Scrum: A funny word for a great process

An important part of Agile is scrum, a project management process that helps us work more efficiently and be highly responsive to changing production requirements. Scrum, derived from the name of a rugby play in which the forwards fight for the ball, is a highly iterative process that breaks work down into a series of week-long sprints. Everyone works together, and higher priority work is completed first.

1. Project kickoff: During this time, the Headspring Systems team internalizes the vision and goals of the system. We learn as much as we can about the client's domain, helping to develop viable solutions that will be less costly to implement.
2. Sprint planning: Team leaders break work into stories, small projects that can be completed in short periods of time. Stories are prioritized and organized into one-week sprints, the culmination of which is a new release.
3. Weekly sprints: Each week, team members commit to finishing a pre-determined number of stories. Each day starts with a short stand-up meeting called "the daily scrum" during which each team member reports on progress, planned work and roadblocks.
4. Sprint demonstration: At the end of each weekly sprint, the scrum team will demonstrate the completed work and receive valuable feedback from the project owner.
5. Sprint retrospective: The team discusses both good and bad feedback and incorporates needed changes into the story backlog.

The Agile Advantage

• Less risk
  • More frequent releases
  • Better requirements
    (since decisions are made as late as possible)
• Better communication
  • Team co-location
  • Emphasis on face-to-face communication
  • Informative, open workspace
  • Daily standup meeting
  • Weekly sprint review
  • Weekly sprint retrospective
• Less waste
  • Optimized team performance
  • Less time spent on documentation

You'll be amazed at what we can do in two weeks.
Call us at 1-877-459-2260.