Agile Scrum is a type of project management methodology gaining traction in the last few years. It's not a 'methodology' because it doesn't prescribe any specific steps for solving problems, but rather it provides guidelines and principles to help teams organize their work into manageable pieces. As a result, this approach minimizes waste and maximizes productivity. The key to success with Agile is having a solid foundation of knowledge about agile principles, practices, and vocabulary.
Agile is a time-tested methodology for designing, developing, and delivering high-quality software. It's an iterative approach that breaks projects into short cycles in which the customer reviews the work done in each process, provides feedback on what to include in the next cycles, and so on.
Scrum is an agile framework for getting things done, which helps teams deliver valuable products to their customers. Scrum provides concrete tools that allow teams to work together more effectively and get the job done. Scrum has been used by companies of all sizes across industries as diverse as manufacturing, service providers, health care organizations, financial institutions, technology firms, and government agencies.
How agile and Scrum can help you?
- Transparent: With the help of agile, clients can have an opportunity to participate in a project, from prioritizing features to planning iterations.
- Flexibility: Teams can make changes and prioritize the product backlog. Any changes or fresh ideas that need to be implemented can be arranged for the next iteration. The team does not need to wait longer to make changes, as they can make many changes within a week.
- Stakeholder Engagement: The product owner provides stakeholders with information about what is being developed and when it will be delivered. It enables them to provide input into development decisions and shape the future of their business. It's about interacting with the people interested in or are affected by a decision, policy, plan, or other action.
- Early Delivery: A fixed sprint lasts from 1-4 weeks; projects will be delivered before the deadline using fixed sprints with higher productivity levels.
- Enhancing Quality: The project is broken down into different manageable units allowing the team to focus on high quality, testing, development. Any bugs identified will be resolved to make sure the quality is improved.
Different scrum roles
The Scrum methodology is well known for its approach to project management. The key features of the process are that it allows teams to work in a flexible, fast-paced environment and have reduced overhead. It's an iterative approach, which means there is no need for long-term commitments or detailed plans at the start of the project. Scrum roles are often misunderstood by people who don't specialize in this development process. As per LinkedIn's 2020 emerging jobs report, scrum roles are set to grow at an annual rate of 24%. Here we will discuss what each part does and how they interact with one another throughout the day-to-day operations using scrum-based processes.
- Product Owner: The product owner is responsible for prioritizing the backlog and ensuring that it includes what is most important. They are responsible for setting goals, managing scope, and prioritizing features. Product owners work closely with developers to create an executable roadmap of new features and improvements that meets the needs of all stakeholders to maximize customer satisfaction and company profitability.
- Scrum Master: A scrum master ensures that the team adheres to all agreed-upon sprint goals, helps manage stakeholders' expectations, and facilitates communication between developers and management. A scrum master also must be able to work with others on behalf of their organization to help determine what needs should be addressed by them or other team members.
- Development Team: The development team consists of software engineers, developers, QA testers, analysts, etc., who work together to develop and deliver the product and meet client requirements. They build the product indicated by the product owner but can suggest any changes in between, which makes the team cross-functional.
Difference between Agile and Scrum
Scrum and agile are two different project management methods, yet they have a lot in common. Both involve breaking the project into smaller pieces that can be completed quickly. This makes it easier to adapt to changes because you can complete small tasks more rapidly than one big task. We will go through some slight differences between these:
| Agile | Scrum |
|---|---|
| Agile is a development methodology that focuses on rapid, incremental changes to software systems. | Scrum is an iterative project management framework for software projects. |
| The goal of agile is to deliver high-quality products quickly with frequent feedback from customers. | The goal of scrum is to create a shared understanding among all stakeholders |
| Scrum provides less oversight from senior management | Agile gives those managers more power and influence on what goes on during development cycles. |
| The project manager takes care of every task and is important to the project. | There is no project manager. However, the product owner takes lead, but scrum master and development team have the flexibility to address issues. |
| Agile provides recurrent and quick project delivery to the end user or client | After each sprint, projects are delivered to clients for feedback and changes are made |
How can you benefit from agile and scrum certification?
- Scrum Foundation: This course will help you build a solid foundation on the agile framework. For professionals who have no prior experience in agile, this certification will give you a basic understanding of Scrum principles. Those who have experience in scrum can expand their knowledge and overcome any obstacles managing teams.
- Agile Mindset: You require an agile mindset for agile principles to be effective in your organization. This course equips you with the perspective to implement an agile framework at all levels in an organization.
- Career Advancements: This certification will accelerate your career and give you a solid competitive advantage compared to those who aren’t certified. It approves the ability of a professional to work on various agile tools and methodologies.
Course overview:
Self-paced learning
This course enables you to be scrum certified, enhancing your ability to deliver high-quality products before deadlines as per client requirements. No prior experience is required to begin this course. In contrast, it is good to have candidates with expertise in project management and at least three years of experience working in development teams. Here are some of the skills that are covered in this course:
- Agile Methodologies.
- Scrum Artifacts.
- Plan and Execute Scrum Projects.
- Advanced Scrum Topics.
- Scrum Application.
- Agile Philosophy.