Scrum for Delivering Products in a Complex and Uncertain World

We live in a world where the only certainty is uncertainty. The world is becoming more interconnected and interdependent, and more complex. The world is changing rapidly from technology that is constantly changing, new political realities that can create new rules and hackers who tend to learn faster than we can fight them.
In response to this uncertainty, we accept the fact that we cannot predict the future. The best thing we can do is act deliberately, take small steps forward, embrace uncertainty, embrace empiricism, and use feedback loops to learn.
Scrum is one of the empirical approaches to produce products in a complex and uncertain world. Scrum is one of the most popular frameworks in system development to produce quality software products. The scrum approach allows understanding complex problems while maintaining the productivity and creativity of the products produced according to continuous input.
The existence of Scrum was first developed in 1993 by Jeff Sutherland. Together with Ken Schwaber, he presented Scrum at OOPSLA’95. Sutherland contributed to the creation of the Agile Manifesto in 2001.
Here are the basics that need to be understood in implementing Scrum:

1. Scrum Roles 

In Scrum, there is only one team called Scrum Team, which consists of:

• Product Owner, responsible for maximizing the value of the product produced by the Scrum Team. The Product Owner manages the Product Backlog, ensuring that it is transparent, visible, and understood by all team members.
• Scrum Master, responsible for ensuring that Scrum is understood and implemented. The Scrum Master helps the Scrum Team to remove impediments and ensure that Scrum events are executed properly.
• Developers, people in the Scrum Team who are committed to creating an Increment each sprint. They have all the skills needed to complete the work that has been selected from the Product Backlog.

2.Events (Events in Scrum)

In scrum there were events consist of:

• Sprint, the core event in Scrum is the Sprint. A Sprint is a fixed period of no more than one month, during which a releasable product Increment is created. The Sprint contains and consists of all other Scrum events, namely Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.
• Sprint Planning, an event held at the beginning of each sprint where the entire Scrum Team plans the work for the Sprint. Sprint Planning answers two main questions:

1. 1. What can be accomplished in this Sprint?
   2. How will the selected work be accomplished?

• Daily Scrum, during the day-to-day Sprint, only the developers and the scrum master are involved. Every day, they hold a daily meeting called the Daily Scrum. Usually, the duration of micro meetings is only 10-15 minutes to plan the work for the next 24 hours. During this meeting, developers convey what will be worked on during the day, and if there are any obstacles in their work and the progress of the work that has been completed. The main purpose of this meeting is to evaluate progress towards the Sprint goal and adapt the work plan as needed, synchronize activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.
• Sprint Review, at the end of the Sprint, the Scrum Team and stakeholders gather to review the Increment that has been produced and adjust the Product Backlog if necessary.
• Sprint Retrospective, the final event of the Sprint where the Scrum Team reflects on how the previous Sprint went, identifies improvements that can be made, and plans actions to improve the process in the next Sprint.

3. Artifacts (Artifacts in Scrum)

Scrum have Artifacts that consist of:

• Product Backlog, a prioritized list of everything known to be needed in the product. The Product Backlog continues to evolve as the product and the environment in which it is used evolve.
• Sprint Backlog, the collection of Product Backlog Items selected for the Sprint, along with a plan for completing them. The Sprint Backlog is a very transparent picture of the work to be done by the Scrum Team.
• Increment, the work produced during the Sprint that is usable and provides value. Each Increment is a part of the whole product, and each previous Increment must always be functioning properly.

Scrum Process Flow (Alur Proses Scrum)

1. The Product Owner prepares and prioritizes the Product Backlog.
2. Sprint Planning selects items from the Product Backlog that will be completed in the Sprint.
3. Developers work during the Sprint, attending the Daily Scrum each day to adjust the plan and resolve impediments.
4. A releasable Increment is completed and presented at the Sprint Review.
5. A Sprint Retrospective is conducted to reflect on the process and determine improvements for the next Sprint.
6. This process repeats in subsequent Sprint cycles.

This Scrum process supports an iterative and incremental approach that allows Scrum teams to adapt to change, respond quickly to feedback, and continually improve their products and processes.

Changes can happen anytime in the Scrum Development Process. And this is the beauty of Scrum because it allows flexibility like this, nevertheless the changes stop during Sprint Planning events to prevent sprint metric to be impacted.

Write by Emyria Natalia Br Sembiring – Quality Assurance Staff