The sourcing manager’s role can be quite arbitrary and is very important especially in Agile and Scrum practicing ones. Traditionally the role of a manager was boxed into middle management and senior management categories who decided the quantity of work that needs to happen and who or how to go about achieving these desired attributes. So should the procurements manager also be Scrum compliant? Should the PO and the team be a part of the procurement strategy as envisioned in Scrum? And, is there a clash between the SM and sourcing manager’s responsibilities? Let’s explore.
Sourcing Manager Vs Product Owner:
Scrum principles have a clear mandate for the SM, PO and the Scrum team. The PO is responsible to bring clarity between the team and the client. As a PO the job role is definitely about the value of the products and customer needs. It also encompasses the work-prioritization schedules which the team self-organizes and executes. It has little to do with the sourcing of items; third-party vendor development etc and the sourcing manager would do well to remember that work-control is part of the Scrum team’s responsibility and does not need delegation of jobs.
Sourcing Manager Vs SM:
The role of the SM is a multi-tasking sourcing manager in the making. The SM role is designated to develop and enhance the self-organized capacities of the team in producing sellable products quickly. As there is a huge area that envelopes the duties already being executed by the SM the sourcing manager would do well to remember that he bats for the management team. He can build value and enable both the SM and team by removing hurdles, ushering in improvements and practicing Scrum values more diligently. He is the enabler and management’s teacher on Scrum Teams.
The Sourcing Manager’s Role:
As part of the mid-level management team, the sourcing manager would need to keep the complete picture in mind and enable the building of great customer experience, rapid quick-release marketable products, and building capacities in the organization. As you ascend to higher levels it becomes more about strategy-making, enabling decisions, and bettering the organizational key parameters and productivity.
It is important for the sourcing manager to understand that to build organizational capacity upwards from the Scrum team, it is vital to enable horizontal capacity building. The Agile principles also place emphasis on customer collaboration and changes being systemic. This does interfere with the important negotiation of contracts. If the sourcing for technology, and product development enablers are product and project related, it will make perfect sense to allow the Scrum team to decide on sourcing.
How to be an Agile sourcing manager:
In Agile practice on a Scrum framework the collaboration of multiple vendor and requirements, delineating the procurement process, collaboration strategy decisions, maintaining cordial relationships between team and vendors and ensuring loyal vendor and customer experiences are goals for every ideal sourcing manager or/and SM. The Scrum teams are then free to take decisions on delegated work achievement in a self-organized and managed manner as a team.
Vendor selection is crucial in sourcing. If from a third-party the negotiation starts with the PO and the need for finance. Procurement applications like the Source web can be very helpful in sourcing. To place emphasis on quality, timely-deliveries, procurement lead-time, vendor capabilities, site requirements, pricing, and such parameters the reverse auction strategy works very well within the Scrum framework.
The true enabler in sourcing is removing the hurdles in terms of financials to enable the Scrum team to perform optimally. Since Scrum and Agile are best practices, that teach everyone on the team to be multi-purpose, multi-tasking and self-enabling progressive team members one will require even the management to be Agile. The main role the sourcing manager would then be a wee bit of the PO, SM and traditional Manager’s role rolled into one!
Conclusions:
The Scrum team activities do not include procurement and the management would need to ensure sourcing, procurement or contracts specialist to fill the sourcing and procurement void. Thus the sourcing manager is the management’s tight rope walker on a Scrum team who ensures the Agile multiple C’s of collaboration, communication, contribution, and management cordiality.
To learn more about Scrum, Agile and best practices in project management, Imarticus Learning scores high as a reputed training partner. Enroll and use the opportunity to grow yourself.
Tag: agile business analyst
Ten Contracts For Your Next Agile Project!
An iterative approach like Agile Project Management, guides a project throughout the production process, just like in Agile Software Development, where several iterations are reviewed and critiqued by stakeholders before moving onto the next step of the project. There are different types of contracts governing various types of agile projects. Such contracts or agreements may seem to be a set of guidelines or rules to be followed, but they hold significance as fixed instruments, which can lead to unfavorable consequences if not obliged to. Agile contracting lets the parties focus on the result of the Agile in a collective manner.
Here are ten contracts for your next agile project:
1. Fixed Price
Here the risk is mostly associated with the developer or supplier who agrees on the deliverables. The customer intends to have this sort of a contract since the target price is fixed; the developer tries to complete the project at a lower cost than the target cost and the satisfaction of the customer is guaranteed. After all, that is the prima facie of developers. However, if the project takes longer or costs more than the fixed price, then the cost is borne by the developer leading less scope for changes in this type of contracts.
2. Incremental delivery contracts
The project is broken down into segments, wherein the customer reviews the development stage at predetermined review points. Both parties evaluate the pros and cons at each review point and then decide on the further steps. At the end of each successful review point, both parties have incentives. Each increment subsequently improves the overall development of the project that ultimately is a result of cooperation leveraged in incremental delivery contracts as opposed to the rigidly fixed price contracts.
3. Time and materials
It is one of the most convenient forms of contracts wherein the supplier makes the payment for the amount of work or service that is done using necessary materials for creation. Since the customer holds the edge of changing minds, the supplier enjoys this type of contracts. However, such agreements sustain firmly on the legitimate efforts of the supplier to cut down the cost for the benefit of the longevity of the arrangements.
4. Time and materials with fixed scope and a cost ceiling
In this form of contract, if the supplier completes the task early, the payment will be made only for the actual efforts. There is no scope for incentives for finishing the project early. Having said that since the cost of the project is capped, the supplier will aim to achieve the maximum capped cost of the project.
5. Time and materials with variable scope and ceiling
As a consequence of the capped limit, the financial risk associated with the customer is less. The variable range and capped budget bring a collaborative approach from both supplier and customer to complete the project. This sort of contract is ideal for budget oriented projects. A constructive relationship upholds this type of contracting in achieving desired business.
6. Bonus/Penalty clause
As the name suggests, the supplier will be rewarded with the bonus upon early completion of the task and will be penalized for late deliveries. Such contracts reduce the potential risk of late deliveries for the customers. Penalty clause makes the supplier forsee the consequences related to delay and drives towards completing the task on time or even early.
7. Joint Ventures
The two parties involved in the agile project agrees upon to invest in a project with mutual interest. Though the development phase of the project may not be rewarding for either of the parties involved. There must be a return on investment for both parties either from the revenue or by the end result of the project. Here the project itself to be considered as a separate company which needs to be developed and marketed for a common benefit.
8. Money for nothing changes for free
This type of contract was created by Jeff Sutherland, which involves two clauses. The first clause is altered for free. This clause essentially leverages space for any new features to be added in a project without charging any fee for the changes made. Secondly, money for nothing clause is a win-win situation for both supplier and customer. Here the supplier separates the different segments of a project and delivers the most prioritized segment first.
9. Fixed profit
Every project ideally has a predetermined cost and profit estimation. By using fixed profit contracts, the parties involved in making the said project, agree upon a fixed amount regardless of the time period of the work completed. Since there is an incentive set for both, parties like the customer save cost, and the supplier has the chance of seeing higher profits.
10. Sprint contract
A sprint contract is ideal for Scrum projects wherein a project is broken down into bits. An agreement between the product owner and a team performing a sprint is known as a Sprint contract. The team tries to convince the product owner by delivering expected quality work in one sprint.
In a nutshell, having proper contracts reduces the risk associated with your clients, as it increases human accountability at both ends. Though your agreement does not serve as your project manager, it certainly acts as a risk mitigation technique. So even if you have a cordial relationship with your clients, a contract in place never hurts!
To know more about the Contracts for your next Agile Project, you can also consider our Business Analyst Certification.
What is Agile Methodology?
Agile thinking is Lean and continuous. It relies on Scrum values and a number of different methods that form a combination way of tackling solutions to improving productivity and efficiency in enterprises with a large emphasis on customer-first policies and principles. Agile has caught everyone’s imagination because of the fantastic outcomes from transitioning to these values.
The Methodology Involved
Agile is no methodology. In reality, it is a way of thinking, a task-training philosophy and a flexible simple mindset. It comprises of Scrum frameworks and others too along with different sets of methodologies that aid specific task aspects in the Agile Manifesto.
The frameworks and methodology sets that are used in Agile are
• Scrum methodology
• Lean development of software.
• DSDM/ Dynamic-Systems-Development method
• XP/ Extreme Programming.
• ATDD/ Acceptance-Test-Driven-Development method.
• TDD/ Test-Driven-Development method.
Let us explore how these methodologies fit into the Agile framework and its practice.
Scrum:
Scrum is widely used in software development using Agile as an incremental and iterative way of handling team-oriented developmental software projects, applications, and products. The Scrum team members are all equal and work together towards the common goal while being flexible, self-organizing, communicative and collaborative as a team. Scrum also works very well with tools and techniques in TDD, DSDM, Lean and XP and offers an excellent framework to function in.
Lean development:
Lean agile methodology principles emphasize minimizing waste and maximizing customer-values to create the ideal customer-environment with minimum resources, focused key processes and zero waste. Optimization of assets, technology, product flow, inter-departmental communications, and various inter-related processes all along the value-stream leads to eliminating wastage. Such practices do lead to lower costs, higher production, more efficient processes, faster time-cycles, lesser defects and of course increase in productivity, efficiency and more accuracy.
XP/ Extreme Programming:
The XP software development method in Agile is again related to iterative customer requirements, frequent release cycles, and shorter time-cycles in development. The improvements are very visible in the areas of
• Flexible communication.
• Process simplicity.
• Constructive feedback.
• Peer and customer respect.
• Courage for appropriate feedback.
DSDM:
DSDM is a part of the agile method used for the development of software. The extended DSDM 4.2 embodies the DSDM principles to be used for consistent deliveries.
These are:
• Business needs focus.
• Timely deliveries.
• Consistent collaboration.
• Zero compromises on quality parameters.
• Using firm foundations and incremental development method.
• Incorporate iterations.
• Clear and continuous communications.
• Demonstrating measures of control.
DSDM the non-IT solution from the Agile Alliance gives great results in time, quality and cost control using prioritization by the MoSCoW method of must, should, could, and won’t-have constraints.
TDD:
This process uses repetition of short cycles of development in a project lifecycle. Testing here begins with coding the automated test-case, defining its new functions, improvements and such before re-testing and factoring in the changes required until the code reaches the acceptable pre-determined values. It has immense scope in debugging, and legacy code testing improvements.
ATDD:
The agile methodology process stresses collaboration between stakeholders to ensure that testing and iteration is a result of communication and thus fool-proof. Agile is thus really a collection of rediscovered best practices being put together under the umbrella called agile methodology.
The Agile learning course:
To become an Agile coach one will need to get trained and demonstrate the applications of Agile. The Agile coach is the key team-mentor for effective team management. The coach embodies and instills the values of Agile while implementing Agile practices, the Agile mindset, and team-collaboration to get desired outcomes of shorter time cycles and rapid release cycles of market-viable products.
Imarticus Academy’s agile certification courses provide continued learning certification courses. The certification is globally recognized and approved as a standard of Agile skill certification which permit the Agile coaches to do-and-learn by taking on the responsibility of an Agile coach. The course uses practical simulation of team-management scenarios and helps inculcate the Agile practices and skills through role plays, effective immersive mentoring, quizzes and such forward-thinking training methods.
The agile methodology training outcomes aimed for are:
• Nurturing Agile-Lean mindset and culture to usher in iterations, positive change management, and Scrum Agile tenets and attitude.
• Inculcating successful Agile values and core competencies.
• Proficiency in Agile Scrum practices, tools, techniques, skills, and best practices useful to both existing and new coaches in team transitioning.
• Resolution of conflicts and handling issues related to them more effectively.
• Empowering oneself and the team to achieve set goals using mock and practice sessions.
Course topics:
No formal educational qualifications are required for the agile certification though an understanding and experience in Agile practices do count.
Some of the important topics covered practically and
• Developing Agile methodology thinking and mindset.
• Equipping through skilling for the coach’s role and responsibilities.
• Raise self-awareness and organization to promote and improve team motivation and dynamics.
• Transition and mentor Agile transformations and roles.
• Resolve effectively hurdles and team-conflicts.
• Collaborative communication and building contributive teams.
• Recognize and remove impediments, obstacles, issues, and change-resistance.
• Define and maintain coaching limits with neutrality.
• Improving team-performance through effective mentoring and coaching.
• Imbibe agility by recognizing and handling organizational and systemic challenges.
• Create product and personal backlogs as records of performance.
The IT major Yahoo! discovered that teams with an Agile coach who has trained and certified from such courses actually brought about increased the productivity of 300% when compared with teams where no Agile coaching is provided. Their improved performance was a mere 35% in comparison.
More and more industries especially large enterprises with cross-functional teams have used Agile to improve their production and efficiency. However, unless every team member is on the same wavelength and has the identical mindset Agile may just remain lip-service and not produce the desired outcome even with an Agile coach.
In parting, one finds that there is a lot of debate about the trending Agile methodology being adopted by corporate giants and industries alike. Learning Agile changes your mindset and simplifies the execution of complex tasks. The agile certification course leads you through the various methods and agile methodology which comprise the best-practices in Agile.
At Imarticus Learning Academy, these courses lay emphasis on practical work in industry-relevant situations. Besides certification they empower you to think Agile, transform teams and lead from the front for team-success. Improve your prospects and career with such futuristic courses. Hurry!
Sharpen Your Knives -Making Agile a Reality
According to the reports of a joint study by Forbes magazine and Scrum Alliance, Agile-suites have become the buzz word of the latest models for SME businesses and across sizes that include startups, large companies with cross-functional teams, and everything in between. Being so is synonymous with faster marketing times and efforts, improved financial results, rapid innovations, and better workplaces.
Management practices today demand the implementation of effective change management, constant changes in requirements of the backlog, and snapping free of traditional ladders in organizations to scale and transition to a Scrum-Agile environment.
The Agile transitioning parameters:
The all-important parameters when training and recruiting for a successful agile organization are:
Developing talent:
Upskilling and certifications are the norms today with many large organizations retrenching the employees who do not up-skill. Agile environments require developing Scrum minded talent. An aspirant for agility needs formal training, a can-do attitude, creativity, and innovative capacities to learn rapidly, enthusiasm for the Agile thinking, knowledge of Scrum practice, change management skills and effective CSM’s motivation.
Stability and Loyalty in employees:
Crucial to all growth is its dedicated workforce. One of the best means to earn these parameters is to retrain employees interested in change and the benefits including financial ones that such changes can bring in.
CSM/ Coach Motivation:
Being transitioned needs a knowledgeable, certified coach or SM to lead by example. Staff motivation and retention sees an upswing when the organization is committed to collaborative work culture, where loyalty and retention may depend on the rewards, biasing Scrum environments effectively, re-skilling and training and many more such factors.
Employee Skills:
Retraining employees is possible by doing advanced courses at Imarticus who are reputed globally for their excellent courses. Agile does encompass technological changes incorporation and cross-functional knowledge of fields like Big Data analytics, Deep and neural networking, AI, ML and visualization techniques which will need to be over-hauled and re-trained for effectiveness.
Perceptual changes:
The very success of the technology and framework lies on adapting the uniform mindset required to become self-organized. Lip-service is insufficient and involvement from the grassroots levels up-wards will need drastic Agile changes in perception.
The benefits that accrue:
1. Scrum tools ease the process of managing the Scrum projects even if they work remotely. These tools are reliable, help the teams to work, aid team collaboration, and facilitate the team’s and organizational productivity: Ex: Jira, Scrum Vivify, Manuscript, Scrum DO, Axosoft, Targetprocess, QuickScrum, Yodiz, ScrumDesk, ScrumWise, Zoho sprints, and ClickUp.
2. The Scrum success story has spurred recruitments in large, medium and startups including Philips, Honeywell, Dell, Siemens, Accenture, Capgemini, Allstate Insurance (India), Informatica, and Zensar Technologies. Scrum tools are conducive to remote-working and are extremely reliable across platforms, technologies, and types of teams. Life in an Agile-Scrum cross-functional team of experts is an excellent aid in collaboration, communication, and contribution of the true Scrum team members. No one is different in the framework and success depends on the team performance spurred by an able SM.
3. Scrum has the potential the playing ground of organizations and is poised to affect everyone in the environment.
Why being Agile has become popular:
The changes brought about by the transformation are welcomed by employees and organizational management alike because
- The agile work-hierarchy has turned flat and encourages the thinking of all as Scrum team-members who are equal and work collaboratively.
- Over half the organizations have transitioned successfully.
- The framework has included effective Scrum mentors and Agile coaches to help and aid the teams to perform better.
- Re-training is easy by doing a formal course at Imarticus.
- Agile framework and Scrum values have very many benefits for the organization including efficiency and productivity with rapid time-boxed frequent viable products releases.
- The methodology is actually a philosophy that is equally applicable in personal tasks and life.
Conclusion:
Agile running on a Scrum framework is akin to sharpening the blades of success. Everyone from a flexible director and project manager, the self-organized Scrum team, the crucial strategy of an Agile Coach’s role, and the transforming mindset are set to impact everyone in the chain and across processes. Do a good pro degree with Imarticus in the classroom mode to get your CSM or Agile Scrum certification and contribute positively to your team and organization.
What is The Market Size For Agile Software Development?
Agility means effective (rapid and adaptive) response to change, effective communication among all stockholder. In layman terms though, agility or Agile Development in software engineering means ensuring agility, flexibility, and adaptability in the agile development, maintenance, and working of a model, i.e. prototype. All these things are equally important while trying to build software.
Before diving into how the Agile Development method works, let’s discuss a step by step approach to how software is built. This method uses the assembly of a cross-functional team, i.e. not just developers but different parties that look after various segments in the process. This not only ensures efficiency but also ensures that the customers get what they want and have more say in the making of the software.
Some facts regarding the market expanse for Agile development.
- Large enterprises are the likeliest to adopt a business analyst certification and techniques.
- The presumption that agile is ideal for “edge” projects but not for large, mission-critical projects does not hold true anymore.
- The criticism that Agile’s limitations for teams spread across disparate time zones can potentially be addressed by different agile methods.
For industry breakdowns, the leading agile adopters as of 2018 are:
- High tech – 74 percent
- Discrete manufacturing – 74 percent
- Banking and finance – 65 percent
- Retail – 63 percent
Many reports suggest that while agile is maturing, there are companies that are still not ready for this approach to software development. Agile is really about iterative cycles. When you put together agile with a minimum viable product approach, you have a considerable edge building relevant software that customers/users prefer to use.
The logic of involving the stakeholders in development early and often is something that is difficult to argue against.
Many companies though are not culturally prepared for such a vicious cycle of revision. It’s not the agile methodology that lets them down, but the unwillingness to uproot stale processes.
The unwillingness to drop traditional methods of software development are what holds back agile from taking over the market speedily.
Companies adopting Agile Development method
Bosch, a leading supplier of technology and services globally with more than 400,000 associates and operations in 60-plus countries, adopted this approach. At companies like Bosch and other agile enterprises, the visions and aims are ambitious, to say the least.
The leadership teams, however, fail to look at every single detail in advance. Leaders recognize and admit that they are often clueless about how many agile teams they will require, at what pace they should add them, and how they can address bureaucratic limitations without throwing the organization into complete chaos.
So they usually bring forth an initial wave of agile teams, gather data on the value those teams create and the constraints they face, and then decide if they should take the next step and how they will go about it. This lets them weigh their options, i.e. the value of accelerating lightsomeness (in terms of economic results, client outcomes, and worker performance) against its prices (in terms of each money investments and structure challenges).
If the upsides outweigh the costs, managers continue to scale up agile—deploying yet another wave of teams, unblocking constraints in less agile parts of the organization, and this is how the cycle is repeated.
If not this though, they can pause for a while to monitor the market atmosphere and also explore ways to increase the value of the agile teams already in the works (for example, by improvement of the priority level of work or upgrading capabilities to prototype) and bring down the costs of change (by publicizing agile successes or hiring experienced agile enthusiasts).
Refine Your Product Backlog Continuously to Improve Flow
As you might already know, product Backlog is simply a list of everything you have to do to complete your project. It helps you find all your requirements for the product at a single source. This article discusses how we can improve the product flow by continuously refining your product backlog.
The Refinement Process
We can improve our product flow by merely comparing the estimates using time-dependent sizing. But, most of the product backlog items (PBI) won’t be clear enough for such an analysis.
One strategy to approach this issue of poorly PBIs is to spend more time on it and refine them as you go. This process will take time, but the total time taken for the project will be significantly reduced. It also leads you towards better reliability and velocity.
In the early days of Scrum, the sprint begins with a time-boxed planning meeting. Such planning meetings would usually go long and frustrate the team members attempting to estimate PBIs. The results were overly vague product backlogs. To eliminate this issue, the Scrum guide now specifies that along with the planning meeting, a continuous refinement process should take place.
Benefits of Continuous Refinement
This refinement process involves estimation and addition of details to the PBI. By doing it continuously, the team will be able to deliver more consistent and improve the quality of their job. It can also reduce the duration of the planning meeting at the start of the sprint. The regular refinement process allows the team to deal with the estimation process in small pieces. By improving the productivity of the team, the refinement improves the product flow.
However, the refinement process will not solve all the difficulties. You still have to discover alternatives and problems during the implementation. But with the Refinement process, the questions will be smaller and much easier to find an answer.
How to Carry Out Refinement?
The major challenge in implementing this practice is to have a refinement process that doesn’t tie up the whole team in meetings. The solution suggested by the Scrum Guide is to limit the refinement to 10 percent of the team capacity. In that way, we can complete the refinement of a 4-week sprint in 2 days. The refinement meetings should be short and time-boxed, and the number of backlog items covered in each session shouldn’t be the main focus. In most scenarios, the longer refinement process will result in a shorter planning meeting.
In ideal cases, all team members are supposed to be a part of the refinement conversations. Dividing the team excessively will result in missing out important questions and insights. Also, be sure to have an estimation of every backlog item you cover at the end of each session.
Agile planning is all about striking a perfect balance between precision and accuracy. So, your backlog doesn’t need to be consisting of the full specification of every item. Although, it is important to have in-depth knowledge about each of them. Spending little more time of ensuring that everyone in your team really understands the backlog will help you deliver more value in a shorter time period.
The Charm Of User Stories
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. The simplicity of a user story allows for this approach becoming the fundamental artefact in your project armoury. Let us understand two simple concepts in user stories which highlight how a user story operates and the INVEST acronym holding it together. These two simple techniques of product backlog formulating improves the quality of the product, communication of value to the user and rests wholly on the user.
Let us move to the 3C’s principle. The 3Cs approach components are:
- Card:
Aptly named it forms the written-down text of the user story and is an open-invite to the next logical step of conversation. This concept accepts that like in Scrum the Product Backlog items are imperfect and invites the team to discuss, discover and diffuse iterational conflicts. At this stage of discovery, the elements of collaboration and communication are crucial to refinement.
It addresses the why, what and who in the user story. The format asks leading questions to discover the role, benefit and action required. Since the team is cross-functional, the questions are both important, and the user card is developed with an actual persona in mind while addressing the benefit and assigning it to the business-goal benefits.
- Conversation:
Normally all conversations are face-offs and moderated by the Product Owner. A collaborative discussion of all stakeholders ensues. This is the phase of the actual value of the user-story getting written and reflects the commonly accepted terms shared by all members before recording ‘Doneness’. Ideally, it also includes the Acceptance tests and methodology to be followed, so a shared understanding is recorded.
- Confirmation:
The PO firstly confirms ‘done’, and the team checks the ‘doneness’ and its alignment and common definition of ‘done’ in writing of the user story.
Next, we move to INVEST and what it stands for.
- I means Independent:
This lets the team know that this user story is independently solvable and implementable immaterial of other user stories and can be broken into technical dependency as often as required using refactoring principles.
- N means Negotiable:
This is an open-ended evolving iterative story and is flexible and yet to be attributed to technical specifications. The DevOps team takes the final call on technical implementation.
- V means Valuable:
Here is the why question. The alignment of business goals to each user story is vital. However, it does not suggest that every user-story must evolve into a marketable product. More than the user view the business goal is paramount.
- E means Estimable:
In this head, it calls on the team to be Agile and approximate the work-complexity, effort and time required to build a potential bearing product. Final values will be based on consensual approximations.
- S means Small:
In this stage, the item should qualify as small functional increment achievable in a single Sprint. As it gets to the top of the Backlog list, it achieves its maximum size due to ongoing collaborations.
- T means Testable:
This phase deals with the common definition of the team understanding on verification and testing procedures acceptable for a ‘done’. If there is a common consensus that the ‘done’ can be verified in a particular procedural manner the ‘doneness’ being achieved in one Sprint implies the product is testable.
The INVEST set of rules is applied to all items on the Backlog list even when user stories are to be written yet.
In conclusion, the Agile user story is simple to learn, and the charm of the user story lies in its team-collaborated iterations and evolution.
How Does a Scrum Master Manage Risk in Scrum?
Most software development organisations today use Scrum or some other Agile methodology to streamline their processes. While they do have their own obvious benefits, many people do complain at times that Scrum has no clear Risk Management steps for the Scrum Master to follow – the fact is that Scrum does have a five-step plan which is meant to address the issues of risk in a structured manner.
The Scrum Master is in charge of ensuring that the team functions without any impediments on the way, and removing any obstructions which are holding the team back. Therefore, this is how a Scrum Master commonly deals with risk.
• Risk Identification
With the help of the Scrum Product Team, the Master should try and identify all the risks which could potentially have an impact on the project. This is done also by looking at the product from a host of perspectives and using some other techniques. Risk identification is a constant process, and the Identified risks even become inputs to many Scrum processes like Demonstrate and Validate Sprint.
• Risk Assessment
After identifying the risks, you have to now understand what the impact of each risk may be on the project. The overall business value in the worst case scenarios can be calculated, and you can also check if the risks outweigh the implications of the project itself – in that case, you should think whether it is apt to even continue the process. Probability Trees, Pareto Analysis and a Probability and Impact Matrix, can be used to understand the impacts the risks may have.
• Risk Prioritization
As a result of the first two steps, you have a list of the possible risks which could impact the project and an idea of how big each risk is. In this step, therefore, you will have to priorities the risks based on their chances of occurring and implications on the projects. This priority list will come in handy in the next couple of steps.
• Risk Mitigation
Risk can be mitigated by using a number of responses from Scrum, from which the best option is to formulate a plan B for you to fall back on. You can either be proactive about the risk, or reactive about it. Proactive is about trying to prevent the risk in an active fashion, which being reactive is about trying to mitigate the results of the risk after they have happened.
• Risk Communication
Every project has a lot of stakeholders who are worried about how the project is progressing. It is important to communicate to these stakeholders, not just the owners, about the risks and their potential impact on the project. You should also explain the measures you have taken in order to mitigate the effects of the risk. This is not the last step in the process – rather, it is a parallel step which should be done throughout the first four steps.
If you find yourself interested in learning more, you should check out the Agile business analyst and Scrum prodegree with SAP on offer at Imarticus Learning.
How Does Scrum Work?
Software development uses Scrum. We shall explore Scrum from definition to practice taking into account its pros and cons.
Scrum Definition:
Scrum is a strategy for software product development helping software developers to work as collaborative teams for the achievement of common business goals like the creation of a market-ready product.
Scrum is also a game strategy borrowed from rugby. Ultimately the aim of a Scrum is to use the team performance to achieve a common goal. In software development, Scrum practices help the team communicate and collaborate for bettering productivity in project development.
The Scrum environs:
The Scrum framework works on three roles.
• The Scrum team who work in Sprints to produce market-ready products.
• The Scrum Master is not the manager and ensures the team uses Scrum practices.
• The Product Owner or client prioritizes the backlog, manages and coordinates the team efforts.
How it works:
Scrum software development involves the Scrum team collaborating to resolve complex issues. The product backlog is discussed by the team to priorities Product Owner needs and fixed deadlines.
An Agile concept or Sprint is defined specifying the time for the chosen item from the backlog and could last a week or month to produce a market-ready product. Each Sprint is reviewed in daily Scrums and on completion a new Sprint begins.
The process continues till the deadlines or budget is complete. Each daily Scrum reviews tests and corrects the previous day’s progress. All Scrum team members are involved, contribute and communicate towards the Sprint completion. The Scrum Master ensures the environment, practices and Scrum framework requirements are diligently met.
Scrum Advantages:
DevTeams of software developers work at high speeds and make use of Scrum to better their functioning with the following advantages.
• Scrum developers with decision-making capacities have higher motivation and morale.
• Every Sprint produces a market-ready product. Prioritizing ensures a low-risk, high-quality product goes to the market even as the project is still on-going.
• The time to market is reduced by ensuring the Scrum Product Owner is serviced on a need-basis.
• Scrum projects have better ROI due to effective feedback and corrections, decreased time to market, lesser defects, regular testing and early disbanding.
• Better testing is possible as each Sprint is reviewed before the next is taken up.
• Change of evolving goals and focus areas is feasible.
Scrum Disadvantages:
Scrum practices do not work well for all teams. Some disadvantages in the implementation of projects following Scrum practices are
• Scrum teams turn dysfunctional when micromanagement occurs by the Scrum Master’s interference.
• Adding functionalities to the backlog and fixed deadlines can cause creep in the scope of the project.
• The greatest impediment to project progress is the loss of a team member.
• Software developers work quickly and in small teams. Scrum practices work well for such teams.
Scrum Best Practices:
Quality products are created daily by winning teams using these simple Scrum practices.
• Specify relevant product features and requirements on time.
• Daily test and provide feedback to the Product Owner.
• Hold regular sprint-reviews.
• Use sprint retrospectives as constructive feedback.
• Avoid missed and miscommunications through face-to-face discussions.
• Trust your team performance.
• Allow team members to self-organised around their personalities, team skills, and work styles.
• Prevent burnouts through professional and personal conflicts and stress.
In conclusion, Scrum works well at all levels and in both personal and professional lives and environments. An Agile business analyst and Scrum software prodegree with SAP will empower you to use Scrum, Agile and SAP effectively.
How Will Imarticus’ Business Analyst Certification Course Help You Advance Your Career?
The market today has seen impressive use of technology in making use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and predictive analysis. All pervasive use of internet and smart systems like mobile phones, computers, use of virtual assistants, interactive apps, and so on, are everyday uses.
The Analytics and Financial Services sectors have ridden the wave of digitisation and are urgently in need of dedicated and experts in technological domains that did not exist a decade ago. Imarticus Learning caters to the aspiring needing tailor-made customized programs to further their career and prospects through skills up gradation with its innovative business analysis course in Bangalore.
Roles And Scope:
With thousands of jobs being advertised daily some with mind-boggling pay packets, a business analyst certification with Scrum and Agile BA can help in the following areas of professional empowerment.
Change management and its allied roles in Project Management, Business Analysis, Scrum and Agile suites, and SAP learning will equip and hone your skills to be able to successfully induce changes for enterprise success. Lucrative roles such as Scrum Master, Change Manager, Project Manager, or a Business Analyst could be yours with this skill upgrade.
In the role of a Business Analyst involvement in strategy and plans for change management and its implementation is crucial to the enterprise. Skills acquired here will help involvement with stakeholders and puts you in a pivotal role.
As a Scrum Master Agile helps you manage projects, overcome impediments, manage team health, eliminate wastage, manage self-organisation, apply process management tenets, and manage diverse cultures.
Why choose Imarticus Learning?
This enterprise provides:
- The basic prerequisite is the will to learn and other secondary supportive qualifications
- Have centres at Mumbai, where it is headquartered, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur, Delhi, Coimbatore, and Hyderabad
- Online and virtual classroom instructor-led sessions pan-India
- Training faculty includes mentoring expertise by veterans from the industry who are domain experts and share practical hands-on training through real-time scenarios.
- Further core competency skill upgrades offered in evolving fields of technology.
- Project work and use of real-time scenarios enable you to imbibe best practices and being industry-ready.
- Believe in practice and hands-on training rather than theoretical learning of concepts.
Accepted certification and opportunities to better your job prospects and earn lucrative pay packets.
Business analysis classes with Imarticus includes:
- Global and standardised curriculum that is offered internationally.
- Building resumes that make a lasting impression and translate into landing lucrative job offers.
- Open and private networks access for placements on the portal which provide opportunities, references and leads for successful placements.
- Conduct of mock scenarios and interviews with panels for one-on-one training for these rounds through well-experienced and certified trainer instructors.
- Preparation for interviews through well-researched questions to help clear the technical and HR rounds of your interview.
Why wait any longer? Now is the time to enrol and upgrade your skill sets.