Estimation Techniques: The Sprint Planning Meeting What Estimation Techniques can be used within Scrum Projects? The Sprint Planning meeting is the Scrum ceremony where the team estimates all tasks associated with each user story in the Sprint backlog. The estimation effort focuses on all resources required to complete the tasks for each Sprint. A shared…
How can we go about Integrating Change in Scrum? Scrum helps businesses to be flexible and receptive to change. The Scrum framework undertakes change requests at any time during the Agile Project, however the implementation of these changes is addressed when the Prioritized Product Backlog is created or updated. Changes are integrated into Scrum if…
The main thought process about risk management at these levels is to share ownership at the project level with those at the program and portfolio levels. Probability and impact ratings vary at different levels and risk rarely occurs at a single level without affecting higher levels. When risk is identified at multiple levels, this constitutes…
To get work done with Scrum, there needs to be a balance between flexibility and stability in the Scrum change practice. While the Scrum framework is extremely flexible, change in Scrum projects must remain stable. When flexibility is too severe, processes can become blocked and ineffective. Scrum uses several concepts to ensure that the balance…
Change in Scrum portfolios and programs is inevitable and must be properly managed. The impact of changes is frequently wide spread and involves a variety of stakeholders in an organization. The request for modifications begin with the change request, the primary instrument used for initiating, gaining approval and recording actions. The change request form needs…
All projects are usually required to undertake a business justification process, and Scrum projects are not an exception. This practice is essential because it helps the business understand its options pertaining to change initiatives, new products or services and providing justification for undertaking a new project. The business justification process is also an enabler for…
What is the Retrospective Meeting and what happens during the ceremony? A retrospective is a time-boxed ceremony where the Core Scrum Team (optional for the Product Owner) convenes to discuss the iteration that was most recently completed. This practice is very similar to the lessons learned meeting that takes place in waterfall projects. Pertinent information…
What is the Risk Burndown Chart and what is it used for? Risks are assessed, categorized and addressed based on severity levels that are established with the following formula: Probability X Impact = Severity. A common way that risks can be managed is with a Cumulative Risk Burndown Chart. With this chart, the expectation is…
The Scrum Board The Scrum Board is an important component of the Scrum framework. This board is used by Agile teams to track their development work within time-boxed iterations called Sprints. The Scrum Board shows all backlog items that need to be completed within the current Sprint. Team members use the board by completing work…
What is Automated Testing and when does it occur in a Scrum project? When changes are made to software that has been previously validated, even the smallest revision has the potential to disrupt the existing code. Software developers implement Regression tests to ensure that modifications or additions to the code didn’t break any of the…