A Complete Guide to Scrum Project Management

At first, it was very difficult for me to get the concept of Scrum Project Management. There are a lot of references about the methods of project management, and not once does it help clear the fact, what it does.

It works inside the Agile system; it’s part of it. But it is not the same. 

These statements put you in the “Don’t care” mood. You will be oblivious to the process. What does it mean, and why?

But as the project can be completed with the granularity model, why can’t project management be done the same way?

Meaning maybe there are sub-processes in the Agile workflow that help the management process be smooth and efficient.

This idea instantly cleared most of the doubts and confusion. It didn’t explain the process but gave a silver lining.

First, let’s clear your doubts with the following question.

What is Scrum Project Management?

Scrum project management is a convention of workflow in agile methodology. The short process of optimization in teamwork, error handling, and granular task completion, known as a sprint, is carried out through the entire development process.

Scrum Project Management is adopted in various work sectors along with software development. It brings continuous review and improvement in workflow.

Sprint planning is done before carrying out each sprint. It is a short event that declares what you will do in the coming few weeks as a team and how you will achieve it. If there are any hurdles or difficulties on the path, the team improvises.

It provides checkpoints to the team in the entire project completion journey.

Why is it Mistaken for Agile Management?

Scrum is a framework, and agile is a methodology. Scrum project management is done to achieve the objective of agile concepts. 

It is this simple thing that separates its identity from Agile.

Scrum divides the workload between the team members and clarifies their roles in the process.

If everyone knows the specification beforehand, it becomes easier to map the productivity in the current workflow.

Composition of Scrum

Scrum project management is conducted with various role designations and steps. You can understand some distinct attributes in their working mechanisms.

Roles

Mainly there are three responsibilities in Scrum management.

Product Owner

The Product Owner is the person who knows all the operational requirements of a product. With interactivity among clients and sales personals, product owners have developed enough knowledge to communicate the ideas of the business with other members of the team.

They can provide logs of duties and targets to the scrum master and the development team. They will all provide all the important tools and reasonable deadlines.

Scrum Master

They manage everything through the sprint. The scrum master’s responsibility is to set meeting dates and coordinate with the development team and product owner.

They motivate the development team to complete the tasks in each sprint and tackle every problem.

Scrum master creates an environment for the development team, different managers, and product owners, where everyone is clear of their duties and ideas. It is easy to find errors and boost productivity in the presence of a scrum master.

Development Team

All the technical part of the work, or all the work in the development process, is done by the development team.

Designing, programming, error finding, making production-ready applications are some duties of a development team. They may be unknown about the effect and needs of the product. 

So, they are in daily sprint meetings with the scrum master to minimize possible errors.

Sprint

Sprint is the cycle of task execution where specific goals are achieved. A project in Scrum goes through many sprints to finish.

It is a unit of the granular model work pattern. There is no subprocess inside the sprint, only the individual tasks and report analysis.

First, planning is done with all the participants, the product owner, and the development team. They discuss and create backlogs where every detail and step is mentioned.

From the log, the tasks are divided and posted by everyone who completes them or fails with an error. The information and reports gathered from a sprint are valuable to make fewer errors in the next sprint.

The work efficiency and coordination between team members gradually develop after every sprint.

Sprint Planning

Spring planning is the crucial step in the sprint. It declares the time for the whole process, tasks for each team member, and objectives to be achieved. 

Every sprint participant must attend the sprint planning session, as it clarifies all the processes and difficulties that may occur.

After the planning is complete, the sprint is run, and most often, there is no need for the next meeting in the sprint because all the delegations are already done. 

Meeting

Meetings can be once a week or in a few days. Most of the time, the meeting is online, using collaboration tools, as most of the workers are remote, especially now in the pandemic.

There are daily meetings between the scrum master and the development team to narrow down the possible crisis and solve it beforehand. With other factions of the work team, it is not required to be in meetings every day. 

However, every problem and report are discussed in these meetings. Client stories and preferences are discussed, and necessary implementations are decided. 

Rules

The rules of scrum management are simple. You will function as per the company’s rules and employees’ responsibility, which you are trained for. 

All the other specific rules are discussed in the scrum meeting, and you will be aware of them throughout all the sprints. Rule changes will be notified; rules may be changed between sprints for better productivity.

Deadlines are the central attention of rules. Every project has a deadline, and if you don’t follow all the rules properly, the team and teamwork may be affected.

Logs

There are logs related to the project, more of a checklist, that will help you govern your actions at work. You can be on track for objectives because of these checklists.

Product owners know all the information about the development and product to provide you with the backlogs.

Logs are the information about the products, the criteria for every sprint or some diagrammatic expression indicating progress or regress in work style, and possible solutions.

Normally, processes in scrum management involve these elements to conduct operations smoothly, and they are effective.

With years and years of adaptation in different work fields, these bodies in coordination have proven to be effective.

Software for Management

Scrum management frameworks are popular choices in most development factions, and it is also used for marketing and production lines.

Wherever there is a need for project management, Scrum can be utilized, not only in the software industry.

monday.com, Wrike, MeisterTask, Scrum Fast, ZenTao, etc., are popular scrum management tools.

These tools have time tracking, notifications, and performance report preparation features. The user interface is simpler and easy to control, making the experience pleasant and focused on real work.

Pros and Cons

There are advantages and disadvantages to any working mechanism.

Scrum increases transparency among the team members and develops trust among the members, effective collaboration.

Teamwork can increase productivity without stressing an individual. They will be working smart, not hard.

Recommendations of the customers are quickly implemented. There is space for necessary change in group discussions and meetings. It can be addressed quickly and put into effect.

Real-time changes the quality of a product to the best quality.

But, with the possibility of easy changes, it can result in frequent unnecessary trials asked by customers. It can be hectic for development teams when their work is not valued and randomly played with ideas.

Scrum is effective among a small workforce. There is an increase in complexity and a lack of coordination with a bigger team.

Team members need to know the working processes of Scrum. But it’s more of a limitation than a disadvantage.

If they don’t know the methodology, you need to provide them with the necessary training, which costs more time and money.

If there are unclear objectives in the meeting that are not handled immediately, it leads to errors in everyone’s work.

We may devalue the process of Scrum when the error is in personnel and may stop using it. It will drive us back into the competition.

Conclusion

Scrum project management is an integral part of the agile system of project management, and it helps organize the work and report at granular levels.

Every production company uses a scrum system of project management to enhance its workflow and business size. It brings progressive results in all sectors.

The guide is based on the simplest models and challenges in business operations. It hasn’t given any certainty in the success.

But one thing seems certain: scrum project management is popular and effective, or maybe effective because it is popular.