Transition From SAFe® 4.0 to SAFe® 4.5: The Changes In Sight

By KnowledgeHut

Around 2 years ago, Scaled Agile Inc. launched SAFe® 4.0 as a methodology to broaden the existing Agile practices in the organizations. It soon gained a widespread popularity in the top organizations. But several barriers on a digital scale were preventing a full-fledged organization-level implementation of the new changes. So while organizations were engaged in acquiring new features in SAFe® by encouraging people to do SAFe® certification at different levels, the team at Scaled Agile Inc. were focussing on the framework that would completely align with the existing technology trends and the market needs. The Challenge Dean Leffingwell, Director and Chief Methodologist at Scaled Agile Inc., mentioned in one of his articles about the most important tenets in SAFe®, that can foster the quickest delivery once the same principles are adopted in the existing Scaled Agile Framework. Due to the resulting complexities of the SAFe® 4.0 framework, it was challenging to embark on the SAFe® Implementation Roadmap. Hence, organizations were seeking a path that can be specific and would require less efforts to achieve faster results. To overcome this challenge, Scaled Agile Inc. has released SAFe® 4.5, the improved version of SAFe® 4.0. It is the reflection of field research completed in the span of 1.5 years. The field research includes feedback from the clients and tons of implementations. SAFe® 4.5 is leaner, more Agile and easily learnable as compared to its predecessors and better at yielding faster outcomes. The Vision What is new in SAFe® 4.5? Let us discuss the major upgrades in the latest version of Scaled Agile- SAFe® 4.5. The key areas of improvements are as follows: Flexibility and Configurability Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery Implementation Roadmap Backward compatibility Before moving on to a detailed discussion on the new features in SAFe® 4.5, it is important that you first know some of the best ways to implement Leading SAFe® 4.5 in your organization. 1. Flexibility and Configurability: SAFe® 4.5 configuration supports a wide range of development environments, from the simplest to the most complex one. This version is able to scale to meet the challenges of the growing organizations. SAFe® 4.5 has come up with four new configurations, viz.- Essential SAFe®- Realizes the benefits for the organizations. Portfolio SAFe®- Consists of preparing strategy and investment funding, Agile operations, and Lean governance. Large solution- Builds big systems that include multiple ARTs and Suppliers. Full SAFe®- Gives all Lean-Agile benefits to the larger enterprises. 2. Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX: The coordination of Lean startup and Lean UX in SAFe® not only initiates investments in the form of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), but also the feedback is carried out from the customers in order to make valuable decisions more quickly. 3. Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery: SAFe® 4.5 integrated with Lean ‘hypothesis-build-measure-learn’ cycle and Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery, delivers more innovative solutions more briskly. Being a big enterprise, you can innovate various solution elements with the help of SAFe® 4.5. 4. Implementation Roadmap: SAFe® Implementation Roadmap describes a strategy and field experience based on the organizational change management. It also describes the critical moves that an organization can make in order to achieve long-term gains with SAFe® and ensure early success in the project. 4.5 Backward compatible: A good news for all Agile teams is that SAFe® 4.5 is backward compatible. Those who were implementing SAFe® 4.0 principles can carry on with these without moving a rock in the current version as all the features of SAFe® 4.0 are still in place. You just need to be familiar with the updated practices in SAFe® 4.5. Why is SAFe® 4.5 Certification crucial? SAFe® 4.5 certification renders the proficiency to effectively apply Scaled Agile Framework, Lean Thinking and Agile principles for product development flow in the enterprises. After the training, you can utilise your practical experience in implementing the SAFe® framework in the scaled organizations. Nowadays, enterprises have started implementing SAFe®, as they are getting more benefits like- Employee engagement, Faster time to market, Improved productivity and Quality Today, employees are seeking more meaningful and challenging jobs to keep abreast of the digitized world. Employees can shape their careers by taking part in training sessions and accessing various knowledgeable resources. Scaled Agile Inc. always believes in uplifting the status of the employees in this regard. The institute has an inventory of role-based courses and certifications. Let us explore the myriad certification options available for SAFe® 4.5: 1. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 for teams- SAFe® 4.5 for teams is a professional course. It is a course for the dedicated team members who are skilled in designing, building, and testing in a very short timeline. Team members who are looking to working in SAFe® environment as part of ART (Agile Release Train) should consider this training for understanding of Agile, Scrum & SAFe®. Career prospect: Team member as part of ART in SAFe® 2. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Scrum Master (SSM) Certification Training- SAFe® 4.5 Scrum Master Certification (SSM) is a team-based course, in which the Scrum Master helps teams to manage and deliver quality products implementing effective Agile practices. The Scrum Master is a servant-leader and carries out fruitful coordination between teams on the Agile Release Trains (ARTs) by conveying a status to the management when needed. Career prospect: SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master, SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Agilist 3. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Advanced Scrum Master course- The SAFe® 4.5 Advanced Scrum Master course (SASM) allows Scrum Masters to use their broader knowledge of Agile and Scrum anti-patterns to facilitate multiple cross-team interactions, thereby getting rapid continuous value delivery. Career prospect: SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant, SAFe® Agilist 4. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Product Owner/ Product Manager- The SAFe® 4.5 Product Owner/ Product Manager course based on Lean-Agile principles, allows Product Owner/ Product Manager to improve certain areas like architecture, funding, integrations, governance, and roles to get Agile success at an enterprise level. Career prospect: SAFe® Agilist, SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant 5. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Release Train Engineer Certification course- The SAFe® 4.5 Release Train Engineer Certification course (RTE) helps manage Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and value execution. These professionals become well equipped to remove obstacles, mitigate risks and yield continuous improvement. The RTE can be a part of the Lean-Agile transformation by training Managers, teams and Scrum Masters. Also, they help to adopt SAFe® principles in the team. Career prospect: SAFe® Agilist, SAFe® Program Consultant 6. SAFe® Course: Leading SAFe® 4.5 training course- Leading SAFe® 4.5 certification course is a complete solution for the scaled Agile teams in the organizations to carry out Agile transformation smoothly. Applying Lean-Agile principles is considered as the first step towards a change, which includes synchronizations, collaborations, and quality delivery. Career prospect: SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant Conclusion: In the aggregate, all the SAFe® 4.0 features are updated in the new SAFe® 4.5 version. Since SAFe® 4.5 is fully backward compatible, you can learn a lot more things, and benefit from the additional features along with the principles present in the older version. With the different levels of SAFe® 4.5 certifications, you can upgrade to new features to keep pace with the technology revolution.

Transition From SAFe® 4.0 to SAFe® 4.5: The Changes In Sight

by KnowledgeHut
15th Dec, 2017
Last updated on 10th Sep, 2019

The Challenge

Dean Leffingwell, Director and Chief Methodologist at Scaled Agile Inc., mentioned in one of his articles about the most important tenets in SAFe®, that can foster the quickest delivery once the same principles are adopted in the existing Scaled Agile Framework. Due to the resulting complexities of the SAFe® 4.0 framework, it was challenging to embark on the SAFe® Implementation Roadmap. Hence, organizations were seeking a path that can be specific and would require less efforts to achieve faster results.

To overcome this challenge, Scaled Agile Inc. has released SAFe® 4.5, the improved version of SAFe® 4.0. It is the reflection of field research completed in the span of 1.5 years. The field research includes feedback from the clients and tons of implementations. SAFe® 4.5 is leaner, more Agile and easily learnable as compared to its predecessors and better at yielding faster outcomes.

The Vision

What is new in SAFe® 4.5?

Let us discuss the major upgrades in the latest version of Scaled Agile- SAFe® 4.5. The key areas of improvements are as follows:

Flexibility and Configurability
Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX
Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery
Implementation Roadmap
Backward compatibility

Before moving on to a detailed discussion on the new features in SAFe® 4.5, it is important that you first know some of the best ways to implement Leading SAFe® 4.5 in your organization.

1. Flexibility and Configurability:

SAFe® 4.5 configuration supports a wide range of development environments, from the simplest to the most complex one. This version is able to scale to meet the challenges of the growing organizations. SAFe® 4.5 has come up with four new configurations, viz.-

Essential SAFe®- Realizes the benefits for the organizations.
Portfolio SAFe®- Consists of preparing strategy and investment funding, Agile operations, and Lean governance.
Large solution- Builds big systems that include multiple ARTs and Suppliers.
Full SAFe®- Gives all Lean-Agile benefits to the larger enterprises.

2. Innovation with Lean Startup and Lean UX:

The coordination of Lean startup and Lean UX in SAFe® not only initiates investments in the form of Minimum Viable Product (MVP), but also the feedback is carried out from the customers in order to make valuable decisions more quickly.

3. Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery:

SAFe® 4.5 integrated with Lean ‘hypothesis-build-measure-learn’ cycle and Scalable DevOps & Continuous Delivery, delivers more innovative solutions more briskly. Being a big enterprise, you can innovate various solution elements with the help of SAFe® 4.5.

4. Implementation Roadmap:

SAFe® Implementation Roadmap describes a strategy and field experience based on the organizational change management. It also describes the critical moves that an organization can make in order to achieve long-term gains with SAFe® and ensure early success in the project.

4.5 Backward compatible:

A good news for all Agile teams is that SAFe® 4.5 is backward compatible. Those who were implementing SAFe® 4.0 principles can carry on with these without moving a rock in the current version as all the features of SAFe® 4.0 are still in place. You just need to be familiar with the updated practices in SAFe® 4.5.

Why is SAFe® 4.5 Certification crucial?

SAFe® 4.5 certification renders the proficiency to effectively apply Scaled Agile Framework, Lean Thinking and Agile principles for product development flow in the enterprises. After the training, you can utilise your practical experience in implementing the SAFe® framework in the scaled organizations. Nowadays, enterprises have started implementing SAFe®, as they are getting more benefits like-

Employee engagement,
Faster time to market,
Improved productivity and
Quality

Today, employees are seeking more meaningful and challenging jobs to keep abreast of the digitized world. Employees can shape their careers by taking part in training sessions and accessing various knowledgeable resources. Scaled Agile Inc. always believes in uplifting the status of the employees in this regard. The institute has an inventory of role-based courses and certifications. Let us explore the myriad certification options available for SAFe® 4.5:

1. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 for teams-

SAFe® 4.5 for teams is a professional course. It is a course for the dedicated team members who are skilled in designing, building, and testing in a very short timeline. Team members who are looking to working in SAFe® environment as part of ART (Agile Release Train) should consider this training for understanding of Agile, Scrum & SAFe®.

Career prospect: Team member as part of ART in SAFe®

2. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Scrum Master (SSM) Certification Training-

SAFe® 4.5 Scrum Master Certification (SSM) is a team-based course, in which the Scrum Master helps teams to manage and deliver quality products implementing effective Agile practices. The Scrum Master is a servant-leader and carries out fruitful coordination between teams on the Agile Release Trains (ARTs) by conveying a status to the management when needed.

Career prospect: SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master, SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Agilist

3. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Advanced Scrum Master course-

The SAFe® 4.5 Advanced Scrum Master course (SASM) allows Scrum Masters to use their broader knowledge of Agile and Scrum anti-patterns to facilitate multiple cross-team interactions, thereby getting rapid continuous value delivery.

Career prospect: SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant, SAFe® Agilist

4. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Product Owner/ Product Manager-

The SAFe® 4.5 Product Owner/ Product Manager course based on Lean-Agile principles, allows Product Owner/ Product Manager to improve certain areas like architecture, funding, integrations, governance, and roles to get Agile success at an enterprise level.

Career prospect: SAFe® Agilist, SAFe® Advanced Scrum Master, SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant

5. SAFe® Course: SAFe® 4.5 Release Train Engineer Certification course-

The SAFe® 4.5 Release Train Engineer Certification course (RTE) helps manage Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and value execution. These professionals become well equipped to remove obstacles, mitigate risks and yield continuous improvement. The RTE can be a part of the Lean-Agile transformation by training Managers, teams and Scrum Masters. Also, they help to adopt SAFe® principles in the team.

Career prospect: SAFe® Agilist, SAFe® Program Consultant

6. SAFe® Course: Leading SAFe® 4.5 training course-

Leading SAFe® 4.5 certification course is a complete solution for the scaled Agile teams in the organizations to carry out Agile transformation smoothly. Applying Lean-Agile principles is considered as the first step towards a change, which includes synchronizations, collaborations, and quality delivery.

Career prospect: SAFe® Release Train Engineer, SAFe® Program Consultant

Conclusion:

In the aggregate, all the SAFe® 4.0 features are updated in the new SAFe® 4.5 version. Since SAFe® 4.5 is fully backward compatible, you can learn a lot more things, and benefit from the additional features along with the principles present in the older version. With the different levels of SAFe® 4.5 certifications, you can upgrade to new features to keep pace with the technology revolution.

KnowledgeHut

Author

KnowledgeHut is an outcome-focused global ed-tech company. We help organizations and professionals unlock excellence through skills development. We offer training solutions under the people and process, data science, full-stack development, cybersecurity, future technologies and digital transformation verticals.
Website : https://www.knowledgehut.com

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Agile projects are known for their simple, iterative approach to cutting through the complexity. Even the most ambitious of Agile projects is taken one step at a time and breaks down complex work packages and tasks into low-level subtasks. Features and capabilities that are needed in the finished product are listed out, and then broken down to manageable chunks which are taken up and completed, one at a time.In this article, we will talk about Features in an Agile project. What are the characteristics of features and how are they applied? How do you build a feature list, and what are the advantages of breaking down features into user stories? Read on to find out!Agile projects are known for their simple, iterative approach to cutting through the complexity. Even the most ambitious of Agile projects is taken one step at a time and breaks down complex work packages and tasks into low-level subtasks. Features and capabilities that are needed in the finished product are listed out, and then broken down to manageable chunks which are taken up and completed, one at a time.In this article, we will talk about Features in an Agile project. What are the characteristics of features and how are they applied? How do you build a feature list, and what are the advantages of breaking down features into user stories? Read on to find out!What is a feature in Agile methodology?A feature is a service or function of the product that delivers business value and fulfils the customer’s need. Each feature is broken down into several user stories, as it is usually too big to be worked on directly. A user story is an informal, short description of a part of a software feature that is written from the user’s perspective and talks about how this particular bit of the feature will offer something of value.Why use features in Scrum and not only user stories?A feature is something that is sizeable enough to deliver measurable value to customers and creates a large chunk of functionality. Features are used to describe the functionality at a macro level, and they are required to create schedules and plan the high-level release of the product.Scrum works on the premise of short development cycles called Sprints, which usually last between 2 weeks and a month but not longer. One feature is typically completed over several sprints. In one sprint, only several user stories can be completed and not, perhaps, an entire feature.What’s the difference between features and epics in Agile?The product backlog is usually detailed into three levels of complexity with respect to tasks. Epics are large quantities of related work that can be broken down into features. A feature, as we have seen, is a service or function that delivers value to the end user. Each feature is broken down into a number of smaller and simpler tasks known as user stories. Do note that for a smaller project, with only around 8 to 10 people on the team, the product backlog may be divided into just features and user stories. Epics come into the picture for large projects with multiple teams who are working over a duration of several years.Who writes the features in Scrum, and what are the steps involved?The Scrum Guide, considered to be the Bible for all things Scrum, does not lay out any guidelines for the use of features.However, Scaled Agile, Inc. indicates that the Product Manager is the owner of the Features, which is to say, he or she finally decides what goes into the feature and what is its priority on the Backlog. 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They are the same as story points, but in the context of a feature rather than a user story.What are features called in different Agile Methodologies?A feature, while essentially having the same definition, could be called by different terms in different Agile methodologies. In Scrum, a feature is often referred to as a Backlog Item. In XP, features are called Stories. DSDM terms a feature as a requirement. This could club together several system features. Agile UP defines features in the form of requirements and use cases.What are the characteristics of features?To be effective, a feature should always Offer measurable business value, Contain enough information to allow for estimation of the work involved, Be small enough to be completed within a program increment or maximum of three months, Be testable by the scrum team and the product management team.Feature breakdown structure (FBS)When getting into the nitty gritty of detailed planning, agile development uses a feature breakdown structure (FBS) approach that breaks down each feature into smaller, more manageable units of work. This allows easier communication between the customer and the development team, where both can understand each other well in a way that leaves no room for ambiguity. It also helps to track the progress of work against the value that is created. Over time and as the work progresses, the larger features can be broken into smaller features, instead of doing this breakdown all together in the beginning. This way, details are not fleshed out until the time when they are actually needed for design and delivery. Building an initial feature listAt the very start, before the release planning and iteration planning can happen, the team must sit together and list out as many potential features for the system as possible at this stage. Feature requests can come from many sources, and one person should be allocated to collate all these requests. While this could be the product manager, it could also be a customer proxy, a business analyst or someone who is responsible and accountable to the team. The team should refine these requirements, weeding out duplicate items, features that are not possible to implement, and requests that are very vague. As the features are identified, they are added to the list so that they can become a part of the planning processes. This initial feature list can be considered to be a preliminary outline that can be used as input to chart out the release and first iteration. It is not required to wait until all features are defined before getting started on the actual work, and it is also understood that the original list, descriptions, and priorities will evolve over time. Instead of waiting for everything to get detailed out at the outset, the team can get to work with the initial list without wasting any valuable time. As new features which could be critical get identified, they are simply added into the evolving release plan and will get delivered during a subsequent iteration. 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Stories capture both intent and outcome: A product manager (who is not required to be technically fluent) can easily describe the outcome of a story to the developer, so that he or she can understand the intent. Stories mitigate the risk: As big stories come with a lot more complexity, they also involve more risk. When features are broken down into smaller stories, this risk is mitigated. Anny erroneous assumptions can be curtailed within a few days rather than several weeks into development. Feature vs. task planningFeatures come into play at a macro level of planning, and it is essential that at a later point they will need to be broken down into tasks and estimated. This is done during sprint planning and release planning.Feature planning and estimates help to schedule releases and iterations. 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This lists all the requirements (Backlog items) for the team.A Scrum Product Owner undertakes the responsibility for the Product Backlog. This is a prioritised list of all the requirements for the product.Number of teams they supportA SAFe Product Owner can serve, at most, two teams.A Scrum Product Owner can work with two or more teams.Vision and roadmapA SAFe Product Manager, not the SAFe Product Owner, defines the features and owns the vision and roadmap. A SAFe Product Manager is someone who works with two to four SAFe Product Owners. He or she will have an overall view of the entire program. As such, the SAFe Product Owner exerts less authority than the Scrum Product Owner.Scrum Product Owner defines the features and owns the vision and roadmap. So, as we can see, the Scrum Product Owner undertakes responsibilities that combine those of the SAFe Product Owner and the SAFe Product Manager (but to a smaller scale as the project is typically smaller).Who has the final say on the product?A SAFe Product Owner does not have a final say on what must be done for a certain Product. This is done by the SAFe Product Manager, who is the final authority and owns the vision and roadmap on a SAFe project.It is the Scrum Product Manager who has the final say on what needs to be done for the product.SimilaritiesJust like the Scrum PO, the SAFe Product Owner is also a core member of the team. He or she is the customer proxy on the team, ensuring that the vision is always kept in focus.They have the responsibility of the Backlog- the Team Backlog in the case of the SAFe PO, and the Product Backlog in the case of the Scrum PO.Both POs work on prioritising the tasks that the team will take up next, guiding them on the relative importance of the stories.Again, both the SAFe PO and the Scrum PO work toward maximizing the product value.They keep an eye on the goal for the next iteration.They participate in reflections and inspect and adapt during and after each iteration.The two roles take part in the Planning, Retrospective and Review of an Iteration in SAFe/ Sprint in Scrum in a similar way.Can one person do both roles in SAFe; that of the Product Owner and Product Manager?The PO and the PM roles are completely distinct in SAFe, and each comes with its own set of responsibilities.There is a different focus for each role: The PM’s role is cantered on the benefits to the customer and the organisation. He or she is also the person with whom the business owners and members of the ART (Agile Release Train) connect. POs always have the needs of their own Agile team in focus. Product Owners and Product Managers work together collaboratively to understand the customer’s needs and work toward fulfilling them. The flow of information is from the customer to the PM, and then down to the POs and their team members. The POs and PMs meet up at all ART or PO planning and sync up events and stay aligned with the same set of overarching goals. As we have seen, one person cannot undertake the roles of the SAFe Product Owner and the SAFe Product Manager at the same time. POs and PMs must at all times be connected, and work in tandem to deliver a successful product; however, having one person playing both roles is a sure route to disaster! 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By KnowledgeHut

Technology has made our lives easier. The number of tools and devices we have at our disposal has made our lives more productive and our work more efficient. The Agile software development methodology has been adopted by several organizations to improve their adaptability, responsiveness, and productivity. How can we improve the way we incorporate Agile Scrum into our projects? Scrum tools can be the answer. Just like the other gadgets in our lives, Scrum software and tools help improve the productivity of our teams, keep stakeholders happy and help us deliver better products. Before we jump into the use and needs of Scrum software and tools let us understand more about Scrum roles and how they work.Three essential roles for Scrum successThe Scrum Guide defines three pillars of a Scrum team, which include:The Scrum MasterThe Product OwnerThe Development TeamThe Scrum team is a small unit which is self-organised and works towards achieving the same goal; that is, the development and deployment of the product and customer satisfaction.The Scrum Product OwnerThe Scrum Product Owner is among the most essential roles in the Scrum team and acts as a bridge between the stakeholders and the development team. More involved with the business side of the software development process, the PO represents the customer and can be considered as their proxy. The Product Owner defines the product vision, and, along with the Scrum Master and the development team works towards delivering a product that matches stakeholder needs.The Scrum MasterThe Scrum Master is the servant leader whose main responsibility is to ensure that the Scrum team can perform to the best of its abilities. They do this by overseeing the day-to-day activities of the Scrum team and removing any impediments that may hinder the productivity of the development team. The Scrum Master facilitates stakeholder collaboration along with the product owner and ensures that teams can handle complex environments and deliver projects successfully.The Scrum development teamThe development team generally consists of three to nine people, according to the Scrum Guide. These would include developers, testers, designers and more. The team is allowed to take decisions and decide the length of the sprint and how they will go about it. The development team collaborates to create a high-quality product increment at the end of each sprint that is as per the expectations of the stakeholders.Scrum ceremonies or eventsScrum has five formal events as defined by the Scrum Guide. These events help to validate the Scrum artifacts and implementing them helps enhance transparency. The events are also called ceremonies and are:Sprint PlanningDaily ScrumSprint ReviewSprint RetrospectiveThe SprintWhat Does A Scrum Tool Do?What would you need a good Scrum tool to do? Make your life easier by making processes more efficient and less cumbersome, help you deliver quality products without making a huge dent on your budget, right? With Scrum topping the popularity charts for Agile project management methodologies, the need for efficient Scrum tools has risen. There are plenty of Scrum tools available that fit the bill and provide interfaces that help teams seamlessly follow Scrum processes and reap its benefits. These tools help:Increase productivityIn task management, daily scrum management Increase team collaborationIn progress tracking and risk managementScrum Software for the Ultimate ProjectThere are several Scrum software tools that aid in project development using Scrum; not just in technical environments, but in non-technical sectors as well. Software like JIRA, Infinity, TargetProcess, QuickScrum, Wrike etc provide:User friendly GUICompetitive pricingProduct backlog managementTime tracking and calendar tools for schedulingScrum metrics and chartsSprint planning toolsThird party tools for integrationUser story mappingBurnup and Burndown chartsand many more features that will help Agile teams serve their customers better, improve return on investment, reduce costs, enhance collaboration and ensure stakeholder satisfaction. These tools help team uphold the values of Agile and make implementing the Scrum framework easier.Best Scrum ToolsHere are some of the best Scrum tools available in the market:1. JIRAJira is a popular tool used by large organizations to manage their Scrum projects. It has numerous features including customizable scrum boards, reporting features and more. Here’s how teams benefit from this toolCustomizable Scrum and Kanban boardsRoadmaps to communicate with team and with stakeholdersAccess to tools for Agile reportingView of code and deployment statusEnd to end DevOps visibilityEasy scalabilitySecure deploymentDeveloper tool integrationRich APIs to automate processes2. TargetProcessThis tool has been especially designed for teams that want to scale agile. It offers a number of customizable features that make it easy to work with scrum and agile. Here’s how teams benefit from this tool(Source: Targetprocess Agile Portfolio and Work Management Tool)IdeationBuilt in reports to analyse data and uncover trendsGather ideas across sourcesCloud hosting and on-premise hostingEnterprise grade securityCollaborate across the enterprise Collaborate with DevOps tools including GitLab, Azure DevOps, GitHub etc3. VivifyScrumThis tool is marketed as an all-in-one solution to manage projects, collaborate and track. Here’s how teams benefit from this tool (Source: Agile Project Management Software - VivifyScrum)Tools to manage agile projects—organize, manage, track and deliverCollaboration boards to effectively collaborate with team and stakeholdersCreate invoices to track and manage business and clientsManage teams and track tasks4. InfinityThis tool is among the most popular in Agile and Scrum organizations due to the many customizations and features it provides. Its various tools help reduce time to market, ensure better quality, improve collaboration and enable customer satisfaction.Here’s how teams benefit from this tool Source: Infinity | Customizable Work Management Platform (startinfinity.com)How Can Scrum Apps Benefit Your Team?The number of Scrum apps and software available in the market for Scrum projects is mind boggling. Which one you choose depends on the requirements of your team and project, and each comes with its own benefits. Some of these benefits include:They help teams, organizations and the product being createdThey ensure better quality by providing the right framework, support mechanism and the right processesAllow for continual improvement by putting in place a feedback loop and sprint reviews by stakeholdersHelp solve impediments and daily issues by incorporating daily testing and product owner feedback into the development processEnsure upfront documentation and help prioritise high value items in the product backlog, thus decreasing time to market. Quick feedback also helps improve the product and thus helps in continuous improvement.The faster marketing of products increases return on investment, helps tap the market demand and ensures long term benefits for the customer and thus earns their trust for the organizationThe primary tenet of Agile is team collaboration. Scrum software tools help in high level collaboration between the Scrum Master, Product Owner and the development team. Teams can organise, review, plan and discuss everyday tasks, meetings, impediments and more.How to Pick the Best Tool for Your Team?With so many options available, choosing the right Scrum tool for your team can be a tricky task. What you need to do is go through the features of the best tools and see which one best fits your requirements. While the number of features you get will be directly proportional to the money you are ready to pay for the tool, there are some basic requirements your tool must satisfy.Backlog creation: The very basic format of a Scrum project lies in the creation of a product backlog which sets the pace for the entire project. The backlog is primarily created by the Product Owner with assistance from the Scrum Master and the development team. The tool you choose should help you create the product backlog so that you can prioritise items, define the sprints and identify sprint goals.Implement feedback: Scrum projects are based on the Agile values of continuous feedback. Your scrum tool should have features which will make your customer’s feedback and requirements easily accessible to you. This will help you implement these changes at the earliest. This continuous feedback loop will help keep customers happy.Sprint creation: Scrum is iterative and adaptive and works by breaking down projects into small sized sprints. Your tool must aid you in the creation of sprints and burndown charts. These help you keep track of your progress on the project and are essential components of a Scrum project.The other things your tool should be able to do include:Plan and trackCustomise process templatesCustomise dashboards and reportsHelp in time managementHelp create epics and storiesProvide collab and reporting toolsProvide review toolsAnd just like you will create a product that is user friendly, the tool you use also needs to be user friendly for the team. If your team is happy using it, and it makes your life easier and your projects better, then you have the right tool!

Scrum Software for the Ultimate Project Management

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Scrum Software for the Ultimate Project Management

by KnowledgeHut
22 Jul 2021
8 mins read

Technology has made our lives easier. The number o... Read More

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