Table of Contents
- Study Guide Overview
- Scrum Principles
- Empirical Process Control
- Self-Organization
- Collaboration
- Value-Based Prioritization
- Time-Boxing
- Iterative Development
- Conclusion
Greetings & Salutations, Artistikk R3b3lls!
Study Guide Overview
In my previous article Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC) | Study Guide - Part I: Introduction, I provide a synopsis of the examination, an overview of scrum, its benefits, and impediments. As aforementioned, I am pursuing my SCRUMstudy's Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC) to learn how to more sophistically implement the Scrum framework, an agile methodology, into my software and project management projects. In this section, Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC) | Study Guide - Part II: Principles, I will outline the six principles of the Scrum framework necessary to pass SCRUMstudy's Scrum Fundamentals Certification.
Note
All Scrum definitions, images, and related text in the Scrum Book of Knowledge (SBOK) 4th Edition are taken from SCRUMstudy, a brand of VMEdu, Inc courses. Content obtained from the SBOK will state the page for reference. This is article is intended for informational and educational purposes.
Study Guide Contents
My SFC Exam Study Guide are comprised of eight sections:
- Part I: Introduction
- Part II: Principles
- Part III: Scrum Aspects
- Part IV: Scrum Phases
- Part V: Scaling Scrum
- Part VI: Glossary
- Part VII: Practice Test
- Practice Test 1.1
- Practice Test 1.2
- Practice Test 1.3
- Part VIII: Case Study
- Case Study – Phase 1
- Case Study – Phase 2
- Case Study – Phase 3
- Case Study – Phase 4
- Case Study – Phase 5
As I study to complete the SCRUMstudy's Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC), I will compile notes into a articles and share them with everyone. Yep-pey :)
Let the page-turning commence!
Scrum Principles
Six Scrum Principles are the foundation on of the Scrum framework and can be applied to any project.
- Empirical Process Control
- Self-Organization
- Collaboration
- Value-based Prioritization
- Time-boxing
- Iterative Development
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Introduction | Page: 9
Empirical Process Control
Empirical Process Control allows learning through observation and experimentation, a pivotal aspect in the Scrum's framework to complete projects or products when clear and concise upfront planning and details are not present at the beginning or mid-way through product development. This principle emphasizes the core philosophy of Scrum based on three main ideas: transparency, inspection, and adaptation.
Transparency
Transparency allows all aspects of any Scrum process to be viewed by everyone. This ensures information is available throughout the organization and develops an open work culture.
There are three components of Transparency:
- Artifacts
- Meetings
- Information Radiators
There are four types of Artifacts:
- Project Vision Statement
- Prioritized Product Backlog
- Sprint Backlog
- Release Planning Schedule
There are five types of Meetings:
- Sprint Planning Meetings
- Daily Standup Meetings
- Sprint Review Meetings
- Retrospect Sprint Meetings
- Release Planning Meeting
There are three types of Information Radiators:
- Sprint Burndown Chart
- Scrumboard
- Sprint Burnup Chart
Artifacts
- Project Vision Statement is viewable by business stakeholders and the Scrum Team.
- Prioritized Product Backlog displays prioritized User Stories for everyone to view.
- Sprint Backlog lists tasks associated with committed User Stories to be completed by Scrum team in current Sprint.
- Release Planning Schedule can coordinate work across multiple Scrum Teams and other business stakeholders.
Meetings
- Sprint Planning Meetings allow Scrum Teams to estimate time and commitment needed to deliver priority User Stories and commit to set of User Stories complete for a Sprint.
- Daily Standup Meetings conducted during the Conduct Daily Standup process, allows all team members to report their progress of a User Story or Bug from the previous day, what they plan to do, and any impediments preventing from completing task in the current Sprint.
- Sprint Review Meetings conducted during the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process, Scrum Team demonstrates potentially shippable Sprint Deliverables to the Product Owner and business stakeholders.
- Retrospect Sprint Meetings conducted after the Sprint Review Meetings on the last day of the Sprint allows the Scrum Team to discuss improvement opportunities for future Sprints.
- Release Planning Meeting is conducted to enable the Scrum Team to have an overview of the planned releases and delivery schedule for development of the product.
Information Radiators
- Sprint Burndown Chart, Scrumboard, and Sprint Burnup Chart is visible to the Scrum Team to monitor progress.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 22 - 23
Inspection
Inspection in Scrum is depicted through the following:
- Scrumboard and other Information Radiators demonstrate the progress of the Scrum Team on completing the tasks in the current Sprint.
- Frequent Feedback from the customer and other business stakeholders during the following processes: Develop Epic(s), Create Prioritized Product Backlog, Conduct Release Planning, and Refine Prioritized Product Backlog.
- Final Inspection and approval of deliverables by the Product Owner and the customer in Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 24
Adaptation
Adaptation allows the Scrum Core Team and business stakeholders learn through transparency and inspection to adapt by making improvement in their work.
There are multiple opportunities in the Scrum framework for Adaptation, below are six areas for example:
- Daily Standup Meetings
- Constant Risk Identification
- Change Requests
- Scrum Guidance
- Retrospect Sprint Meetings
- Retrospect Project Meetings
Example of Opportunities for Adaptation
- In Daily Standup Meetings, Scrum Team members discuss impediments to completing tasks and seeking assistance from other team members. More experienced Scrum Team members mentor less experience in knowledge of the project or technology.
- Risk identification is performed and iterated throughout the project. Identified risks become inputs to several Scrum processes including Create Prioritized Product Backlog, Refine Prioritized Product Backlog, and Demonstrate and Validate Sprint.
- Change Requests can be created due to improvements which are discussed and approved during the Develop Epic(s), Create Prioritized Product Backlog, and Refine Prioritized Product Backlog processes.
- The Scrum Guidance Body interacts with Scrum Team members to offer guidance and provide expertise as required during the Create User Stories, Estimate Tasks, Create Deliverables, and Refine Prioritized Product Backlog processes.
- In Retrospect Sprint Meetings agreed actionable improvements are determined based on the outputs from the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process.
- In Retrospect Release Meeting, participants document lessons learned and perform reviews seeking ways to improve processes and address inefficiencies.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 24 – 25
Self Organization
Self-Organization allows team members to deliver greater value because Scrum embraces the idea employees are self-motivated and seek greater responsibility. Scrum's leadership style is "supporting leadership" which focus its needs on the Scrum Team to achieve results.
Within the Initiate phase, the Project Vision is defined in the Create Project Vision process, followed by selecting the Product Owner, Scrum Master and Scrum Team in the Identify Scrum Master and Business Stakeholder(s) and Form Scrum Team processes. The Scrum Core Team collaborate with business stakeholders to Develop Epic(s), an Initiate phase's process and Create User Stories process in Plan and Estimate phase. The team's expertise determines technical and management input necessary to execute planned work of project during the Create Deliverables process in Implement phase.
The Product Owner, Voice of Customer, prioritizes work, and tasks breakdown and estimation is completed by the self-organized Scrum Team during Identify Tasks and Estimate Tasks processes of Plan and Estimate phase. During these processes, the Scrum Team determine their work responsibilities, and assist the Product Owner to identity risks and dependencies. Throughout the Sprint, the Scrum Team interface daily through Daily Standup Meetings to discuss progress, impediments, and need of assistance. The Scrum Team interact with other teams through Scrum of Scrum (SoS) meetings.
Finally, in Review and Retrospect phase's Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process, the Scrum Team and Scrum Master work together to show the product increment created during the Sprint and acceptance of completed deliverables. In Release phase's Ship Deliverables process, work is sent to production. Since the Prioritized Product Backlog arranges User Stories by value of importance, the Product Owner and customer can visualize value created after every Sprint.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles| Page: 27
Identification of Phases: Initiate, Plan and Estimate, Implement, Review and Retrospect, Release
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Introduction | Page: 15
Benefits of Self-Organization
The benefits of self-organization are the following:
- Ownership - collective buy-in and shared pride in work
- Motivation – leads to enhanced team performance
- Growth – innovative and creative environment
- Approach – satisfy requirements with simplest and best techniques
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles| Page: 27
Collaboration
Collaboration is the Scrum Core Team working together and liaising with business stakeholders to create and validate deliverables of the project to meet goals outlined in the Project Vision during the Initiate phase. Cooperation occurs when work product consists of the sum of work efforts of various team members. Collaboration occurs when a team works together to play off each other's inputs to produce a greater product. To achieve full collaboration, establishing trust between team members and between team members and business stakeholders. Collaborative work three core dimensions are awareness, articulation, and appropriation.
Awareness
Individuals working together need to be aware of each other's work.
Articulation
Individuals collaborating must partition work into sections, divide sections among team members, and after work completion, reintegrate work.
Appropriation
Adapt technology to one's own situation; technology may be used in a manner completely different than expected by designers.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 29
Benefits of Collaboration in Scrum Projects
"Customer Collaboration over contract negotiation" is emphasized in The Agile Manifesto written in 2001 by Martin Fowler and Jim Highsmith. The Scrum framework approach is to allow the Scrum Core Team members (Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Scrum Team) collaborate with each other and business stakeholders to create deliverables that provide the greatest possible value to the customer.
Collaboration ensures the following project benefits are realized:
- Change Requests are minimized.
- Risks are efficiently identified and mitigated.
- Efficiency is increased.
- Continuous improvement is incorporated.
Change Requests are minimized.
The need for changes due to poorly refined requirements are minimized.
Example
During the Initiate phases' Create Project Vision, Develop Epic(s), and Create Prioritized Product Backlog processes, the Product Owner collaborates with business stakeholders to create the Project Vision, Epic(s), and Prioritized Product Backlog. This ensures clarity for Scrum Core Team members work that is required to complete the project. Through a transparent Prioritized Product Backlog, the Scrum Team collaborates with the Product Owner and business stakeholders to create project deliverables.
The Implement phase's Conduct Daily Standup and Refine Prioritized Product Backlog processes and Review and Retrospect phase's Retrospect Sprint process, provide scope to the Scrum Core Team to discuss what has been completed and collaborate on what needs to be done. Therefore, the number of Change Requests from the customer and rework is minimized.
Risks are efficiently identified and mitigated.
- Risks are identified and handled efficiently.
Example
Project risks are identified and assessed during the Initiate phase's Develop Epic(s) process, and Implement phases' Create Deliverables and Conduct Daily Standup processes by the Scrum Core Team members. The Scrum meeting tools such as the Daily Standup Meeting, Sprint Planning Meeting, Prioritized Product Backlog Review Meeting, and other meetings provide opportunities for the team identify and assess risks, as well as to efficiently implement risk responses.
Efficiency is increased.
The true potential of the team is realized.
Example
During Implement phase' Conduct Daily Standup process, it provides an opportunity for the Scrum Team to collaborate and understand each members' strengths and weaknesses. If a team member misses a task deadline, the Scrum Team collaborates to complete the tasks and meet the Sprint targets.
Continuous improvement is incorporated.
Continuous improvement is ensured through lessons learned.
Example
During Review and Retrospect phase's Retrospect Sprint process, the Scrum Team identifies what went well and what did not in the previous Sprint. This allows the Scrum Master to collaborate with the team to enhance their performance for the upcoming Sprint. This will also make collaboration more effective in the next sprint.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 29 – 30
Importance of Colocation in Collaboration
Effective Scrum practices often require high-bandwidth communication, which is best achieved when team members are collocated. Preferred communication methods include face-to-face interactions, decision rooms, scrum boards, wall displays, shared tables, and other options. Co-location enables both formal and informal interactions among team members.
Some of the benefits of co-location include:
- Questions are answered promptly.
- Issues are resolved immediately.
- There is less friction between interactions.
- Trust is earned and granted much more quickly.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 31
Collaboration in Distributed Teams
While collocated teams are generally preferred, there are instances when the Scrum Team may be distributed. Scrum team members may work from various physical locations, including different cities or countries, and may also be working from home. Even when teams are collocated, members should have the flexibility to work remotely in case of extenuating circumstances that could affect the team's ability to function effectively in a collocated environment. In such situations, it may be necessary to ensure that Scrum Team members are set up to work effectively while distributed.
Scrum Project Tool
Utilizing a collaborative Scrum project tool is strongly advised to ensure team members work productively, especially when they are not located in the same workplace.
- The Scrum Project Tool should ideally offer the following: Clearly define all Scrum roles and provide messaging and collaboration tools for team members to communicate effectively with each other.
- Develop and utilize key Scrum artifacts.
- Outline the workflow for different Scrum processes in the Initiate, Planning, Implement, Retrospect, and Release phases.
- Scale to organization or enterprise levels.
- Schedule essential Scrum meetings. These meetings can be arranged using a separate video conferencing tool.
- Facilitate easy online communication among Scrum Team members, whether one-on-one or via distributed groups and discussion forums.
- Document the lessons learned from retrospectives and similar activities, ensuring that relevant reports are generated in real-time.
- Implement automation to ensure that templates and guidance from the Scrum Guidance Body are accessible to all Scrum Teams within the organization.
- Allow the Scrum Guidance Body to evaluate Scrum-related practices.
- Clone similar projects, Epics, and User Stories to help Scrum Team members reduce time spent on unnecessary or duplicate documentation, while also learning from experiences of similar completed work.
Benefits of using a Scrum Project Tool for distributed teams include the following:
- Facilitate Scrum Team members to work anytime and from any location.
- Automation of reporting, messaging, scheduling, workflows, and other items.
- Implementing standard guidelines throughout the organization by automating the recommendations from the Scrum Guidance Body.
- Increased efficiency achieved by reducing time spent on creating repetitive or unnecessary documentation when cloning similar projects.
- Collaborating with a more diverse team often brings in local perspectives and experiences.
- Fewer logistical challenges compared to those of having all team members in one location.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 31 - 32
Value Based Prioritization
The Scrum framework focuses on delivering maximum business value in the shortest time possible. Prioritization is one of the most effective tools for ensuring the greatest value is achieved quickly. Prioritization is the process of determining what tasks must be done immediately versus those that can be addressed later. The traditional Waterfall model of project management employs a sequential process with multiple levels of task prioritization to manage projects effectively. It uses prioritization matrices to delegate tasks and certain tasks must be completed first to expedite the development process and achieve project goals. It uses prioritization matrices to assign tasks, ensuring that some must be completed first to accelerate the development process and achieve project goals.
The Scrum framework employs Value-based Prioritization as a core principle for adaptability and iterative development, providing structure and functionality for development of product or service. Scrum focuses on delivering a valuable product or service to customers early and continuously. The Product Owner prioritizes User Stories in the Prioritized Product Backlog. After the Product Owner receives business requirements from the customer, they are documented as Epics and User Stories. The Product Owner collaborates with customers and business stakeholders to identify the business requirements that provide the most value. To effectively prioritize user stories, the Product Owner needs to understand what customers want and value, organizing the stories in a list from highest to lowest priority. The processes where the principle of Value-based Prioritization is applied include Initiate phase's Create a Prioritized Product Backlog and Implement phase's Refine Prioritized Product Backlog.
Simultaneously, the Product Owner must collaborate with the Scrum Team to identify project risks and uncertainties, as these may lead to negative consequences. It is important to consider this when prioritizing User Stories using a value-based approach. Additionally, the Scrum Team notifies the Product Owner of any dependencies arising from implementation.
The Product Owner must translate the inputs and needs of project stakeholders to create a Prioritized Product Backlog. Prioritization leads to deliverables that meet customer requirements while maximizing business value in the shortest time possible. While prioritizing the User Stories in the Prioritized Product Backlog, the following three factors are considered:
- Value
- Risk or uncertainty
- Dependencies
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 33 - 34
Time Boxing
Time is one of the most important factors in managing a Scrum project. To address this time constraint, Scrum introduces the concept of Time-boxing. This method involves establishing a predetermined duration for every process and activity within a Scrum project. This approach helps Scrum team members manage their workload effectively, avoiding both excess and insufficient work while preventing wasted time on unclear tasks.
Some advantages of Time-boxing include:
- An efficient development process
- Reduced overhead
- Increased team velocity
- More focused team members
- Well-prepared individuals
Time-boxing is essential in Scrum, helping to prevent excessive refinement of items. However, it must be applied carefully to avoid demotivating the team and creating a negative environment.
Scrum Time-boxes
Sprint
A Sprint is a time-boxed iteration lasting one to four weeks, facilitated by the Scrum Master, who protects the Scrum Team from obstacles during the Implement phase's Create Deliverables process. During a Sprint, the Scrum Team transforms requirements from the Prioritized Product Backlog into shippable product features. This structure helps prevent scope creep that could affect the Sprint goal. Sprints should be kept as short as possible for flexibility, but long enough to produce a deliverable that the Product Owner can review and approve.
Sprint Planning Meeting
Sprint Planning Meeting is conducted prior to each Sprint as part of the Implement phase's Commit User Stories, Identify Tasks, Estimate Tasks, and Update Sprint Backlog processes. The time allocated for this activity is limited to two hours each week throughout the duration of the Sprint.
The Sprint Planning Meeting has the following objectives:
- Objective Definition The Product Owner explains the highest-priority User Stories in the Prioritized Product Backlog to the Scrum Team. The Scrum Team collaborates with the Product Owner and then commits to the User Stories, which define the Sprint goal.
- Task Identification and Estimation The Scrum Team decides how to complete the Prioritized Product Backlog items to achieve the Sprint goal, tracking committed User Stories and estimated tasks in the Sprint Backlog.
Daily Standup Meeting
The Daily Standup Meeting is a short daily meeting, Time-boxed to 15 minutes. This meeting is carried out by the Scrum Team as part of the Implement phase's Conduct Daily Standup process. The team meets to share updates on the project by answering these three questions:
- What have I done since the last meeting?
- What do I plan to do before the next meeting?
- What impediments or obstacles (if any) am I currently facing?
Sprint Review Meeting
The Sprint Review Meeting is time-boxed to one hour for each week of the Sprint. During this meeting, held in the Review and Retrospect phase's Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process, the Scrum Team presents the current Sprint deliverables to the Product Owner, who reviews them against the Acceptance Criteria to either accept or reject the completed User Stories.
Retrospect Sprint Meeting
The Retrospect Sprint Meeting is Time-boxed to one hour each week of the Sprint duration during the Retrospect Sprint process of Review and Retrospect phase. In this meeting, the Scrum Team gathers to review and reflect on the current Sprint regarding the processes followed, tools used, collaboration and communication methods, and other relevant aspects of the project. The team reviews what went well and what did not in the previous sprint to learn and improve future sprints. Any identified best practices or improvement opportunities may be added to the Scrum Guidance Body.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 35 - 36
Iterative Development
To achieve the goal of delivering maximum business value in a minimum time span, Scrum application consists of Iterative Development of deliverables. In complex projects, the customer may not have concrete requirements for the product result. The Scrum framework uses an iterative model to ensure that change requests can be included in the product. User Stories may be written throughout the project's duration. At the beginning of the project, User Stories are defined as high-level functionalities referred to as Epics. An Epic is usually too large for teams to complete in a single Sprint; therefore, Epics are broken into smaller User Stories.
During the Implement phase, the complex project is deconstructed during the Refine Prioritized Product Backlog process. In the Plan and Estimate phase, new requirements are added to the Prioritized Product Backlog in the processes of Create User Stories, Estimate User Stories, and Commit User Stories. The Product Owner must understand the project's business justification, ensure an increase in ROI, and deliver value after each Sprint when drafting the Prioritized Product Backlog. The Identify Tasks, Estimate Tasks, and Update Sprint Backlog processes of the Plan and Estimate phase create the Sprint Backlog, which the team uses to create deliverables.
In each Sprint, the Implement phase's Create Deliverables process is used to develop the Sprint’s outputs. The Scrum Master facilitates the team to work most productively and the Scrum Team self-organizes and aims to create the Sprint Deliverables from the User Stories in the Sprint Backlog for each Sprint. Multiple cross-functional teams collaborate in parallel during Sprints to produce potentially shippable solutions after each Sprint in major projects. Following the completion of the Sprint, the Product Owner decides whether to accept or reject the deliverables by the Acceptance Criteria from the Demonstrate and Validate Sprint process in the Review and Retrospect phase.
Because everyone engaged gains a better grasp of what needs to be provided as part of the project and iteratively incorporates these learnings, iterative development has the advantage of allowing for course correction. It reduces the time and effort to complete the product and deliverables are more appropriate for business value.
Reference | Scrum Body of Knowledge, SBOK Guide | 4th Edition | Chapter: Principles | Page: 38
Conclusion
I highly recommend anyone interested in learning the process of software development or project management to take SCRUMstudy's Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC)
exam. In this section, **Scrum Fundamentals Certification (SFC) | Study Notes - Part II : Scrum Principles **, I outlined the six principles of the Scrum framework necessary to pass SCRUMstudy's Scrum Fundamentals Certification.
Until next time: or Until next time: it's not the project, it's the six principles.
R3b3l with me at GitHub, Medium, Dev Community, and LinkedIn
Signed
The LightBringer
I am the eagle that flies ABOVE.
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