Process Change In Scrum
Scrum has a clearly defined process framework, which makes its adoption simple and straightforward. The Scrum Guide™ contains descriptions of each of the 19 processes of Scrum, with their inputs and outputs, roleplayers and toolsets. Although these descriptions contain quite a lot of detail, they are not completely prescriptive. Roleplayers, tools, inputs and outputs are flagged as mandatory where they are regarded as critical to the project success, while others can be omitted from the process if the team finds that they can function without them.
As with all processes, to manage them effectively, there must be a process owner. The process owner knows the processes well, and his role is to ensure everyone adheres to the processes and that they are followed. From this perspective, it is clear that the Scrum Master functions as the process owner. The only difference in Scrum is that if changes to the process are required, the team must agree democratically that this is desirable; the Scrum Master cannot impose changes without the team’s approval and consent.
The question arises why, if all the processes are described, they would require change. To answer this, consider the “Estimate User Stories” process, which is conducted during the Sprint Planning meeting. There are several techniques that can be used to do this. If a particular method, like “Planning Poker” was used, but the estimations were inaccurate, this would have an impact downstream, firstly when committing user stories to the Sprint Backlog and then later, when actually executing the work. If the estimation was too low, the Sprint will run out of time before the Sprint Backlog was cleared. If there was an overestimation, the work will be completed before the sprint end-date (which is time-boxed). This is most likely to happen during the first sprint, and the process is then improved to avoid it recurring in the next sprints.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course:
Course Contents
Section 1: Agile Project Management
Section 2: Using the Agile Manifesto to Deliver Change
Section 3: The 12 Agile Principles
Section 4: The Agile Fundamentals
Section 5: The Declaration of Interdependence
Section 6: Agile Development Frameworks
Section 7: Introduction to Scrum
Section 8: Scrum Projects
Section 9: Scrum Project Roles
Section 10: Meet the Scrum Team
Section 11: Building the Scrum Team
Section 12: Scrum in Projects, Programs & Portfolios
Section 13: How to Manage an Agile Project
Section 14: Leadership Styles
Section 15: The Agile Project Life-cycle
Section 16: Business Justification with Agile
Section 17: Calculating the Benefits With Agile
Section 18: Quality in Agile
Section 19: Acceptance Criteria and the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 20: Quality Management in Scrum
Section 21: Change in Scrum
Section 22: Integrating Change in Scrum
Section 23: Managing Change in Scrum
Section 24: Risk in Scrum
Section 25: Risk Assessment Techniques
Section 26: Initiating an Agile Project
Section 27: Forming the Scrum Team
Section 28: Epics and Personas
Section 29: Creating the Prioritised Product Backlog
Section 30: Conduct Release Planning
Section 31: The Project Business Case
Section 32: Planning in Scrum
Section 33: Scrum Boards
Section 34: Sprint Planning
Section 35: User Stories
Section 36: User Stories and Tasks
Section 37: The Sprint Backlog
Section 38: Implementation of Scrum
Section 39: The Daily Scrum
Section 40: The Product Backlog
Section 41: Scrum Charts
Section 42: Review and Retrospective
Section 43: Scrum of Scrums
Section 44: Validating a Sprint
Section 45: Retrospective Sprint
Section 46: Releasing the Product
Section 47: Project Retrospective
Section 48: The Communication Plan
Section 49: Formal Business Sign-off
Section 50: Scaling Scrum
Section 51: Stakeholders
Section 52: Programs and Portfolios