Scrumly™ Process
Scrumly is a process for effective team collaboration. It is a specific implementation of the Scrum framework which provides a clear, repeatable process to produce predictable outcomes. By choosing to follow a proven process like Scrumly, and leveraging modern team process management software, teams can focus on getting work done, rather than managing the process.
Agile and Scrum
One of the key aspects of Agile Project Management is to deliver value early and often, allowing for the ability to respond in a flexible way with regards to changing goals. Scrum is a framework of agile project management components which provide a set of definitions which can be used to build a process. Scrumly takes the Scrum framework, and identifies a specific process that can be used by teams for nearly any project management needs. While this process has been used primarily for software development, it actually provides a tremendous process for any type of project where work can be done in small batches to allow for early delivery of value, and ability to adapt to changing requirements.
Why normal "scrum" is hard
The Scrum framework was designed to provide consistent terminology and general process paradigms that could help teams develop their own specific process. This is why following "scrum" is not only hard, but nearly impossible. There really isn't a "scrum" to follow, but "scrum" can provide the parts you need to assemble your own project management, based on some general process templates. Each team generally adopts a "flavor" or "scrum" which means that asking the question: "Do you know the scrum process?" is actually a bad question. When someone says, "Are you familiar with scrum?", this is just wanting to ensure that the person understands the terminology, so that when that person hears about the particular "flavor" of "scrum" that has been adopted by the team, they are not confused as much.
The problem is, however, because each team adopts a different flavor of scrum, it still takes a tremendous amount of time to develop a process that not only feels good, but is also effective and efficient.
The Scrumly Process is a particular flavor of scrum that has been developed over the years, and packaged into a software tool. This way, the tool can keep the process, while the team does the creative work of the actual project.
The problem is, however, because each team adopts a different flavor of scrum, it still takes a tremendous amount of time to develop a process that not only feels good, but is also effective and efficient.
The Scrumly Process is a particular flavor of scrum that has been developed over the years, and packaged into a software tool. This way, the tool can keep the process, while the team does the creative work of the actual project.
Parts of a Scrumly Project
A project, in Scrumly terms, is a container for managing a specific effort. Most projects have a large amount of complexity, and need to be broken down into small units of work to be done by one or more people. Each of these parts need to be cataloged and managed in order for the work to get done. It can be overwhelming to have everything that needs to be done kept in an unorganized way, so it is critical that everything can have its place.
Scrumly Team
To follow the Scrumly process effectively, we recommend having at least three people to work together on a given project. Each person will have one or more roles. The three essential roles are: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Team Member. There can be more than one Team Member, but there should usually only be one Product Owner and one Scrum Master. Each one of these roles has a set of responsibilities which must be carried out in a proper order to allow the project to flow smoothly.
Product Backlog
Every project has a desired outcome. The purpose of the Product Backlog is to catalog the desired outcome in relatively small pieces that can be completed separately. By decomposing the entire desired outcome into smaller pieces, called Backlog Items, a team can deliver valuable outcome early and often while making progress on the big picture. In many cases, this can really help to guide the project to successful milestones because it can allow for making adjustments to the project goals while the project is in progress. Backlog Items should be desired outcomes from the perspective the "end user" of the outcome. In essence, it should be the "what" we want to build and "why" we want to build it.
Tasks
Once we have a "what" and "why" defined in a Backlog Item, we need to establish and plan "how" we will perform the various Tasks necessary to deliver the desired outcome. It is important to think of each Task as something that can be validated. How will you know that something is done unless it can be validated? Often teams are overwhelmed with producing the desired outcome because it seems like too big an effort. The goal is to break down each "testable" element of the desired outcome into small pieces that can be accomplished individually, typically by a single team member. These small, testable pieces are the Tasks, and will provide the necessary tools for really tracking that progress is being made.
Sprints
To allow a team to deliver valuable outcome early and often, a Sprint will be defined with a specific group of high-priority items from the Product Backlog. These Backlog Items will be worked on by the Team Members over the time allocated to the Sprint. When the Sprint is completed, the goal is to have the specific set of Backlog Items completed in a form that could used by the desired audience.
Conversations
To communicate effectively, Scrumly provides a structured form of Conversations that allow the team to have a focused discussion on a single topic, typically to make a decision. This can be valuable for getting clarification about questions that come up during work. There are many existing tools or communication, and as such, it is common to lose track of questions and decisions that get brought up along the way. By keeping focused communication right within the tool, it allows for a high degree of clarity, efficiency and historical reference that is hard to manage among so many communication options. When the team needs to discuss something and decide, make a new Conversation.
Continuous Improvement
There is nothing worse than continuing to do something that doesn't work, or to have the same problem happen more than once. The scrum process recommends to have team meetings at the conclusion of each Sprint, known as a Retrospective, where you "look back" on the previous sprint with the goal of improving. When problems happen during a sprint, that don't need to be solved immediately, but shouldn't happen next sprint, these should be captured in the Product Backlog. While they are not necessarily related to the output of the project materially, they are certainly related to the project as a whole.
Using the Parts (The Process)
In the following sections, we explain what steps are involved in getting your project started and how to start delivering value on your project. Review the Getting Started section and the following links to get a grasp on the process. Then create your first project, and start using Scrumly. You'll quickly see how Scrumly guides you even on the setup process with suggestions on your dashboard.
Getting Started
The best way to get started is to create an account and get familiar with the Scrumly look and feel. But the real benefit of Scrumly begins when you create a project and really get a project started. You'll be surprised how Scrumly starts to guide you through the process of your project. And if you have any questions, you can always Contact Us and tell us how we can help.