User Stories adhere to a specific, predefined structure and are a simple way of documenting requirements and desired end-user functionalities. A User Story tells you three things about the requirement: Who, What, and Why. The requirements expressed in User Stories are short, simple and easy-to-understand statements. The predefined standard format results in enhanced communication among…
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 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…
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…
Collaboration in Scrum refers to the Scrum Core Team working together and interfacing with the stakeholders to create and validate the deliverables of the project to meet the goals outlined in the Project Vision. It is important to note the difference between cooperation and collaboration here. Cooperation occurs when the work product consists of the sum…
A project is a collaborative enterprise to either create new products or services or to deliver results as defined in the Project Vision Statement. Projects are usually impacted by constraints of time, cost, scope, quality, people and organizational capabilities. The objective of the project team is to Create Deliverables as defined in Prioritized Product Backlog.…
The Product Owner represents the interests of the stakeholder community to the Scrum Team. The Product Owner is responsible for ensuring clear communication of product or service functionality requirements to the Scrum Team, defining Acceptance Criteria, and ensuring those criteria are met. In other words, the Product Owner is responsible for ensuring that the…
