Agile delivery using Scrum

We have adopted Scrum, having used a mix of project management approaches. Scrum replaces traditional staged development with Sprints and Scrum events.

Sprint

A fixed-length period to complete small increments of working software.

Manage each Sprint with these Scrum events:

Planning

Decide what work needs to be done.

Daily Scrum

Review progress and address impediments.

Review

Assess what has been achieved and gather feedback.

Retrospective

Reflect on the Sprint discuss areas for improvement.

Practical tips

Continually refine requirements to make planning meetings easier!

Cross-functional Scrum Teams

Scrum replaces technical silos with cross-functional teams. It identifies 3 roles --

Product Owner

Represents stakeholders and users.
Defines, prioritises and refines backlog items.
Works with the team to negotiate work during Sprint planning.
Often a Clinician but can also be a Product Specialist or Business Analyst.

Scrum Master

Coaches and supports the Scrum team, helping them improve processes.
Facilitates Scrum events and removes impediments.
Often a Software developer but can be anyone with strong facilitation and coaching skills.

Scrum Team

Collaborates to negotiate work at Sprint planning.
Delivers the work, ensuring it meets the acceptance criteria.
Includes everyone needed to create the product

Practical tips

Scrum is reliant on having people committed to carrying out its 3 key roles!

Agile practices for requirements gathering

Scrum teams capture requirements in User Stories. But in some cases, a formal Software Requirements Specification may still be necessary.

User Story

A brief description of a need, told from a user's perspective. With acceptance criteria written in Gherkin syntax to define 'done.'

Practical tips

Ensure everyone understands the work involved.
Consider hidden tasks to manage technical debt.
Share common criteria in a Definition of Done, published to your Kanban board.

Agile planning with Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps supports agile planning from backlog management to sprint execution:

Agile process template

Provides essential work items like User Stories, Tasks, Bugs, and Test Scripts to support your agile workflow.

Boards

Kanban boards: Visualise and manage requirements across all stages, independent of sprint cycles.

Task Boards: Track the status of tasks and their progress during sprints.

Dashboard

Create customised dashboards to track key metrics such as test results, build quality, code coverage, and sprint burndown. This helps you monitor overall project health and progress.