Three years of Scrum at The Netcircle

THREE YEARS OF SCRUM AT

SCRUM MASTERSName: Jacky HungDoing Scrum: 3 yearsBeen SM: 12 months

Name: Mik PathikirikoraleDoing Scrum: 3 yearsBeen SM: 3 months

Name: Aime Blaise IranyumviyeDoing Scrum: 3 yearsBeen SM: 12 months

Name: Joshua ChiDoing Scrum: 1 yearBeen SM: 6 months

I.COMMUNICATIONII.PLANNINGIII.REQUIREMENTS & CHANGESIV.DELIVERYV.SCRUM & AGILEVI.WORKING AS A TEAM

AGENDA

I.COMMUNICATION

• one meeting a week• little client interaction• projects were independent

Before Scrum

• scrum meetings• demo every sprint, on-site PO• projects share code and people

With Scrum

• Benefits:- left hand knows what the right hand is doing- product delivery every sprint- increases team collaboration

• Drawbacks:- PO can disrupt the team- could lead to too many meetings

What did we learn ?

II.PLANNING

• no estimation• clients assigned tasks to people directly• clients not always available

Before Scrum

• planning meeting• PO must have a backlog• clients represented by onsite PO

With Scrum

• Benefits:- realistic estimates- clients are more focused on what they want- P.O. available all the time

• Drawbacks:- teams have more control of decisions- short term releases can be challenging

What did we learn ?

III.REQUIREMENTS & CHANGES

• no requirements standards• large chunks of work• no progress reports till finished• requirements likely to change during development

Before Scrum

• project/sprint backlog• user stories• demo of progress every sprint• sprint has set requirements

With Scrum

• Benefits:- specification is much clearer to the team- user stories make life easier- updates on product progress- scrum embraces change

• Drawbacks:- too many changes can be a bad thing- controlled creativity

What did we learn ?

IV.DELIVERY

• output not very often• client feedback slow• client feedback not always realistic

Before Scrum

• incremental delivery• sprint review• definition of DONE

With Scrum

• Benefits:- early delivery- product reacts to market changes quickly- review and improve working process

• Drawbacks:- iterative delivery may cause stress to developers

What did we learn ?

V.SCRUM & AGILE

• no real pair work• specific areas of expertise per person• new developers need teaching time

Before Scrum

• XP/PP - pair programming• scrum encourages flexibility• new developers taught through PP

With Scrum

• Benefits:- code quality greatly improved- more people know about each area of the project- faster integration of new team members

• Drawbacks:- not all agile processes work well with scrum

What did we learn ?

VI.WORKING AS A TEAM

• very specific roles• tasks assigned to individuals directly• lack of management/direction

Before Scrum

• cross-functional and flexible teams• team members choose tasks• self managed/organized teams

With Scrum

• Benefits:- increase developer flexibility- developers hold more responsibility- more committed and pro-active team members

• Drawbacks:- needs developers active and willing to change

What did we learn ?

CONCLUSION• Scrum is not a silver bullet• Scrum highlights problems• Scrum is flexible• Scrum’s helped us

Q & A