Inside the Scrum Team - Part 1 Written and Narrated by Peter Stevens Graphic and Video by Thierry DELESTRE
Peter Stevens: Welcome to Inside the Scrum Team.
In part one of this video, you'll discover how a Scrum Team interacts with the outside
world to create great products.
So here we go.
Scrum is a simple, team-based framework for solving complex problems.
If you only remember one thing about Scrum, remember this:
Inspect and adapt at regular intervals,
and tell yourself the truth.
Scrum was created for software development where it is widely used.
But today, it finds application in many other complex domains like digital
transformation, healthcare, cybersecurity manufacturing, to name just a few.
The definitive description is found in the Scrum Guide. This is both the reference and
the place to start.
With this video, you can discover how Scrum guides interactions and relationships with
the Scrum Team, so you can apply Scrum effectively in real life.
Scrum was modeled on patterns of successful product development.
So let's start here with the product.
The product might be something you'd put in a box, but it could also be something more
abstract, like a new store location or process improvement for your company.
Scrum works in short iterations called sprints.
At least once per sprint the Scrum Team produces a new version of the product with a
few new or upgraded elements.
Scrum calls this the product increment, but I like to call this a tangible result.
Each Sprint produces a tangible result that supports the overall goal:
Something you can use, something you could sell, or something you can test in real
life.
Most importantly, something the Scrum team can review together with its stakeholders.
The idea is to produce tangible results, every sprint.
You can produce increments more often even deploy them continuously, if that makes
sense and if your team has the technical excellence to do so.
A product is built for its stakeholders, and most development efforts have many of them.
Two of the most important are the users, that is the people who will actually use the
product,
and the customers, the people or entities who actually pay for the product,
but many other people could be involved. Without stakeholders, there would be no
product.
Stakeholders usually appreciate having a working increment frequently.
This virtually eliminates delivery risk and direct interaction with stakeholders builds
trust and reduces market risk, that is, increases the likelihood that the product
will be a success.
With a working product in hand, you can have good conversations about what you have, what
changes are needed and how best to move forward. You can also identify work to delay
or skip entirely, saving both time and money.
This is possible because each product increment works, it is done.
Done is a quality gate, nothing enters the product increment unless it is done.
Every Scrum Team has a Definition of Done,
and it is applied to every feature and every increment.
The Definition of Done does not address whether the product is complete or finished.
As long as a product is viable, its development usually never really ends.
The Definition of Done is often a simple checklist that covers both acceptance
criteria and quality control.
It ensures that the features from previous sprints still work,
and that the team maintains its quality standards.
The Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable, working product increment, every
sprint!
Ideas come into the team, the product owner sequences them,
and the Scrum Team commits to do its best
to turn the most valuable of those ideas into a working solution by the end of the
sprint.
Accountabilities define each member's contribution to the overall result.
Scrum forbids hierarchies or sub-teams within the Scrum Team.
There is one team working towards a common goal.
The Scrum Team consists of Developers who are accountable for creating the increment,
a Product Owner who is accountable that the increment is valuable, and
a Scrum Master who is accountable that people can work and collaborate effectively.
The Scrum Team solves the problem together. They organize and manage themselves.
A Scrum team is cross-functional, that is, it has all the skills and authority
necessary to transform incoming ideas into something that is done and valuable.
This includes making decisions about the product.
Typically, a Scrum Team has 10 people or less. The limit is not rigid. But as the
team gets larger, effectiveness usually declines and performance suffers.
Conversely, a small team may not have all the skills needed to build a product,
especially if someone goes on vacation gets sick or is otherwise unavailable.
Product Development in Scrum is a continuous cycle of generating ideas, creating new
product increments, collecting feedback and self improvement.
In Part Two, we'll zoom in on the Scrum Team to see how each member contributes to the
whole.
I hope this is useful to you!
(c) 2022 Peter B. Stevens Video and Text Licensed under Creative Commons CC-SA-ND