Scrum is a software development platform that uses Agile principles for product management. The Scrum model is designed with the idea of providing customer satisfaction with every product. In Scrum, projects are handled in short iterations so as to allow flexibility to businesses and developers.
Tips to Get You Started as a Scrum Developer
While a Certified Scrum Developer (CSD®) training is essential to get you started, knowing, and following, certain best practices when using the tool can facilitate faster product development.
Scrum Best Practices
Following are some best practices for using Scrum.
1] Set communication guidelines
When you are working with remote teams, proper communication is important. A short Skype call or message might not cover all the important details.
To ensure that all the information is received by all the team members involved, set communication guidelines. For instance, if any user stories were affected by a new issue, make it mandatory that all team members be notified of the same.
2] Plan new sprints when product backlog increases
You need to plan a new sprint only when the product backlog has enough items for two sprints. Otherwise, your product can suffer ‘scope creep’, which is an overgrowth in the project scope since the sprint scope for the current sprint wasn’t defined in the product backlog. Also, setting sprint goals ensures that the team and customer goals are aligned.
3] Separate product and sprint backlog
Generally, it’s the sprint backlog that gets frozen and the product backlog keeps updating constantly. So, keep both these documents separate to efficiently forecast and plan for your sprints. You can measure your team velocity by comparing sprint backlogs, which can help you make more accurate estimates in the future.
4] Visualize sprint burndown
Use burndown charts to see the progress of a sprint. Using this chart, you can see the items completed in a day versus the items planned for the day.
The chart is primarily used so that your sprint development is going as per the schedule. Also, you can detect any issues that appear, as soon as they appear, and make problem-solving quicker and more efficient.
5] Use versatile tools
When it comes to quality collaboration software, Excel sheets are not going to cut it. Instead, use versatile tools that are designed specifically for Scrum. For instance, using JIRA for project management, Toggl for time-tracking, or Slack for better team collaboration.
6] Organize stand-ups
Once you have the sprint start and end dates, and a commitment from the sprint team for delivery, start your sprint. When working in Scrum, always complete your tasks in sprint to make sure it is shippable. During this period, arrange a daily call with your team to tackle any issues that may arise and to keep up with the task timeline.
This can also help determine if there are any impediments during the product development. The two basic questions to ask during every stand-up meeting are: 1) What did you accomplish today? And, 2) What will you do tomorrow?
7] Review meetings
While the stand-ups are conducted on a regular basis when your project is still in progress, a review meeting is held after the project is completed. The meeting will focus on user stories that met customer satisfaction, while incomplete user stories will remain as product backlogs.
8] Experiment with processes
Scrum is one of the most flexible frameworks available today, and it is designed keeping user flexibility in mind. Thus, a practice that’s best for one business, may not be such a good idea for another.
Ask your team to experiment with the process and try out new things. If you’ve been using two-week sprints till now, ask your team to go for a one-week or three-week sprint and note the results.
9] Peer-to-peer collaboration
While transparency is the most effective way to develop a successful project in scrum, this transparency is hard to achieve without peer-to-peer collaboration. Be it issues related to a single task or guidelines to follow, provide team members with a way to share information in real-time.
10] Continuous integration
This methodology will ensure that all the codes are integrated at all times and you can build release infrastructure with the rest of the application itself. This is especially useful when you need feedback during code development.
To conclude
These are just some of the numerous best practices all Scrum developers should know about. Since Scrum is such a flexible model, you need to pick out the best practices that suit you and your business’s needs best. But, before that, you need to learn all that Scrum has to offer, and a CSD certification can help beginners navigate the platform easily.
