Essential Principles Every Scrum Team Should Follow

Scrum principles are extremely important and every company should implement them before it starts working with Scrum. You can create your Scrum team and waste all your recourses to perform its projects, but it still will not work without the implementation of basic Scrum principles. It is the case when you cannot decide which Scrum principle is better for your company. You have to implement them all, and if you don’t do that, the Scrum method will simply not work at your company.

Some people say that Scrum is the simplest method of software development. It is really quite simple to grasp the main idea. The structure of the Scrum teams is also not too complicated. However, it is not so easy to make your Scrum team work in a right way to perform all the projects successfully. You need to follow all the Scrum principles to make your Scrum team work.

There are several classifications of Scrum principles in the modern software industry. One of them defines 12 Scrum principles. This classification is partially inaccurate because it associates Scrum with the 12 principles that are typical for every Agile methodology. Of course, they can be applied to Scrum because it is one of the Agile approaches, but it would be wrong to call these 12 principles specific features of Scrum.

All of these 12 Agile principles are more or less about delivering the final product to the customer fast, considering his requirements and involving him into the working process. If you want to implement Scrum, you have also to implement all of them, because Scrum is an Agile method and it requires Agile approaches. However, the other two classifications are dedicated especially to Scrum method, so we will describe them in a greater detail.

The first approach to Scrum principles classification identifies only three main things that are compulsory for every Scrum team. Without their implementation, Scrum will not work successfully, whatever you do.

1. Timeboxing. It is actually about planning the activities of your team. While using it you will know exactly when you will get the feedback from your activities. Receiving feedback is one of the main features of the Scrum methodology. It helps the Scrum teams understand what they do right and what needs to be improved during the next stages of project performance.

2. Self-managing teams. It is about the close cooperation inside of Scrum teams. The high level of communication helps their members generate ideas while working on a project. However, such a range of communication must be accompanied by a high level of discipline, because the team cannot become self-managing without it.

3. Shippable code. Its main goal is to make your work on a project transparent. Transparency is the feature that helps to learn the strength and weaknesses of your project. It is a part of the improving strategy of all Scrum teams and projects.

The next classification is more detailed. It defines 6 Scrum principles. According to this classification, a Scrum team can achieve its goal only if it implements all the following principles.

1. Self-organization. This principle is about the way of Scrum team’s organization. If each member of the team knows exactly what they should do, the team will work successfully. Scrum teams have no hierarchical structure and constant leaders.

2. Empirical control of the process. This principle allows using all the knowledge and all the experience of the Scrum team to analyze its work and avoid the failures. It is based on three core ideas of Scrum: inspection, transparency, and adaptation

3. Collaboration. This principle is dedicated to strong cooperation inside of Scrum teams. It is one of the necessary conditions for successful Scrum work.

4. Timeboxing. The meaning of this principle is the same as in the previous classification.

5. Value based prioritization. Each Scrum team must prioritize its tasks in accordance with the customer’s view of the project that is considered its greatest value.

6. Iterative development. Scrum projects develop from one sprint to another. Using this principle the Scrum team can improve its work after each sprint.