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It can be said that this article is considered as a reference for the development of solutions and the process we know today as Scrum project management. Scrum is a concept derived from the game of rugby and refers to the way the game starts after a foul or the way the game starts after the break. In 1993, Jeff Sutherland and his team at Easel succeeded in developing the Scrum process in software production, which was actually a combination of the concepts expressed in the 1986 article and software development concepts.

According to a survey, it was revealed that 66% of the participants preferred the Scrum method and 15% used related methods. In fact, the authors of an article published in 1986 were of the opinion that the methods previously used in large organizations such as NASA and manufacturing companies were no longer the solution, and that a solution combining speed and efficiency should be sought. That is why Scrum project management concepts have quickly managed to gain high popularity among product manufacturers.

Agile development and its relationship with Scrum project management

If you are relatively familiar with project management and its concepts, you should know that this specialty has many responsibilities and duties. As a project manager, you will be responsible for organizing daily work and managing risks, and in addition, planning projects and plans and ensuring their correct implementation is one of the important duties of project managers.

Under these circumstances, you will need to choose the appropriate project management method and process before starting projects and assigning tasks to team members. It is worth noting that there are many project management methods available, each designed for different conditions and existing constraints. Two examples of the most important methods are Agile project management and Scrum project management, which are closely related.

Agile methodology is a general approach to project management and product development. Scrum is a popular method and framework of the Agile methodology that attempts to increase productivity by applying Agile concepts. In fact, agile project management is a working style and Scrum is considered as a method to implement this project management style.

What is the Scrum framework?

Perhaps in most cases people consider Agile project management and Scrum to be the same concept . Although being agile is a general idea and it is necessary to use methods to achieve this. The Scrum framework will help with this agility in product development and production. Having a framework and an overall plan to achieve speed and productivity ensures results, and using this framework, general concepts can be applied in managing and delivering projects.

The Scrum project management framework is an experience-driven and exploratory environment where learning and adaptation are extremely important. Scrum concepts are based on the fact that team members do not have enough experience about the project at the beginning of the work, and it is along the way that they can achieve the best optimization and product quality through learning and adaptation.

Scrum project management is inherently based on adapting to changes and user demands, so by using it your team will be able to track their learning and progress. Although a specific framework and fixed structure is specified for this method, you have a high degree of freedom in its use and can tailor its implementation to your and your clients’ needs and desires. Empiricism is the main basis in the development of this method, where you can find creative and professional methods for difficult problems with the help of team members.

What are the roles and responsibilities in Scrum project management?

There are three basic roles defined in Scrum; Scrum Master, Product Owner and Team. Within this framework, people working are in constant communication with each other in order to ensure that work progresses smoothly and to find solutions to problems. It is worth mentioning that the team consists of members focused on product development, including testers, designers and software development engineers.

Who is the Scrum Master?

The Scrum Master is the person responsible for directing and monitoring the process. This person needs to pay attention to any obstacles that may arise in the progress of projects and eliminate them as much as possible. Additionally, the Scrum Master is responsible for planning and scheduling important project management meetings, which are an important part of moving things forward.

The basic duties of the Scrum Master are:

• Increasing the productivity of the development team by using creative methods
• Suggesting ways to increase the rate of return on investment
• Help the team focus on production and product development by eliminating issues and problems
• Helping optimize team performance through different methods
• Striving for sustainable development and progress in the team

The Scrum Master must have a detailed and complete understanding of the concepts of this methodology so that he can manage the tasks correctly and achieve the best productivity. Of course, being up-to-date and constantly informed about the project process and progress are also among the important things a Scrum Master should keep in mind. You should be aware that during the progress of projects, various problems may arise, many of which have immediate and simple solutions. Therefore, solving these problems quickly is a point that plays an important role in the success of projects and increasing their speed.

Who is the Product Owner?

The product owner is the representative of the project stakeholders and customers who will use the software and product. The product owner focuses on the business side, and one of his important duties is to work to increase the return on investment. Project owners provide team members with a clear view of the project plan and play an important role in achieving final benefits and best results.

What is also important for the product owner and the Scrum project manager is that these people are responsible for managing the product backlog to ensure that the desired results are achieved in the desired time and interval. According to the mentioned tasks, the product owner plays an important role in the management of the Scrum project, who must interact closely with team members in order to convey customers’ requests and technical needs to them.

In fact, a software product may require various changes during the production and development period, and this issue is even important during the update period. In this case, the requested information will need to be conveyed to the team members responsible for design and development in an accurate and planned manner.

Scrum team

The team in a Scrum project is an indispensable part of the business, which can be considered a group of experts and experts in the field of software design, production and development. Meanwhile, members who are experts in different fields are needed to join the team, which includes coding, testing, design and other people. The important task of the team is to implement, develop and test the product in a practical way, and in many cases the opinions of team members will help the success of projects. In other words, since members of the team have high experience in projects, it is necessary to benefit from the team’s opinions at different stages of decision-making.

According to the investigations, the expert team should have a reasonable number of people, on average between 5 and 9 people. Of course, this depends on the type of projects and products. Fewer members means less productivity and fatigue of team members, and communication and interaction between people becomes difficult if too many members are selected.

In a specialized Scrum project management team, members decide which tasks should be assigned to which members to achieve the best results. It must be said that delegating work to suitable people can speed up the progress of projects. Each of these members has specialized and practical skills that will contribute to the success of the Scrum Sprint process. Interaction and cross-functionality, reasonable number of members and accountability are three important principles that will ensure quality and reliable outputs in an expert team.

Events in Scrum

The Scrum framework team consists of a set of tasks, activities, and rules. Each of these departments pursues a specific goal to play a decisive role in the overall success of the projects. Events in Scrum indicate who will attend which activity and coordination meeting, and these meetings are of great value to many teams. Of course, some teams may feel that meetings and events are undervalued; This depends on the team itself and their experience of holding consecutive meetings.

There are predetermined events to increase order and remove obstacles from your path. All events have a specific time frame and when a sprint starts its time is fixed and does not change. Additionally, any previously active activity will also be tracked within the specified time period and will end once the predetermined goal is reached.

Activities that include five important stages in Scrum project management are as follows:

sprint

Sprints are the beating heart of Scrum project management, where ideas turn into value. This section is the activities whose specific time period is one month or less and the start of a new sprint depends on the completion of the previous sprint. Although the duration in this section varies depending on the team and project type, this period is generally determined as two weeks.

Sprint Planning

Sprint planning is the beginning of sprint execution and is the result of team members and the product owner working interactively on priorities and how to get the job done. The goal of sprint planning is to reach a consensus among members that they all agree is realistic and practical.

Daily Scrum events

This part of the business is followed as daily events whose duration is not enough to negatively affect the course of business. In fact, many teams do not pay attention to the daily scrum, but for some it is an important principle in determining the situation. Daily Scrum is an opportunity for developers to get informed about the status of work and check their progress over a period of one day.

Sprint Review

Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective events occur at the end of each sprint and are intended to contribute to continuous improvement. The Sprint Review event helps the team identify productivity gains and focus on future positive features.

Sprint Retrospective

In this section, which can be considered the last round of the sprint, the scrum team tries to know what is effective and what needs to be improved for the future. This event gives team members and management the opportunity to work interactively and propose action plans at a designated time to improve the quality of future sprints.