Agile Scrum Development Methodology
Most modern software developers have heard of Scrum at least once in their lives. However, there are still lots of people in software development industry who don’t know the basic principles of this methodology. So what is the Agile Scrum development methodology? Let’s find out.
A software developer cannot realize the main principles of Scrum if he does not know anything about Agile. That is because of the fact that Scrum is an Agile software development methodology. Agile was invented at the beginning of 2000-s by a group of programmers who wanted to make their work more effective. These people have formulated the main principles of Agile.
Communication and cooperation within the team is one of them. All members of Agile teams must communicate constantly during the period of project realization. It accelerates the pace of work. In Agile teams the developers are interchangeable. If one person has not enough time to meet all deadlines, other employees must help him deliver the final product in time.
Strong communication between the customer and the team is another important feature of all Agile methodologies. The client participates in the process of software development at all stages. He is able to give advice, set new goals and reprioritize tasks.
Scrum is one of the most popular Agile software development methodologies. That is because it combines all best Agile principles. Some people even use the terms “Agile” and “Scrum” interchangeably. However, this is a wrong mindset, because Scrum has a number of specific features.
Like other Agile methodologies, Scrum is based on iterative cycles. They are called sprints. The duration of a typical sprint is usually about two weeks, but it can also last from one to four weeks, depending on the type of project and its complexity.
Each sprint has its own backlog. It is formulated at the sprint meeting that is conducted at the beginning of each iterative cycle. The sprint backlog is a prioritized list of tasks that should be performed during certain sprint. It cannot be changed or reprioritized during its performance. The sprint backlog is formulated from the items of the product backlog, which is created by the Product Owner.
The Product Owner is the customer or his representative in the team. He is responsible for gathering user stories, prioritizing them in the product backlog and estimating the final and intermediate products. The Product Owner participates at the team’s work constantly. He estimates the software that was developed during each sprint at the meeting called the sprint review.
After the part of the product is estimated by the Product Owner, the developers conduct a retrospective meeting. Its main goal is to define what went wrong during the sprint. Most Scrum teams also define the advantages of the previous sprint, because this procedure contributes to teambuilding.
As you can see, Agile Scrum development is a flexible process that is aimed at creating high quality software and delivering it just in time.
