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3.4 Agile project management 73

Assess Select
Outline Planning
and Architectural Project Closure
Design
Review Develop
Figure 3.8 The Scrum
process Sprint Cycle

This is followed by a series of sprint cycles, where each cycle develops an increment
of the system. Finally, the project closure phase wraps up the project, completes
required documentation such as system help frames and user manuals, and assesses
the lessons learned from the project.
The innovative feature of Scrum is its central phase, namely the sprint cycles.
A Scrum sprint is a planning unit in which the work to be done is assessed, features
are selected for development, and the software is implemented. At the end of a
sprint, the completed functionality is delivered to stakeholders. Key characteristics
of this process are as follows:

1. Sprints are fixed length, normally 2–4 weeks. They correspond to the develop-
ment of a release of the system in XP.
2. The starting point for planning is the product backlog, which is the list of work
to be done on the project. During the assessment phase of the sprint, this is
reviewed, and priorities and risks are assigned. The customer is closely involved
in this process and can introduce new requirements or tasks at the beginning of
each sprint.

3. The selection phase involves all of the project team who work with the customer
to select the features and functionality to be developed during the sprint.
4. Once these are agreed, the team organizes themselves to develop the software.
Short daily meetings involving all team members are held to review progress
and if necessary, reprioritize work. During this stage the team is isolated from
the customer and the organization, with all communications channelled through
the so-called ‘Scrum master’. The role of the Scrum master is to protect the
development team from external distractions. The way in which the work is
done depends on the problem and the team. Unlike XP, Scrum does not make
specific suggestions on how to write requirements, test-first development, etc.
However, these XP practices can be used if the team thinks they are appropriate.
5. At the end of the sprint, the work done is reviewed and presented to stakeholders.
The next sprint cycle then begins.

The idea behind Scrum is that the whole team should be empowered to make
decisions so the term ‘project manager’, has been deliberately avoided. Rather, the