implementation of Scrum. Scrum roles falls into two broad categories:
Business Justification
It is important for an organization to perform a proper business assessment prior to starting any project. This helps key decision-makers understand the business need for a change or for a new product or service, the justification for moving forward with a project, and its viability.
Business justification in Scrum is based on the concept of Value-driven Delivery. One of the key characteristics of any project is the uncertainty of results or outcomes. It is impossible to guarantee project success at completion, irrespective of the size or complexity of a project. Considering this uncertainty of achieving success, Scrum attempts to start delivering results as early in the project as possible. This early delivery of results, and thereby value, provides an opportunity for reinvestment and proves the worth of the project to interested Business stakeholders.
Scrum’s adaptability allows the project’s objectives and processes to change if its business justification changes. It is important to note that although the Product Owner is primarily responsible for business justification, other team members contribute significantly.
Quality
In Scrum, quality is defined as the ability of the completed product or deliverables to meet the Acceptance Criteria and achieve the business value expected by the customer.
To ensure a project meets quality requirements, Scrum adopts an approach of continuous improvement whereby the team learns from experience and Business stakeholder engagement to constantly keep the Prioritized Product Backlog updated with any changes in requirements. The Prioritized Product Backlog is simply never complete until the closure or termination of the project. Any changes to the requirements reflect changes in the internal and external business environment and allow the team to continually work and adapt to achieve those requirements.
The fact that Scrum, through repetitive testing, requires work to be completed in an incremental fashion through Sprints rather than waiting until the end to produce deliverables results in errors being fixed right away, rather than postponed. Moreover, important quality-related tasks (e.g., development, testing, and documentation) are completed as part of the same Sprint by the same team—this ensures that quality is inherent in any deliverable created as part of a Sprint. Such deliverables from Scrum projects, which are potentially shippable, are also referred to as ‘Done.’
Thus, continuous improvement with repetitive testing optimizes the probability of achieving the expected quality levels in a Scrum project. Constant discussions between the Scrum Core Team and Business stakeholders (including customers and users) with actual increments of the product being delivered at the end of every Sprint, ensures that the gap between customer expectations from the project and actual deliverables produced is constantly reduced.
The Scrum Guidance Body may also provide guidelines about quality which may be relevant to all Scrum projects in the organization.
Change
Every project, regardless of its method or framework used, is exposed to change. It is imperative that project team members understand that the Scrum development processes are designed to embrace change. Organizations should try to maximize the benefits that arise from change and minimize any negative impacts through diligent change management processes in accordance with the principles of Scrum.
A primary principle of Scrum is its acknowledgement that a) Business stakeholders (e.g., customers, users, and sponsors) change their minds about what they want and need throughout a project (sometimes referred to as “requirements churn”) and b) that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for Business stakeholders to define all requirements during project initiation.
Scrum projects welcome change by using short, iterative Sprints that incorporate customer feedback on each Sprint’s deliverables. This enables the customer to regularly interact with the Scrum Team members, view deliverables as they are ready, and change requirements if needed earlier in the Sprint.
Also, the portfolio or program management teams can respond to Change Requests pertaining to Scrum projects applicable at their level.
Risk
Risk is defined as an uncertain event or set of events that can affect the objectives of a project and may contribute to its success or failure. Risks that are likely to have a positive impact on the project are referred to as opportunities, whereas threats are risks that could affect the project in a negative manner. Managing risk must be done proactively, and it is an iterative process that should begin at project initiation and continue throughout the project’s lifecycle. The process of managing risks should follow some standardized steps to ensure that risks are identified, evaluated, and a proper course of action is determined and acted upon accordingly.
Risks should be identified, assessed, and responded to be based on two factors: the probability of each risk’s occurrence and the possible impact in the event of such occurrence. Risks with a high probability and impact value (determined by multiplying both factors), should be addressed before those with a relatively lower value. In general, once a risk is identified, it is important to understand the risk with regard to the probable causes and the potential effects if the risk occurs.