Scrum Methodology
Scrum is an agile method for project management developed by Ken Schwaber. Its goal is to dramatically improve productivity in teams previously paralyzed by heavier, process-laden methodologies. Its intended use is for management of software development projects as well as a wrapper to other software development methodologies such as Extreme Programming.
Scrum is characterized by:
- A living backlog of prioritized work to be done.
- Completion of a largely fixed set of backlog items in a series of short iterations or sprints.
- A brief daily meeting (called a scrum), at which progress is explained, upcoming work is described, and obstacles are raised.
- A brief planning session in which the backlog items for the sprint will be defined.
- A brief heartbeat retrospective, at which all team members reflect about the past sprint.
Scrum is facilitated by a scrum master, whose primary job is to remove impediments to the ability of the team to deliver the sprint goal. The scrum master is not the leader of the team (as they are self-organizing) but acts as a productivity buffer between the team and any destabilizing influences.
Scrum enables the creation of self-organizing teams by encouraging verbal communication across all team members and across all disciplines that are involved in the project. A key principle of scrum is its recognition that fundamentally empirical challenges cannot be addressed successfully in a traditional “process control” manner. As such, scrum adopts an empirical approach – accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or defined, focusing instead on maximizing the team's ability to respond in an agile manner to emerging challenges.
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Other Methodologies
- Adaptive Project Framework
- Agile Software Development
- Crystal Methods
- Dynamic Systems Development Model (DSDM)
- Extreme Programming (XP)
- Feature Driven Development (FDD)
- Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
- Joint Application Development (JAD)
- Lean Development (LD)
- PRINCE2
- Rapid Application Development (RAD)
- Rational Unified Process (RUP)
- Scrum
- Spiral
- Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
- TenStep Project Management Process
- Waterfall (a.k.a. Traditional)
For a high-level look at project management in general, check out my introduction to project management fundamentals.
(3 votes, average: 2.00 out of 5)
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Misleading article with some misinformation about scrum. Scrum is a framework, not a methodology. Agile is the methodology most commonly associated with the scrum framework.
The article talks about scrum adopting an empirical approach, but that is agile methodology at work and not the purview of the framework . Scrum is only the series of ceremonies and artifacts which accompany the agile development process.
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I agree with some of what Paul has to see, certainly as regards Scrum being a framework. However, I'm not sure I'd agree that empirical approach is not the purview of the framework.
The definitive book on scrum, the Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland are clear. From page 4:
Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory, or empiricism. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known. Scrum employs an iterative, incremental approach to optimize predictability and control risk.