Scrum in 3 Minutes
Here is a short overview of Scrum and how all the pieces fit together.
Work is completed in short cycles of less than one month, called Sprints.
The Product Goal represents the long-term objective for the Scrum Team and details why it is valuable. The work to be Done to reach the Product Goal is held in an ordered Product Backlog, which the Product Owner is accountable for. Items at the top of a Product Backlog are refined to a ready state by the Scrum Team so they are small enough, and enough is known about them, to allow them to be Done in a Sprint.
The Scrum Team conducts the Sprint Planning event at the beginning of each Sprint. Here, they set a Sprint Goal that is the single objective for the Sprint and explains why the team is completing the work. The work to be Done and a plan of how to do it are captured in the Sprint Backlog. The Developers are accountable for this artifact.
During the Sprint, the Developers manage and work to produce a Done Increment that meets the Sprint Goal by the end of the Sprint. By the end of the Sprint, the Increment must be usable. A Definition of Done helps us understand the quality required for the Increment.
Producing a usable Increment that meets the Definition of Done and achieves the Sprint Goal each Sprint exposes issues and helps the team understand the risks and challenges they face. Finding such issues from the first Sprint ensures the Scrum Team has the maximum possible time to resolve them.
A self-managing and cross-functional Scrum Team carries out the work during the Sprint. This means they decide what, how, and when to do the work and have the skills and knowledge needed to complete it. Developers meet daily at the Daily Scrum to revisit and adapt the Sprint Backlog for the next 24 hours.
At the end of the Sprint, the Increment is inspected by the Scrum Team and stakeholders at a Sprint Review. Adaptions to the Product Backlog often result in more being known about the product and the domain within which the team operates. Incorporating these adaptions into the Product Backlog will help to deliver a more valuable product.
In the Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Team seeks to overcome issues and improve its product creation ability.
The Scrum Master is accountable for the adoption of this empirical approach and the use of Scrum. Scrum masters help remove impediments to the Scrum Team completing its work effectively. They help the Scrum Team become more able to deliver valuable, usable Done Increments and are accountable for the team’s effectiveness.
The Developers are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint. They are accountable for the Sprint backlog, adhering to the Definition of Done and adapting their Sprint Backlog daily towards achieving the Sprint Goal.
The Product Owner is accountable for maximising the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team. They are accountable for the Product Backlog, which contains the valuable work the Developers may complete to deliver the product.
Things will change as development proceeds. As the team has incomplete knowledge of what is needed and how to build the product at the start, this is natural and normal.
Scrum provides a set of rules and recommendations to help manage this change and turn it into an advantage to deliver a product of the highest possible value.