A Step-by-step Guide to Implementing Scrum in Organizations

Transitioning to Agile can be challenging, especially if you're used to traditional methods like Waterfall. However, Scrum has become a popular framework in the tech industry for good reasons. This step-by-step guide will walk you through the process of Scrum implementation in your organization, covering everything from building your team to managing Sprints and tracking progress. 

Whether you're new to Scrum or looking to improve, this guide will help you implement Scrum effectively, ensuring your team delivers quality products and works together efficiently.  

“Scrum is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.”

– Scrum.org

Different Roles in Scrum Framework

To set this framework up, we need some roles to support this process, the roles include:

Who is a Scrum Master?

The Scrum Master supports the team in boosting and streamlining the processes by which they can accomplish their objectives. They also shield the team from both internal and external interferences. 

Product Owner

The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the products produced, they are the owners of the product backlog and make sure that the backlog is healthy and prioritized.

The Development Team

The Development team is one who creates the product as a whole, they are actually involved in the coding, testing, etc, to make sure a quality product is delivered in a time-boxed manner.  They are self-organizing, cross-functional teams of people who together are responsible for all of the work necessary to produce a working software or product.

“Scrum is an agile way to manage a project, usually software development. Agile software development with Scrum is often perceived as a methodology; but rather than viewing Scrum as methodology, think of it as a framework for managing a process.”

– MountainGoatSoftware.com

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Benefits of Adopting Scrum Framework 

The Scrum framework is one of the most widely-used Agile development practices, and for a good reason. Scrum implementation can bring several advantages to your organization, helping to create a more agile, productive, and efficient environment. Here are some of the key benefits of adopting the Scrum framework:

1. Regular Deliveries for Ongoing Improvement 

Take advantage of these six Scrum advantages for your software project. It is common knowledge that getting early feedback is essential to the project's ability to adjust to the client's needs. However, frequently, the client merely provides a general idea of what they are looking for, or the specifications are vague.  

To have the option of gradually adding functionality to the product, it is crucial to make frequent delivery. Periodic deliveries give us the opportunity for continual improvement while also helping us better manage client expectations and meet their demands. 

2. Encouraged Groups to Get Better Outcomes    

The ability to provide the team members with a project overview is crucial. In this way, regular deliveries allow them to observe outcomes quickly and convey a sense of advancement. The team ultimately understands the full significance of each adjustment made along the way after several iterations. Every tiny element contributes to a wonderful functioning, and the team is surely motivated to work hard when they see their efforts pay off in the end results, as demonstrated in a Scrum implementation example.

3. Independence and Strength 

The freedom that allows any team member to carry out tasks, so long as they feel capable of developing them, is another feature of this Agile technique to be highlighted. One of the greatest advantages of Scrum is the high level of autonomy the team members gain, which motivates and empowers them to carry out ever-more-complex tasks and allows knowledge to be distributed, knowing that, if it is needed, another team member can carry out a specific task. 

4. Communication Process is a Vital Part of Software Packages 

Incorporating Scrum as a working methodology has the goal of helping organizations create teams where members work well together. How can we use Scrum to improve team communication? The following procedures are established to do this: 

• Planning: The tasks that will be a part of the Sprint are evaluated and estimated during the planning meeting. The preparation allows the team to learn about Sprint's goals and essential tasks. 
• Daily: Given that it draws attention to the tasks in which team members can support one another, it makes information sharing easier and fosters collaboration to boost productivity. 
• Demonstration: The client meeting is where the specifics are discussed, and the results of the most recent iteration are demonstrated. 
• Retrospective: The last evaluation of each iteration is when the team assesses what went well and what needs to be improved. The outcomes enable process feedback. 

5. Quality Items to Satisfied Customers 

Regarding Scrum implementation benefits, the product's quality is at the top of the list. However, with partial deliveries every two weeks, how do we ensure that the product meets high-quality standards?

Metrics are the answer. These are calculated at the end of each iteration and provide us with a thermometer of how far we have progressed in the advancement of the product, enabling us to focus on the areas that need to be improved to give the greatest results. Then, all team members must consider the metrics while planning the next iteration, in which the team will attempt to resolve any problems discovered. 

6. Progressive Growth 

A project's success heavily depends on how the client identifies and prioritizes the requirements. The requirements are prioritized and assessed in the Planning meeting, and when the team members have clarified their doubts, the estimating is carried out so that they can be built in the following iteration.  

If time remains in the Sprint, the following requirements are examined in order of priority. The activities scheduled during the Planning meeting are taken over as the Sprint moves on. After the Sprint, the team's progress is displayed during the Demo. 

What if you are asked to implement Scrum for your product? How comfortable will you be to go ahead with this move? I know you might be thinking of all those points that might go into this, no problem, let’s look at it together. For moving forward with how to implement Scrum in a project, there are a few pre-requisites which you are already aware of.

Be Ready with your Product Backlog

This is a very essential step in Scrum implementation. To start this up, you have to identify your product owner who can actively work with the Stakeholders and create a product backlog that contains requirements that can deliver value and also are prioritized as per the market need. A Product Owner takes up the ownership of the product backlog. A product backlog usually comprises two kinds of work items:

• Epics - High-level requirements that are very coarsely outlined without much detail.
• Stories - More comprehensive requirements for what should be done

During the development phase, the teams might encounter some requirements which were not covered in the backlog but are needed, so the team has all the rights to add items to the backlog but only the product can prioritize them.

Let’s Build Our Team

Defining a Scrum team is again a crucial step, as this is the team that is required to work closely bound and deliver a quality product. The team will comprise 5-9 team members which include developers, testers, support, designers, business analysts, etc. All the members of a team will work towards a common goal as set in the commitment, ensuring effective scrum implementation throughout the process.

Usually, we strive for creating a cross-functional and self-organizing team, getting the former is quite easy and doable but don’t worry if making them self-organized is taking time. Don’t panic, it really takes a lot of effort and time to churn out a self-organized team!

Who Will be Our Scrum Master?

So far, we have the product backlog and the team to work on it, but, where is the person who will make all this go smoothly without interruptions, who will make sure the team is encouraged and involved productively, who will make sure the team realizes their potential, (the list is pretty long). 

In short, let’s get a Scrum Master. The Scrum Master ensures that the Scrum team is effective and progressive. The person will help the team in planning the work for the coming sprints. 

Time Boxing in Scrum Framework

When we talk about Scrum, we talk about Sprints. A sprint is a time box for the Scrum team to commit and deliver items in a short span of time. It usually ranges between a week to a month, whatever the length has been locked for the team, it stays the same throughout. As part of Scrum implementation, the Sprint starts with a commitment from a team on the backlog items; they develop, code, test, etc., and provide a demonstration at the end of the Sprint. The Sprint closes with the retrospective ceremony where the team reflects on what went well and how can they improve further. 

Get, Set, Go!! – First drive with the Sprint

The Sprint starts with the first gear – Scrum implementation begins with Sprint Planning – where the team picks items from the list (typically from the top of the backlog). They set their Sprint goal and start working on the items, during the course of the Sprint, the team will regroup each day for a quick meetup called Daily Standup/Daily Scrum to talk about their progress and if there’s anything blocking their path of delivery. 

Once in a while, they will stop by, to talk about the next inline items for the upcoming sprint which is called Backlog Grooming/Story Time. On the closure day, the team will demo the items they have worked on to the Stakeholders or the Product Owner. The Sprint gets over with the last regrouping called the Retrospective where they inspect how they did and work on the ideas to make it better by adapting to it.

How We Did do on the Numbers

It is important to measure our successes and failures; it gives us a chance to improve. This applies to Scrum as well. Burndown charts, like ultrasounds or X-rays, show how we did as a team. The Scrum Master can read out the issues, scope changes, blockers, and team adaptation. The goal is to reach zero by Sprint’s end.  

Why Scrum? 

Interestingly, there are several reasons behind the popularity of the Scrum framework in the technological market. First and foremost is “delighted customers”; we’ve moved beyond customer satisfaction to delivering true delight. Another key benefit is the “improved return on investment.” Many projects experience reduced costs and faster results, which boosts client confidence and uplifts teams. 

Although we have talked about the benefits that Scrum provides, it is not a magic wand for all problems. It’s crucial to determine if Agile is the right fit for your product, especially in scenarios involving frequent requirement changes. Agile thrives with strong management support and a philosophy of empowering teams. Successful adoption requires a top-down approach, with top management aligning Agile with their goals to truly make it work. 

Now that we’ve evaluated Agile adoption, let’s return to our original discussion—Scrum! 

Conclusion

Overall, I can say, Scrum is really effective if implemented with the right spirit and a focused direction. There’s a Scrum implementation plan which has to be laid out. We have many success stories where Scrum implementation helped the teams deliver the products on time with customer delight. The dynamic participation, teamwork, and collaboration in Scrum Teams make for a more pleasant place to work, and most importantly if your teams are happy, they will go to any lengths to make your customer happy. 

I have been working with the Scrum teams for the last 10 years and I must say, they are more contented. So it’s not just about the product or the organization, it is also about the ‘PEOPLE’, it is about us! Master Scrum and learn more about the Scrum roles and processes to deliver the best to the users. Be a better Scrum Master with our Agile and Scrum online practice test!