Product Owner and Scrum team collaborate with the each other and the customer to create the deliverables that provide maximum possible value to the customer. This collaboration is done through a prioritized product backlog. Apart from keeping the product backlog updated as per changing needs of the customer, every sprint ends with a demo to the customer which allows product owners and scrum teams to receive feedback from the customer to validate if they are actually meeting customer requirements or not.
Changes are incorporated easily into product backlog and sprint backlog are created as per stories keeping in mind high priority requirements of the customer.
Responding to change over following a plan
Traditional software development followed a defined plan and despised change. There were budgets build into the project and any change required certain additional cost. The approach was to avoid change as it caused a ruckus to the elaborate, detailed plans created for the project with a defined set of functionalities to be delivered. This approach created hindrances in bringing more valuable products to the market with better features.
Agile, however, works in smaller packets of iterations and a small cycle of sprints are planned at a time. This allowed priorities to be shifted and changing requirements easily gets introduced within the sprints. Changes improve the product and provide additional value.
A product owner needs to be always in sync with changing requirements of the customer/market and keep a prioritized product backlog at all times. He ensures that sprints are planned in the way that the deliverables of a sprint provide maximum value to the customer.
The Agile values and principles are aimed at the alignment of software development with changing business needs and all four values of Agile manifesto demonstrates how agile encourages and welcomes changes. Agile projects are focused towards addressing customer needs and increases the speed of delivering working software to the customer.
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