The Prioritized Program Backlog plays a very similar role at the program level as the Prioritized Product Backlog does on project level. It identifies the requirements for the program and their priorities. The items in the Prioritized Portfolio Backlog provide inputs to the various Prioritized Program Backlogs and, through Prioritized Program Backlogs, to Prioritized Product…
Selecting appropriate Scrum Master(s) and identifying relevant Stakeholder(s) is crucial to the success of any project. In some projects, there may have been pre-conditions stipulating certain team members and their roles. When there is flexibility in choosing the Scrum Master(s), the following are important Selection Criteria: Problem-solving skills—This is one of the primary criteria to…
The Program Product Owner develops the Program Product Backlog which contains a prioritized list of high level business and project requirements preferably written in the form of large Program Backlog Items. These are later refined by the Product Owners of individual projects as they create and prioritize Product Backlogs for their projects. These Prioritized Product…
The Program Scrum Master is a facilitator who ensures that all project teams in the program are provided with an environment conducive to completing their projects successfully. The Program Scrum Master guides, facilitates, and teaches Scrum practices to everyone involved in the program; provides guidance to Scrum Masters of individual projects; clears impediments for the…
The preferred leadership style for Scrum projects is Servant Leadership. This term was first described by Robert K. Greenleaf in an essay entitled The Servant as Leader. Below is an excerpt where he explains the concept: The servant-leader is servant first…It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious…
Large projects require multiple Scrum Teams to work in parallel. Information gathered from one team may need to be appropriately communicated to other teams—the Chief Scrum Master is responsible for this activity. The role of a Chief Scrum Master is necessary to ensure proper collaboration among the Scrum Teams. Coordination across various Scrum Teams working…
Release Planning Sessions are conducted to develop a Release Plan. The plan defines when various sets of usable functionality or products will be delivered to the customer. In Scrum, the major objective of a Release Planning Meeting is to enable the Scrum Team to have an overview of the releases and delivery schedule for the…
In a large SCRUM project, Team Specialization may be required. There are three dimensions of Team Specialization. The first dimension is the need for accomplishing specific tasks. For example, one Specialized Team might be an integration team that has specialized knowledge of continuous integration.. That knowledge could be especially important when and if there is…
To be agile means to be flexible. As simple as that may sound; the Agile framework is little more than an effective way to create business flexibility. Even though the basic Agile concepts are easily understood, one needs high levels of commitment, patience and openness to become a true champion of the Agile philosophy. Some…
Before we read about how to be an effective product owner, let us first understand who a product owner is and what he/she does. A product owner is not a separate title but is a role that can be performed by a business analyst or even a representative of an end user. A product owner…
