Questions tagged [scrum]
For questions about using or implementing the Scrum framework.
1,474
questions
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Are Agile and Scrum proprietary names and methods, and who is entitled to sell them (train & certify)?
I would like to know if Agile and Scrum are proprietary names and methods, and if any company can freely use them as part of their marketing, and sell them - I am thinking mainly of consulting ...
17
votes
4answers
5k views
Problem with scrum master and developer role?
Can the scrum master be a programmer on the team and take the role of scrum master just for now?
As is done in the time you must make a plan?
5
votes
3answers
1k views
In Scrum, who has the vision and the roadmap documents?
I read some books about Scrum, but they seem to only be about product backlog, sprints, user stories, the scrum team, and timeboxing — but nothing about vision, roadmap, estimation, and other ...
2
votes
2answers
8k views
How difficult is the Professional Scrum Master I (Fundamental) Assessment?
I have been considering taking the Professional Scrum Master I (Fundamental) Assessment? I am considering paying the $100 and taking the assessment without attending a course.
scrum.org Suggests that:...
25
votes
9answers
9k views
Which sticky note is the stickiest?
The question might sound a tad silly, but I'm actually trying to solve a real problem.
Our team room has a glass wall, which we also use as our kanban board with hand-written swimlanes (= status) and ...
6
votes
3answers
1k views
Should the role of scrum master be played by the same person every time?
I've been reading about agile methodology and while discussing it with colleagues the question of interchangeability of roles came up.
The scrum-master role is not an easy burden, so some proposed to ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Incorporating QA and Testing in a Startup running Scrum
We continue to struggle with how to improve our QA and Testing processes in the sprint. We run a two week sprint and find that the QA and testing gets left late in the process and ends up rushed with ...
2
votes
3answers
138 views
Should we allow people learning/considering SCRUM to our teams retro?
In our company we recently have more and more teams which consider using SCRUM. They want to learn/get a feel of it so looking how other teams work is very helpful.
They'll be joining our daily ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the “Physical Information Radiators” in the context of Scrum?
I'm pretty new to the Scrum thing. I'm reading more and more of it. I'm very enchanted by the idea.
I visited this page about the 12 points of the Scrum framework by Scott of Rapid Scrum.
What is the &...
3
votes
2answers
203 views
Product Engineer - How and What to Learn? [closed]
I previously headed up a support and training team for a home-grown software product.
I have now moved into a product engineer/specialist role, within same company.
My background has been purely ...
5
votes
4answers
7k views
When should you do sprint planning?
We tend to do our retrospective on the final day of the sprint and have found that by the end of an hour and a half, launching into a planning session is not ideal at all.
When do you hold your ...
7
votes
1answer
6k views
How do you make Basecamp work for scrum?
How do you use basecamp's fairly rigid tools for facilitating the scrum PM framework?
23
votes
6answers
16k views
Where should design be incorporated in an agile process?
We use a scrum-based agile development process. But where should design get incorporated? Separate user stories? Tasks on stories?
We currently think of design as a separate task and break it out as ...
8
votes
4answers
484 views
In Scrum, how do you account for tasks with lead time?
I am the scrum master for a project that involves not only software, but firmware development, electrical engineering and industrial design.
Some tasks involve a small amount of time from a team ...
4
votes
3answers
2k views
How to Integrate Multiple Project Plans in a Weak Matrix Organization?
How can I approach integrating multiple project plans from different departments into one master plan? Here are the details in this situation:
All teams are ultimately working on the same product, ...
3
votes
2answers
446 views
What are the repercussions for one person being the QA lead and product owner?
I work for a start-up software company transitioning to Scrum. We don't have dedicated positions yet, so I'm wondering what kind of repercussions (negative and positive) could come about if one ...
4
votes
3answers
5k views
10 things that I can do to improve my Team and our Process
Some backdrop about my team, just so that you can make your answers relevant ->
We are a Web Application development team, with Team strength being 5 members.
What are 10 simple things we can do to ...
157
votes
19answers
92k views
Why use story points instead of hours for estimating?
After using hours to estimate our projects for a long time and rarely coming within 20% of actual "work-to-ship," I have been told by a handful of people that "points" work a lot better at gauging the ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views
Implementing scrum inside a real-world matrix organized software department
I'm working as a manager of the software department in our small sized company (~50 people).
I have three development teams, 3-4 members in each. One of the members in each team is in the role of the ...
22
votes
7answers
17k views
Is Certified Scrum Master valuable?
What is the value in Certified Scrum Master certifications? I'll be quite honest in saying that I've never put a lot of thought into such certifications, but it seems like if you are interested in ...
9
votes
9answers
2k views
Selecting the right iteration duration [closed]
I've long argued that "1 week" makes a great iteration duration. It forces the issue of getting SW Dev tools operating smoothly and effectively, it also makes it much harder to operate a "dev then ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
What are some key takeaways from transitioning from a QA Lead to a Scrummaster?
I'm wanting to transition from the QA Lead in my agile company to a scrummaster role. We're still in the process of getting the Scrum methodology right, but I think it's important to have someone ...
5
votes
4answers
2k views
How do I convince a client to use SCRUM in a tight deadline and fixed price project?
This is perhaps an addition to this question: 'How do you convince a client to use Agile Methods'.
But I was not 100% convinced by the answers on that question.
What I am asking myself is how to ...
13
votes
4answers
833 views
Will hiring an agile coach make that much of a difference?
My company is still young, and our processes still inadequate. I want to get the scrum process right from the start. Would hiring an agile coach make that much of a difference even if I've done ...
17
votes
2answers
5k views
What are some agile (scrum) metrics? [closed]
I'm interested in learning what types of metrics can be used in the following areas:
Productivity
Quality
Responsiveness
Customer Satisfaction
Employee Satisfaction
Predictability
...and what makes ...
2
votes
4answers
2k views
Structuring an Internal API Team in an Agile Environment
My company has adopted scrum two years ago, and I think we have been fairly successful using it. I am currently facing the task of trying to restructure part of our development organization, and I ...
12
votes
7answers
951 views
How can I get our business leadership engaged with our Agile team?
I continue to see Agile adoptions that focus on the R&D or Engineering team. There seems to be this acceptance that the core of Agile rests there. I'm absolutely not convinced. I think that if the ...
14
votes
8answers
3k views
How to use peer code reviews to improve product quality? [closed]
We use Scrum with short sprints of 1 or 2 weeks and use peer reviews to improve product quality. How do we best use code reviews as quality assurance tools?
pre-commit reviews - hold tasks until the ...
3
votes
2answers
622 views
Whose responsibility is it to encourage/ensure knowledge flow across Agile teams?
I am working with larger and larger organizations adopting Agile. One discussion recently has kept me thinking about a challenge I hadn't been paying attention to heretofore. That is, how do we create ...
6
votes
4answers
480 views
How do we integrate marketing in our Scrum process?
We are a small team that just created a website. We used Scrum and it worked very well for us. But now we have to shift our focus to marketing that website.
We would like to keep Scrum as our ...
11
votes
7answers
6k views
How to handle user stories that cannot be split and do not fit even a 30 days long sprint?
Given a small team (3 people or so) and a technically challenging area (e.g. middleware, embedded software etc.), and
Assuming that a user story is a smallest thing that has value for the end user,
...
19
votes
3answers
2k views
How do you schedule maintenance work in Scrum?
What are some of the different patterns you use to schedule maintenance work (any non-feature work like bug fixes, technical debt reduction, etc.)? In our organization, we've considered mash-ups of ...
15
votes
9answers
6k views
How to handle big stories / epics in Scrum?
It's about a Scrum Team. PO and the couple of developers. They do well every time, when task is clearly defined and only technical part is to be done. It gets complicated when there is a need to work ...
2
votes
3answers
397 views
Tools in agile methods
We are currently in the process of implementing Scrum. I would like to let us started with a tool to help the team get along with it (see here about this point), but after a presentation I made where ...
4
votes
7answers
2k views
Choosing a tool for Scrum [closed]
I'm considering the use of a software in order to help our team to implement Scrum. I saw iceScrum, but I don't know if it's a good tool. Do you ever used it? Can you suggest another tool?
4
votes
2answers
777 views
Who is using Cynefin for their Agile adoption?
I've listened to some David Snowden podcasts on complexity theory and the Cynefin framework. It looks as though it could be powerful for guiding Agile adoptions.
Who has used Cynefin for this work? ...
3
votes
5answers
522 views
Who owns the issue of Agile team complacency?
I am really eager to hear different perspectives on team complacency about their Agile adoption. Is it the ScrumMaster's problem? The team's issue? The manager's fault? I can see so many complex webs ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
What are you doing with Agile teams who no longer run retrospectives?
I have run into several teams who tell me that they no longer run iteration retrospectives: they were a waste of time and they weren't learning anything new. What is your answer to these teams? Should ...
14
votes
6answers
2k views
Daily Scrum and flexible work time
Our company is in the process of introducing elements from Scrum in our working process. As we have flexible work time (not completely sure how to say it in English. People can come to work when they ...
11
votes
2answers
1k views
How does a Project Manager's job change when transitioning from waterfall to Agile?
When adopting Agile and moving away from waterfall what specifically changes in the day-to-day job duties of a PM? I'm interested especially in hearing from PMs who have made (or are in the process of ...
8
votes
6answers
23k views
Famous projects using Scrum [closed]
As some of you know now, I'm trying to introduce Scrum in our company. Our CEO asked me if famous projects and/or big companies used the method. I found some companies, that's easy (Google, Yahoo, ...
7
votes
9answers
461 views
Resources for Scrum [closed]
I'm looking for resources for Scrum. Online resources would be particulary suited, but I'm ready to consider books. There is much material available, and I have to say it's hard to choose the good ...
8
votes
4answers
4k views
Does anyone use a personal Kanban / Scrum board for project management activities (rather than work items)?
I've seen plenty of people using Kanban or Scrum boards to manage the work of a project.
However, I also use a personal Kanban board to manage my work at home, so I was curious - does any PM use a ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
How do you kick-off new Agile teams?
I'm curious what others are doing with regard to getting teams up and running with Agile in a sustainable way. What do you emphasize first (practices, principle, process framework)? Or is there no one ...
10
votes
4answers
4k views
Cancel or change a sprint
The Scrum method defines that the content of a sprint cannot be changed. But can a sprint be cancelled while it's done? I mean, it's unlikely to happen and probably shows really bad planning skills by ...
36
votes
16answers
56k views
How long should an Agile Sprint be?
I'm currently the PM on a project that is scheduled to run for about 14 months. The current sprint structure is 4 weeks of development; week 5 allows us to show the progress to the client, deploy it ...
14
votes
7answers
1k views
Involve graphic designer in daily Scrum meetings
As I explained in a previous question, our company is willing to introduce some elements of the Scrum method in our working process.
We have a in-house graphic designer, who is attached to the ...
12
votes
4answers
446 views
Partially introduce Scrum into a team
The CEO of our small company (14) asked me to introduce some elements of Scrum into the working process of our development team.
Problem is: the piece he would like to see introduced is not really ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views
How does specialization fit into Scrum?
One of the rules of the Scrum states the team should self organize and be in control of the technical part of the project. It is rather easy when Product Owners are delivering tasks which every member ...
27
votes
7answers
4k views
Scrum, Agile, Kanban looking for 'for dummies' type of information [closed]
I'm sure I'm not alone in this. I have heard and read a lot of snippets of information about this topic and I've formed my own understanding - probably not the best way to assess the value or try to ...
