In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, traditional project management frameworks often struggle to keep up with the dynamic needs of companies. Enter the Agile methodology – a revolutionary framework that has transformed project management practices and empowered teams to thrive in this fast-paced environment.

What is Agile methodology?

The Agile methodology is a project management framework that promotes constant collaboration between team members and product owners, fostering continuous improvement. In Agile, a project is broken down into several phases in which teams follow a cycle of planning, executing and evaluation. With its focus on flexibility, transparency, and continuous improvement, Agile has become a cornerstone methodology for a multitude of companies.

What type of Agile does e2y use and why?

There are various types of Agile, Kanban, Crystal, FDD (Feature Driven Development) etc., but at e2y, we follow the methodology of Scrum. Scrum, taken from the rugby concept of scrummage, is one of the most popular Agile frameworks and enables teams to deliver high-quality products efficiently. Scrum is a type of agile that focuses on breaking a project down into short iterations called Sprints, with two weeks being the most common duration.

This framework helps us to deliver high-quality products to our clients, as not only does it empower teams and improve productivity, but by delivering work at the end of each Sprint, it prevents us from building an end product that doesn’t meet our client’s expectations.

Benefits of Scrum:

Apart from the core benefits of Scrum, including adaptability and cost reduction, teams opt for Scrum for the following reasons:

  • Heightened control and reduced risks: In Scrum, with cycle times (Sprints) typically ranging from 2 weeks to a month, the Product Owner and stakeholders have multiple opportunities to communicate with the team, ensuring that all requirements are met. This enables the Scrum team to swiftly identify any risks or failures, allowing for a swift resolution. The shorter feedback loops in Scrum facilitate early detection of issues, leading to faster response times and reduced risks.
  • Faster time-to-market: By breaking the project into manageable parts, each Sprint allows the team to concentrate on one aspect at a time, fostering close collaboration, feedback, and quick decision-making. This streamlined communication helps ensure that the project stays on track, minimises delays, and enables faster delivery to the market.
  • Higher quality products: Continuous communication between stakeholders and the Scrum team is a crucial element of the Scrum framework as it enables frequent review and validation of each project stage, ensuring that it meets the needs of both the Product Owner and customers. Additionally, Scrum promotes regular or automated testing, facilitating early detection and resolution of bugs and defects. At e2y, one of our main principles is to deliver high-quality products and services, which we ensure by building reliable automated test suites, controlled and implemented in our CI/CD pipelines.
  • Enhanced customer satisfaction: Starting from the first Sprint and continuing throughout the project timeline, the customer is continuously interacting with the product, with feedback provided at each increment. As there is regular communication between the Scrum team and customers, this approach leads to an improved product, as nobody understands the customers’ needs better than the customers themselves.
Image by storyset on Freepik

How does Scrum work?

Understanding how Scrum operates is essential for teams looking to streamline their project management processes. Here we delve into the intricacies of Scrum methodology, beginning with Product Backlog refinement and progressing through Sprint Planning, Execution, and Review. Let’s unravel the inner workings of Scrum and its impact on project success.

  • Product Backlog refinement: Before the beginning of each Sprint, the Scrum team collaborates with the Product Owner to define and prioritise a product backlog, a list of all desired features, enhancements and bug fixes. At the start of each Sprint, the backlog is adjusted accordingly so the Scrum master (in our case the BA or PM) can refine the backlog.
  • Sprint Planning: Each Sprint starts with the Scrum team selecting a set of user stories based on their capabilities the Sprint capacity and the Sprint goal. These user stories have been refined and estimated previously by the team.
  • Sprint Execution: Following this, to stay organised and on track, the Scrum team holds a daily stand-up (a short meeting) where they discuss what was completed the day before, what will be completed on the current day, and any obstacles or issues.
  • Three Amigos: The objective of this meeting is to eliminate the gaps in understanding of the Business Specifications by the Three Amigos: the Business Analyst, Tester and Developer.
  • Estimation Sessions: Weekly sessions where user stories are estimated in terms of the degree of difficulty or complexity. At e2y, the tool we use to estimate this is Planning Poker.
  • Sprint Review: Each Sprint ends with a meeting (or demo) where the Scrum team presents the completed increment to stakeholders in order to receive feedback. Sometimes, the Product Backlog may be adjusted based on this feedback.
  • Sprint Release: After the Sprint Review, the Scrum team releases a set of product features or increments for UAT (User Acceptance Testing). During UAT, users or stakeholders test the functionality of the user stories and identify any bugs or issues that may need to be addressed. This allows for feedback and helps ensure that the product meets the desired requirements and quality standards.
  • Sprint Retrospective: Post the Sprint Release, the Scrum holds a meeting where they reflect on their performance, and discuss what went well and what could be different, helping them to determine how to implement those changes into the next Sprint.

How does e2y execute Scrum and why?

It’s important to note that although you may need to modify your agile framework to complement your business, it is essential to maintain the core values of the framework. At e2y, one of our main principles is to deliver high-quality products and services to our clients, a factor which Scrum facilitates.

As we are a distributed team in different parts of the world, we utilise Jira to run our Scrum framework. Jira is a critical tool for our project management, as not only does it facilitate collaboration and communication (a key element of Scrum), but it also gives us complete freedom to configure the app according to our needs and requirements.

Another tool we use to facilitate agile development is Jenkins, an open-source automation server for Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD).

An essential part of what makes e2y so unique is our focus on automated testing (a key element of the Agile methodology) as it allows us to work more effectively and efficiently, ensuring that we constantly deliver high-quality work. A typical Scrum team is normally composed of the Product Owner, Scrum Master and a group of developers, however at e2y we always ensure that the Scrum team is also assigned at least one QA.

Conclusion:

By embracing Agile, companies can adapt to changing requirements, foster effective teamwork, and deliver high-quality results that meet the ever-evolving needs of their clients. As businesses continue to navigate the rapidly evolving business landscape, Agile methodology stands as a powerful tool to drive innovation, enhance productivity, and achieve success.

Image by katemangostar on Freepik