Scrum agile

SCRUM increases ROI

One of the key characteristics of any project is the uncertainty of results or outcomes. It is impossible to guarantee project success at completion, irrespective of the size or complexity of a project. Considering this uncertainty of achieving success, it is therefore important to start delivering results as early in the project as possible. This early delivery of results, and thereby value, provides an opportunity for reinvestment and proves the worth of the project to interested stakeholders. It is important to:

• Understand what adds value to customers and users and to prioritise the high value requirements on the top of the Prioritised Product Backlog.
• Decrease uncertainty and constantly address risks that can potentially decrease value if they materialize. Also work closely with project stakeholders showing them product increments at the end of each Sprint, enabling effective management of changes.
• Create Deliverables based on the priorities determined by producing potentially shippable product increments during each Sprint so that customers start realising value early on in the project.

In Scrum projects, User Stories are ranked in order of priority which is an effective method for determining the desired User Stories for each iteration or release of the product or service. The purpose is to create a simple, single list with the goal of prioritising features, rather than being distracted by multiple prioritisation schemes.

This simple list also provides a basis for incorporating changes and identified risks when necessary. Each change or identified risk can be inserted in the list based on its priority relative to the other User Stories in the list. Typically, new changes will be included at the expense of features that have been assigned a lower priority.

Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) are also defined, so that the first release or iteration happens as early as possible, leading to increased ROI.

SCRUM Vs Traditional PM

Traditional project management emphasises on conducting detailed upfront planning for the project with emphasis on fixing the scope, cost and schedule - and managing those parameters. Whereas, Scrum encourages data-based, iterative decision making in which the primary focus is on delivering products that satisfy customer requirements.

To deliver the greatest amount of value in the shortest amount of time, Scrum promotes prioritisation and Time-boxing over fixing the scope, cost and schedule of a project. An important feature of Scrum is self-organisation, which allows the individuals who are actually doing the work to estimate and take ownership of tasks.

Following table summarises many of the differences between Scrum and traditional project management:

Parameters	Scrum	Traditional Project Management
Emphasis is on	People	Processes
Documentation	Minimal - only as required	Comprehensive
Process style	Iterative	Linear
Upfront planning	Low	High
Prioritisation of Requirements	Based on business value and regularly updated	Fixed in the Project Plan
Quality assurance	Customer centric	Process centric
Organisation	Self-organized	Managed
Management style	Decentralized	Centralized
Change	Updates to Productised Product Backlog	Formal Change Management System
Leadership	Collaborative, Servant Leadership	Command and control
Performance measurement	Business value	Plan conformity
Return on Investment	Early/throughout project life	End of project life
Customer involvement	High throughout the project	Varies depending on the project lifecycle

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