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…
Being an Agile approach, Scrum is highly flexible (pun, probably intended); that is, it can be stretched and bent to fit any project’s requirements. It is best suited for projects that require splitting a huge and an unplanned project into manageable chunks of work based on business priorities. As such, it can be used for…
The success of today’s organizations depends on how well they can adapt to the hurricane of changes sweeping across their industry. How can they do this? Many organizations are looking to Agile as the answer. In step with its growing popularity, Agile has been embraced more warmly by large organizations. However, they face significant obstacles, such…
The process of being certified as an Agile/Scrum Master involves attending two and three-day classroom sessions (respectively), at the end of which the certificate is awarded. The certification is not awarded based on any formal exam conducted to evaluate how proficiently you have grasped the concepts of Agile/Scrum. You might admittedly be skeptical about how…
A Scrum master plays a crucial role in the implementation of Scrum on software development projects. Click here for the Challenges faced by a Scrum Master A Scrum master is like a leg in the tripod of the Scrum team, with the other two being the product owner and the development team. The relationship of the…
To be agile means to be flexible. As simple as that may sound; the Agile framework is 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 people…
Agile methodology is a dynamic project management approach to software development and implementation. Within a few years of its inception, Agile methodology has become popular because it is both developer and customer friendly. This is because—unlike the traditional Waterfall approach—Agile methodology is an adaptive approach that permits changes and modifications to be incorporated into the…
Story point estimates are a way of estimating Agile projects. Story points are calculated using known tasks as a frame of reference to estimate other tasks. For example, if a task such as creating an input screen, for which we already know the amount of effort required to complete, has been assigned 3 points, we…
It is widely known in the software development industry that Agile values “working software” over “extensive documentation.” This leads to the common misconception that Agile does not believe in documentation. It is true that documentation in Agile does not always mean typing code descriptions or lengthy time consuming information that may come in handy sometime…
Scrum is the most widely used Agile framework for developing and managing complex software and product applications. In its simplest terms, Scrum is characterized by its core values of Plan Ahead and Inspect & Adapt. Therefore, Scrum successfully manages projects in which there is marked uncertainty and ambiguity at the early stages of the project. With Scrum, an…
