Scrum! The Way Forward
February 22nd the PWiC Toronto team held their first informative online webinar SCRUM — The Way Forward. Over 25+ individuals attended the session. We bring you an exclusive 1–1 with Uzma Qureshi, a panelist from the session. Let’s hear her reflections and point of view about Scrum.
Event speakers Lineup:
- Uzma Qureshi: Test Engineer | Certified Scrum Master | Co-Growth lead PWiC
- Rabia Rizwan: IT Project Coordinator| Certified Scrum Master
- Asma Umair: Project Manager | Certified Scrum Master
Ready — Get Set — Scrum!
The best way to get buy-in from any stakeholder is to get them to join in the ceremonies and participate in the day-to-day Scrum execution. Organized presentations and training is also essential to creating a feeling that the transition to Agile is the best approach.
In the webinar, we discussed the basics of Scrum: Understanding what is Scrum, what are Scrum values, what are different roles of scrum, scrum ceremonies and finally we discussed the use of Scrum in an IT project
The session lasted 40 minutes with presentations that covered all of the topics mentioned above.
Here is a recap of Q/A from the session:
Q: Why do we need a Scrum Master if we already have project Manager for software development?
A: The scrum master’s role is deep and wide. Scrum masters need to support their teams while working with the rest of the people in their organizations to build awareness and enable greater agility. A scrum master’s job is not to manage a project or deliver status reports — duties that people associate with the role of a project manager. As a matter of fact, scrum masters may not get involved in status reports at all.
Q: Can we use MS Project for Scrum?
A: It’s advised not to. So, no.
Q: What are some major challenges with scrum? Do you think it is more widely used than other methodology?
A: Scrum is the most popular Agile project management framework because of its simplicity and high performance and very positive feedback from modern tech companies. But, there are a few challenges with Scrum for e.g.: managing role expectations, keeping everything time-boxed, handling urgent change requests and working with a distributed team.
Q: Can Scrum ceremonies be carried out together?
A: Every Scrum ceremony has a clear purpose and together, the Scrum events provide teams with a framework to set expectations, collaborate efficiently, and get their work done in a well-structured manner.
- Sprint Planning: The purpose of sprint planning is to define what can be delivered in the sprint and how that work will be achieved. Sprint planning is done in collaboration with the whole scrum team. And its time boxed to maximum 8 hours for a one month sprints the event is usually shorter.
- Daily Scrum: The daily Scrum meeting is a short everyday meeting, ideally held at the start of the day. Each team member who works towards the completion of a given sprint needs to participate.
- During this meeting, each team member should briefly provide the answers of the following three questions:
What did you do yesterday?
What are your goal for today?
Any blockers faced?
- Sprint Review: The sprint review occurs on the last day of the sprint. The purpose of the meeting is for the team to show the customers and stakeholders the work they have accomplished over the sprint so that the entire Scrum team can receive feedback to fine-tune the product backlog and release plan.
- Sprint Retrospective: The sprint retrospective meeting is to find what activities and “things” the team is doing well, what activities should be continued, and what “more” can be done to improve the next Sprint to be more enjoyable or productive.
Q: What is the role of a Scrum Master in terms of vendor’s perspective ?
A: A Scrum Master is a valued team member within the Scrum Team that facilitates the development of working software and helps the development team in delivering the product increment. But as a vendor’s prospective, the main person is the product owner who deals with stakeholders and higher management team.
Q: How to decide which project is best suited for scrum?
A: Scrum will work best in a cross-functional team consisting of 5 to 9 developers that are working on a medium to large size project (from 4 months to multiple years). If your project is larger, you can scale with Scrum of Scrums. A sprint is limited to one calendar month.
Q: What would be the first step of a project when using scrum framework?
A: As you start up the project, create the product vision, estimates for the implementation efforts of the product. Additionally, determine the business value of the project and clarify dependencies between product. It is good to start small. Most importantly, invite the customer to scrum events and sell the product to the entire scrum team.
Q: Can a non-technical person move in to a scrum role?
A :YES and NO. It varies depending on a person’s technical capability and exposure. A Scrum Master is not required to be fluent in writing code, yet it requires you to have some amount of technical excellence. Technical skills help Scrum professionals to coach and guide the teams. It also helps them in understanding the widely used practices and effectively lead projects. A Scrum Master doesn’t necessarily have to be someone with a computing background, but this person must be acquainted with the intricacies of technology and be passionate about this area.
Our Future :
Our Future little PWiC team member who gifted this painting to us.
