Created: 19 September 2021

Important events and roles in Scrum

Scrum is a very common framework used to facilitate project management. Let's go through it step by step.

Keyword(s): scrum

What is Scrum?

Scrum is often referred to as "methodology", but that is not the right way to define it. Scrum is not a methodology, it is a framework that is used in an Agile project management methodology, usually in software development. The Scrum development team is responsible for organizing all tasks so that they are completed efficiently and on time. It is also in their hands to solve any problems that arise while working on product development. 

Scrum Events

Scrum Teams work in sprints. Each sprint consists of different events such as meeting scheduling, sprint reviews, daily standups, etc. Let's take a closer look at some important scrum timeline concepts:

Sprint

A sprint is a time-limited plan to complete a specific part of the development process within a specific time frame. The sprint duration is estimated from a week to a month.

Sprint planning meeting

A sprint planning meeting is a time when the entire team, including both the Scrum Master and Scrum Product Manager, discuss and plan which elements of the backlog will be done in the next sprint.

Planning the meeting (Scrum Master/Product Owner)

Before the meeting, the Scrum Master and the product owner review the team's capabilities and fine-tune the overall project schedule. They also check the backlog, which is all the tasks that need to be done during the project. The backlog will later be reviewed by the team in a sprint planning meeting while they consider what needs to be done next to keep the project on track. All tasks that cannot be completed in a sprint can be moved to the "backlog" and the team will come back to them in the next sprint.

Daily stand-up

The daily stand-up is a short meeting that takes place every day, often limited to as little as five or fifteen minutes, and is a time when the team can quickly discuss all matters.

Sprint Review

When the Sprint ends, the Sprint Review takes place. This is the time when the team shares all the work done and discusses it along with an analysis of all the problems and ways to solve them and what the end result is.

Sprint Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective takes place after each sprint. It is an in-depth analysis of just completed sprint and the opportunity to make improvements to the upcoming sprint.

Scrum Roles

Product Owner

Who is Scrum Product Owner? The simplest answer is: it is a project stakeholder. Their responsibilities include having a vision of what the team is currently working on and what they want to do, and communicating that vision to the scrum team. 

In addition, the Product Owner is responsible for organizing the product backlog and agreeing with the team how much work the team can do in the upcoming sprint during the sprint planning meeting.

The work of a Scrum Product Owner is also about motivating the team and being there when inconveniences occur, therefore this role requires certain skills, such as resourcefulness, good communication and good organization. Accessibility is a very important part of this role. Scrum Product Owner must be present for the team and be committed to the product, which means that the person in this position should be able to get involved in building the product with his team. Perfect Product Owner is committed and engages his team in the product that they are building together.

Scrum Master

To define the role of the Scrum Master, it's safe to say that he is a coach for the rest of the team. Process and tool management can overload the scrum team, which has led them to often rely on the scrum master as he would own not only the product but all the processes.

Main responsibilities of the Scrum Master are:

1. Facilitate daily standups

2. Control sprint planning meetings

3. Participate in sprint reviews

4. Note improvement propositions on sprint retrospectives

5. Administrate the "scrum board" - by making sure that everything is up to date according to scrum tools, like Jira software. 

6. Host 1:1 meetings with other team members. 

7. Report regularly - keeping anysis and planning tools up to date

Development Team

The team structure varies depending on the company and needs, among the people assigned to the development team we can distinguish:

Front-End Developer

Front-End Developer makes sure that the components that are visible when a user logs in to our website work properly and that they can easily interact with it.

Back-End Developer

Back-End Developer In contrast to the front-end, he takes care of everything thathappens "behind the scenes", he is behind building the technology that powers every traffic on the site.

QA Engineer

QA engineer cares about quality assurance. They focus on controlling the work of other members of the development team. Typical tasks of a QA Engineer are:

1. Checking if the product complies with the requirements

2. Assessing potential risks

3. Planning a product quality improvement strategy

4. Test planning and delivery

5. Analysis of test results

Tester

A tester is a person who performs software tests looking for bugs, errors, or other issues that may affect the performance of the software.

UI Designer 

UI Designer is responsible for designing application or website screens in order to create the easiest path for the user. They also create visual elements on which the user will navigate.

UX Designer

UX Designer analyzes all aspects of the product that will have an impact on the overall user experience. They focus on design, usability and functionality. Their work is very important because they are responsible for the entire journey that the user will experience when interacting with the product.

Each team member brings in pieces of their work and puts them together into one efficient product.

Scrum is a framework that facilitates the work of many teams on a daily basis. Check out our Scrum courses and master your scrum skills.