Forem: Tara.AI

5 Tips for Getting the Most From Scrum Artifacts

Tara.AI — Mon, 03 Aug 2020 17:19:35 +0000

If you’re reading this, you’re either beginning your journey within the scrum framework or you’re taking on a more in-depth role for a product. No matter which it is, we’re going to break down scrum artifacts into easy-to-understand terms so you can get the most out of them.

My goal is to give you the knowledge we gained through our experience practicing scrum (while building a Jira alternative for software teams!), so you can apply it and gain weekly, bi-weekly and monthly progress.

What are scrum artifacts and why do we need them?

The term scrum artifacts refers to pieces of information attained throughout the scrum process or framework. There are three scrum artifacts: the Product Backlog, the Sprint Backlog, and the Product Increment. But, what exactly are these, when do they appear, and why?

Each one serves its own purpose:

Product Backlog

In short, the product backlog is an overall list of everything to include in the final product. By nature, it’s an ever-changing list and grows as the product is developed and new requirements are set. There are three main types of items in the product backlog:

User stories: feature descriptions from the end user’s perspective
Bugs: problems to address
Tasks: assignments for the scrum team

Sprint Backlog

Each time the team runs a scrum sprint, there’s a to-do list for that specific sprint, which is the sprint backlog. Each task on that list goes through a variety of statuses throughout the sprint starting with “to do.” The task moves into “doing” as the team starts work and then “to verify” once the work is ready for review. Once verified by someone on the team, the task is marked as “done.”

Product Increment:

Arguably the most important of the scrum artifacts, the product increment includes each and every item marked “done” from a sprint. Of course, what is considered as “done” can vary depending on the product, so it’s important for the scrum team to have that information defined in advance.

Scrum Artifact Tip 1: Organize user stories

Scrum users must frequently inspect scrum artifacts and progress toward a sprint goal to detect where improvements can and should be made. A key step for starting this process is determining which user stories can and should be included in each iteration.

Not only can not all user stories fit within a single scrum sprint, but they often need to be released in different iterations to maintain efficiency. The point of scrum is to create an efficient process with many points of review and progress along the way. Determining a structure with organized user stories, even if you change it later on, will establish an efficient path to the final product.

Scrum Artifact Tip 2: Prioritize, reprioritize, and reprioritize again

You should be constantly refining the product backlog as you work. But this also means you should be reprioritizing each time. As the needs of the product evolve, so should the order of the tasks. What has secondary or even tertiary importance to the product owner now may be extremely prevalent in the next iteration.

Scrum Artifact Tip 3: Be detailed where (and when) it matters

The more of a priority an item has, the more detailed it should be. Adding enough information to the item will allow the team to execute it as expected and requested by the product owner. Likewise, the opposite is also true. For lower-ranking priorities, there can be fewer details. Instead, reserve your time for detailing high priorities. Over time, the lower-ranking priorities may evolve or even become superfluous to the final product. As they move up in the queue, you can add more details.

Scrum Artifact Tip 4: Involve the product owner

The scrum framework is all about efficiency but it doesn’t work on its own, or even with a full team on its own. It’s vital to have ongoing communication with the product owner. Be sure to continuously and routinely check in with the product owner each step of the way. The benefits are bountiful; the team will be able to rank items in the product backlog in a productive way and pivot as and when needed. Having an open channel of communication can also assist in managing expectations both for the product owner as well as the scrum team.

Scrum Artifact Tip 5: Remove the noise

Just because a task, item, or user story was originally listed does not mean it needs to be there forever. With the progress of the product, tasks and features may become superfluous to the end goal of the final product. Removing the excess tasks and assignments can clean up the process so the team can better focus on what is necessary. Don’t be afraid to put the sprint backlog or product backlog under scrutiny to determine what really needs to be there.

Getting The Most Out of Scrum Artifacts

Utilizing the scrum framework will undoubtedly prove to be more efficient for your product. At Tara, we recognize the value of these scrum artifacts, allowing us to use the framework to its fullest extent, expediting the workflow and creating a better product in less time.

Have your own tips to add to our list? Have you used this blog to implement the tips already? Share with us in the comments below - we’d love to hear how it worked out!

How to Exercise the 5 Scrum Values on Your Scrum Team

Tara.AI — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 17:01:19 +0000

The Scrum Values are the human components of Scrum. When exercised by members of the Scrum Team, better products are released because team members are more creative, productive, and empathetic. Without the Scrum Values, the Scrum Framework could be used to deliver complex products at all costs—without regard to the wellbeing of the Scrum Team.

In this post, we want to explore the meaning of each value in more detail and ways for you to exercise these five values. These five values have helped our product team create structure in our weekly releases, as a distributed team, and will help yours achieve the full potential of Scrum. Let's dive in!

How to Exercise the 5 Scrum Values

Commitment

“People personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.” - The Scrum Guide

Because Scrum Teams are self-organizing, everyone on the team—the Product Owner, Developer Team, and Scrum Master—must exercise a high degree of responsibility. This degree of responsibility is referred to as Commitment in the Scrum Values.

Responsibility doesn’t hold the same weight as Commitment. The former does not involve a pledge; the latter does. This is important when you are working as a team. The pledge is what motivates each team member to remain responsible throughout a Sprint and produce incremental deliveries of a “Done” product.

At Tara, we show our commitment by doing the daily standup for 15 minutes every morning. Each team member will specify what they have accomplished yesterday and today so that everyone can gain visibility into their teammates’ progress. This not only aligns the team towards the sprint goal but it also encourages each team member to commit to what they’ll deliver in the next 24 hours.

Courage

“The Scrum Team members have courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems.” - The Scrum Guide

Scrum is a framework for addressing complex problems that often present people with a choice: do the easy thing, or do the right thing. By exercising the value of Courage, each team member commits to do the right thing. Sometimes this can mean being open and vulnerable about the challenges you are facing.

Focus

“Everyone focuses on the work of the Sprint and the goals of the Scrum Team.” - The Scrum Guide

In pragmatic terms, Focus and Commitment are what move a sprint forward. The other three values are vital but they are more soulful than pragmatic. When team members commit to Focus on the Sprint, a “Done” product is more likely to be delivered on time.

The Product Owner focuses on maximizing the value of the product; the Development Team focuses on delivering a potentially releasable Increment of "Done" product at the end of each Sprint; and the Scrum Master focuses on promoting and supporting Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide.

At Tara, we run simultaneous sprints across all teams in a remote environment to help instill priority and focus on execution. By tracking daily priorities and development progress via an ultra-focused dashboard, our team has very little difficulty moving to a remote organization and shipping product with limited disruption.

Openness

“The Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.” - The Scrum Guide

Transparency has become a buzzword in the world of startups and business culture, but Openness is not a buzzword or a trend; it’s a vital human component of Scrum. It’s what brings a Scrum Team together and what motivates individual team members to complete items they’ve committed to in the Product Backlog.

In traditional project management, the status quo is that engineers spend precious time wading through tickets while EMs and PMs continue to lack visibility at the release level. At Tara, as Git data is connected to tasks and to sprints, teams outside of product, such as sales and marketing, can have direct insight into when releases are happening. Total transparency is key to development success!

Respect

“Scrum Team members respect each other to be capable, independent people.” - The Scrum Guide

Respect is a value that makes Scrum timeless and boundless. Regardless of the biases and political climate in the world at any given moment, members of the Scrum Team continue to treat one another—and themselves—with respect.

It seems like this value is the most important, or the anchoring value of Scrum. Without respect and the kindness that comes from respect, what’s the point of building great products? Respect creates a strong foundation for great products to rest on. It also makes the experience of building great products a positive one.

Which Scrum Values Are You Exercising?

Remember that, like Scrum itself, exercising the values is an adaptive process. These are not set in stone and should be adapted based on each team’s goals and needs. Any framework is meant to provide guidance and a starting point; there is no one-size-fits-all model.

Is your team currently exercising the five scrum values outlined above? Which ones are you successfully exercising and which ones can you improve on? Leave your comments below or shoot us a tweet @taradotai !

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