Planning During the Project
While Scrum may seem like a free-for-all to the observer, it is in fact tightly managed via the fifteen minute Daily standup meeting. This is a short-term planning meeting, where a review of yesterday’s work and a plan for the next day’s work is presented by each team member. This ensures that the Sprint does not fall behind.
The completion of a Sprint is followed by two meetings, the Sprint Review, where stakeholders are invited to hear and see what was developed during the Sprint. Changes to the original requirements can now be submitted for inclusion in the next Sprint. Then there is the retrospective, a team meeting where the success of the Sprint is assessed and lessons are learnt, which are then applied to the next Sprint, thus optimising processes and teamwork. Once these two meetings have been held, the cycle can start again, with the next Sprint Planning meeting.
A Fluid and Agile Plan
The acceptance by both the team and stakeholders that the planning for a Scrum project is short-range and subject to change as the project progresses, makes a Scrum resilient. Any indications that the project is slipping off the rails can be picked up very quickly and as early as possible. There are only a few reporting artefacts used in Scrum, but they lend transparency to the project. The Scrum Board and Burndown Charts are available to all to view; keeping stakeholders and other Scrum teams (in the case of a multiple team project) apprised of where the project is at any time, as well as where it is going. The release management of Scrum provides the stakeholders with the required deliverables at the right stage of product development and ensures good integration and communication between the team and their customers.
Recommended Further Reading
The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: