Agile project management, a buzzword in today’s working environment. Agile is a very clearly defined work methodology. It’s currently in-use by teams at Google, Microsoft, EA and several government agencies around the world. Within in this blog we explain this type of project management. In most cases agile is implemented in the form of a working framework known as scrum. Think of scrum as the way the team is configured, of sprints as the periods over which they do their work, and agile as their overall approach and working philosophy.

How to scrum:

A scrum team consists of the required talents to deliver the project and implement the agile methodology. To add, in scrum, as in other variants of agile, the team works together over short, regular intervals known as sprints. These intervals usually last either a week or two. After and during every sprint the team works to improve its processes and output. This method can also been seen as a dolphin. Where the dolphin goes under water (works on their project) but comes out every now and then (review process). Read further to find out which 5 steps to take to start using scrum in your business.  

Step 1: Divide roles 

You need a Product Owner (speaks for the user, final say in what the project needs), a Scrum Master (helps the team move along based on the principles of Scrum), and team members. Remember this roles are non-hierarchical. As a scrum master you monitor compliance with the scrum rules and supports the project team as moderator and coach. The product owner is responsible and ensures that requirements are met with the product backlog.

Step 2: Start your backlog

With the Backlog you list out everything the project needs, ordered by importance. For this task teams can use different tools. For instance trello. Keep in mind that the Backlog is never complete. As the project is always emerging. The Product Owner primarily takes responsibility.  

Step 3: Sprint planning

Firstly, choose tasks from the backlog to complete in your first sprint. Sprint’s require a lot of time-management from the team. You can decide a time length that works for you, but try to stay between 2-4 weeks. During the Sprint Planning, the team not only decide the tasks but also the responsible player for it. 

Step 4: Start today!

Don’t wait to long to start. Every team member works separately on their tasks but the whole team checks in on their progress during the daily scrum meeting. Each daily scrum should be free but focused, with each team member sharing important details or issues. It’s the scrum master’s job to ensure the session clocks in at under 15 minutes. Daily scrum represents a great opportunity to stamp your team’s personality on your agile processes. 

Step 5: Review work and process

At the closure of every sprint, the team reviews and evaluate the work accomplished and presents their completed tasks. During this evaluation you’ll review also the work process. So that your work can be more efficient next time.

Implementing agile

By implementing this methodology you encourage diversity of ideas within your team. You build client and user engagement. And last but not least, you have tight feedback loops which provides benefits that are not as evident in traditional project management.  Agile can work wonders for your team. It’s insight-driven, it’s ROI-focused, it enables fast responses to new information and it breeds creativity. Scrum is an effective framework that is simple to understand, but often challenging to implement due to its radical difference from traditional methodologies. The intent of this article is to provide an introduction to scrum. At blackbear we believe in this way of working to deliver the best solutions to your Challenges and projects. Get in touch with one of our business partners to get more information about our services.