Agile Scrum: An Overview

Explore how Scrum implements agile principles in a structured format and compare it with the waterfall approach. Learn the benefits, principles, and values to apply Scrum to your work.

Explore the waterfall approach in software development, detailing requirements gathering, design, development, testing, and deployment, plus the use of Gantt charts and the approach's advantages and limitations.

Identify the drawbacks of the waterfall approach, including its slow, linear stages, unpredictability despite detailed timelines, and rising costs when customer requirements change or delays occur.

Switch from the waterfall to scrum, a team-based agile framework that drives continuous improvement through a minimal viable product in two-week sprints with early customer feedback.

Agile Scrum offers faster development with fewer team members than waterfall, via sprint-based delivery and retrospectives that drive continuous improvement, lower costs, and better alignment with customer needs.

Apply Scrum at work by following transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Keep everyone informed of work, review outcomes, and adapt processes to improve product quality.

Explore the five Scrum values—commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage—and how they guide sprint goals, protect the team, and foster transparency.

Explore the three Scrum roles: product owner, Scrum master, and developer, and examine their unique responsibilities within the Scrum framework.

The product owner manages product backlog and turns customer requirements into backlog items for each sprint. They guide the team to realize the product vision and clarify requirements with customers.

The Scrum Master leads the team, enforces Agile practices, and protects against disruptions to achieve the sprint goal. They mentor members and manage Scrum events.

Developers, Scrum team members, implement backlog items from sprint planning with authority to decide how, focused on product delivery, guided by the product owner and Scrum master; ideal size 5–9.

Define scrum events and their roles in agile practice. Explore the sprint's meaning and typical duration, and examine sprint planning, daily scrum, sprint review, and sprint retrospective.

Sprints are fixed, time-bound iterations where teams select high-priority backlog items, implement them, and deliver a shippable product increment toward a sprint goal, with set start and end dates.

Sprint planning selects high-priority backlog items, creates the sprint backlog, and estimates effort, with the product owner, Scrum masters, and developers time-boxing the session.

Coordinate daily sprint activities in a 15-minute daily scrum stand-up, where each developer reports yesterday’s work, today’s plan, and impediments to help the Scrum master resolve issues.

Review the results of completed backlog items at the end of the sprint and demonstrate the increment to stakeholders in a time-boxed sprint review.

Reflect on the completed sprint in a time-boxed retrospective, focusing on one improvement for the next sprint. Apply Kaizen with acceptance tests and include stakeholders—product owners, Scrum masters, and developers.

Explore the core scrum artifacts: product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment, and learn how to manage them daily during a sprint.

Manage the product backlog as the primary Scrum artifact, prioritizing customer requirements and converting them into backlog items. Guide sprints toward high-priority items that deliver valuable increments.

List the items planned for the current sprint drawn from the product backlog. Prioritize backlog items by the product owner and prevent new items from joining the sprint backlog.

Learn how increments mark the final sprint delivery created from product backlog items. See how the sprint backlog drives work, the definition of done ensures quality, and demos support feedback.

Celebrate completing the course and reinforce your understanding of the core concepts involved in Scrum by reviewing the material. Provide feedback to help future students decide to enroll.