If the waterfall project management method seems so logical to us, it’s because we use it every day. It allows us to plan our holidays, trips or hobbies, to build an Excel file corresponds to a need. The disadvantage of a waterfall is that it leaves no room for the unexpected if the client’s request is modified; the whole organization must be reviewed and may lead to budget overruns and delays in delivery.
An agile approach from the CSM Certification, such as the scrum methodology, will provide flexibility in relation to a waterfall project management and above. The objective set, instead of being long-term, will be achieved in a much shorter time.
The Reasons to use Scrum than waterfall
- Scrum Improves Employee Satisfaction And Engagement.
One of the key principles of Scrum is that the company gives the Scrum team the authority to do the work. In essence, the Scrum team becomes an autonomous entity within the company. This is an act of tremendous power that most teams enjoy.
This, together with the higher likelihood of satisfied customers and the ability to produce quality products in a short time, makes the workforce much happier. For example, in daily stand-up mode, team members inform the rest of the team about what they will do. This law encourages team members to honor their mutual obligations.
- Scrum Reduces The Time It Takes To Bring The Product To Market.
Scrum actively avoids this problem by requiring that the most important functions are executed in advance and less desirable functions are moved down the to-do list. In all likelihood, many of the less desirable features will never be implemented, and that’s a very good thing. Why waste time and effort with waterfall?
Scrum also requires that a potentially soluble product be made every 2 to 4 weeks. The customer may decide to launch the product if he so wishes. Depending on the requirement, this can be done sooner than originally planned.
- Scrum Produces Higher Quality Products.
Before a Scrum team starts working, they agree on a definition of what done implies. It is an important element and covers the acceptable quality for the team. Only the work that corresponds to this fact definition will be reported to the client. When a feature is displayed in Sprint Verification, it’s not only complete but fully tested.
Compared to traditional software development, the massive improvement is that quality is integrated in advance and is not addressed at the end of a project, where it’s often shortened to meet a delivery date.
- Dedicated And Multifunctional Team.
Are you always busy with the same technical tasks? (For instance, back-end developments, the front-end development, the database only, et cetera). And again, are you working on manifold projects simultaneously? Do you sometimes lose focus and need to change the context to integrate your work with people who work in other teams?
A good Scrum team is built on a long-term basis; Product accumulation may change after the end of a project, but the team remains stable and moves on to the next project.
- A Sustainable Rhythm No Overtime!
Does your team usually work overtime? And if so, why? Well, the answer is probably because there are fixed deadlines that must be met. But is that really a proper way to work? (Note: is not it). Scrum follows the principle of the Agile Manifesto in a sustainable rhythm: Agile processes promote sustainable development.
The sponsors, developers, and users must be able to maintain a constant rhythm indefinitely. The thought behind this very principle is never that agile persons are truly lazy. It’s about creating visibility in the medium and long term.
- Self-Observation: The Art Of Improvement.
Scrum is organizing a ceremony to find out what actually went wrong all through iteration as well as to look for probable enhancements. The Scrum Master is truly in charge of creating an inviting and unobtrusive environment where team members can share opinions. This meeting is crucial for the team and requires the preparatory work of the Scrum Masters.
The Scrum Master should bring two aspects into a retrospective: a plan and a toolbox. Depending on what the team expresses during this meeting, Scrum Master may need to adjust their plan.
- Communication
For reasons of transparency, speak a common language and focus on face-to-face communication to ensure an efficient exchange. The Scrum team and stakeholders should share a ubiquitous language about the business and process to better understand all the visual tools and the outcome of the sprint.
Promote enriched and clear discussions about quality standards. In this way, specifications, designs, and architectures can easily emerge from the Scrum team.
- Lowering Production Costs.
The use of Scrum in development can lead to a reduction in production costs. The cost of the product is mainly determined by the time and effort of the new versions.
In Scrum, storytelling can be used to gauge the complexity of a task. Complexity correlates strongly with the cost of production. The history of each task gives you the ability to better calculate the very cost of developing new functionality and enables managers to handle tasks based on the task complexity.
- Scrum Is About People
This quote is actually the first statement and the first value of the manifesto for agile software development. In any case, Scrum is all about the people as well as the very way in which they work together. Scrum concentrates on team members and even their communications; this is within the team and also within the organization.
- Scrum Teams Have All The Skills Needed To Do The Job.
Most of the companies I know have separate departments for software development, infrastructure, business analysis, and project management. Often, each of these departments has a different manager who makes competitive demands on their resources.
The bottom line is that you often do not get any technical resources when you need them, and it’s almost impossible to get them in a short amount of time. Scrum solves this problem by having a Scrum team manage itself and have all the technical skills needed to do the job.
Finally, adopting an agile method like scrum rather than a waterfall project management will bring flexibility, which is especially necessary to take into account the growing complexity of the requested applications. Continuous testing and short goals will improve end quality and increase team productivity. In the end, the project will take less time, and its budget will be better controlled.
