Getting Started With Agile Methodology

Scrum

This article explains “Scrum” (one of the best agile software development practices in use today) with all the possible screenshots for better/quick understanding.


Figure 1

This article explains why “Scrum” is important in developing software and I also cover all the core parts of Scrum, like Product backlogs, Release backlogs, Team roles, Sprints, Burndown Charts and more.

Let us assume we want to develop a product.


Figure 2

For developing this product, we need to get many kinds of features requests from:

• Customers
• Executives
• Or even other team members

Features: In Scrum features are written from the perspective of the end user (client/customer), therefore features are known as “User Stories”.


Figure 3

Product Backlog: The collection of all these user stories are known as a product backlog.


Figure 4

Another term we can use for this product backlog is “Wish List”.


Figure 5

After preparing our Wish List/Product Backlog we need to think of all the user stories that would make our product great.


Figure 6

And we should select some specific user stories to be put into a release backlog.


Figure 7

Release Backlog

This release backlog contains only identified user stories.


Figure 8

To build our product, we need to have a few people who're going to play a variety of roles. Let us see them.

Product Owner

The product owner helps ensure the right features make it into the product backlog representing the user/customer.


Figure 9

Scrum Master


Figure 10

The job of this Scrum Master is to ensure the project is progressing smoothly and setting up meetings team members.


Figure 11

And also monitors the work being done and facilitates the release planning.


Figure 12

Developers: These guys build the product.


Figure 13

Testers: These guys test the product to ensure the product is working accordingly.


Figure 14

Customers: And these guys use the product and pay for it.


Figure 15

Executives: Without these guys, we can't build the product.


Figure 16

Release Planning


Figure 17

To plan a release, the team starts with a “Product Backlog” then they identify the user stories they want to put into the “Release backlog”.


Figure 18

The team then prioritizes the user stories and estimates the amount of work involved for each item.


Figure 19 Prioritized user stories


Figure 20 Estimating the time for each user story

Sometimes larger user stories (see the preceding figure) are broken down into smaller, more manageable chunks.


Figure 21


Figure 22

The collection of all the estimates provide a rough idea of the total amount of work involved to complete the entire release (for example it is 9 days in the preceding product release).

Creating Good Estimates

There are many techniques for creating good estimates.

Estimate in hours (less than 1 day):

• For example things take less than 1 day to complete and will be estimated in: