Scrum Methodology

What is Scrum?

Effective inner working of a software development company is a goal that keeps on being researched and implemented by many companies worldwide. Many companies around the globe have poured time and resources to seek and implement the most effective framework to improve their capabilities. And one of the most used framework to enhance their workflow is the scrum methodology.

Scrum is an agile process framework used for managing complex work, commonly used in many software development processes. Although scrum methodology is increasingly used by many companies beyond tech development companies, scrum is usually associated with companies that revolve around software development.

The main idea of scrum methodology is attaining the completion of complex work targets through a lightweight, iterative and incremental framework. It means that compared to the traditional sequential method of product development, scrum encourages closer daily collaboration between team members to earn the best results.

How to do Scrum

To create the best product that the users desire, a developer team can use several steps of scrum to do it properly. Firstly, the Product Owner decides the features that should be implemented in the final product. To make this happen, the Product Owner needs to have a Backlog which contains a list of tasks and requirements that the whole team should do to develop the product.

Nextly, the team will perform their tasks within a determined timeframe called Sprint (which usually takes 2 weeks to do). During this phase, the team will do a session called Daily Scrum, which is a super-short meeting intended to ensure that the team is working on the right track. Since this is done daily, the team can fix any obstacles that may halt their progress at that time immediately.

And lastly, the team will perform a session called as Sprint Review after the Sprint timeframe has concluded. Led by a scrum master who supervises the team’s progress, the review session may discuss things that did and didn’t work during the development session and how the team can improve themselves next time.

Benefits of Scrum

Since scrum methodology requires fewer resources and more focus on the teamwork, many companies had decided to use this methodology as well. Several benefits from using scrum methodology are higher quality and productivity, flexibility and adaptability in the development process, the higher capability to prioritize specific tasks and more open to the customers/users’ satisfaction.

Because the product can be reviewed in each daily scrum session, the product can be perfected and revised immediately based on the team’s findings. This prevents the product from performing poorly after its release due to the lack of mid-production reviews commonly found in traditional methods of product development. Moreover, customers are more likely to be satisfied with products that have been gradually reviewed during the development phase that used the scrum methodology.

Other than software development companies, other companies can also benefit significantly from scrum methodology. Wikispeed, a renowned automotive manufacturer that produces modular design cars, has managed to develop a functional car prototype in just 3 months in 2012. Compared to the traditional development methods that can take many years to accomplish, the Wikispeed development team has managed to build a very capable modular car that can decrease the overall cost production. Due to its high efficiency and amount of teamwork inspired by scrum methods, this is one of the most notable examples of the scrum method’s successes in recent years.

Finally, this proves that scrum methodology currently takes place as one of the most efficient ways for companies to develop their products perfectly. Because it requires fewer resources and more emphasis on team’s connectivity, the team can prioritize tasks that should be done immediately to maximize their output. And the fact that so many companies can do it is also a reason why scrum methodology is a highly-sought method to create a perfect product made by its developer company.