Scrum Master in Action: A Case Study of Collaboration on a Student Project
Hi! This time I want to share my experience as a scrum master on a development project!
As a computer science student, every term I always do some project on coursework, and finally, in my third year, I got a role. For the past semester, I have learned a few programming languages such as Python, Java, SQL, and other supporting programming languages. This course, Information Systems Development Project, is let us work on a real project with a client where we will provide their business process problem with solution. Finally, for this coursework, I got a chance to be a scrum master!
Scrum is a framework for effective team collaboration on products. Its iterative approach makes Scrum adaptive to changes. Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems (Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, The 2020 Scrum Guide).
As a Scrum master, we help the team so the collaboration becomes effective and the project keeps on track with the framework. Scrum master work as process management, facilitator, coach, obstacle remover, or someone who brings change. Scrum master as a facilitator is facilitate team by make an action or process easy or easier so the development team and product owner have a good collaboration on develop the product.
What did I do as a scrum master?
Sprint Planning
On Sprint Planning we define goals, plan, and share the same understanding about the product so the development can be effective. We can define requirements with user story format to represent Product Backlog Item (PBI) on every sprint. User stories can be written with different detail levels. To define it we use this user story format:
We also define how long we need on every sprint. Normally, it will go with 2 weeks or 10 work days for a sprint, but on this project, we followed the coursework timeline. After defining the user story we will define the story point. There is a few techniques to define the story point, for example, Fibonacci number and Scrum Poker. For this project, I use the Fibonacci number (access here for more details) to define the user story. After all the backlogs are defined, we part the backlogs for every sprint based on team capability. For the project, we will have 3 sprints for the entire backlog
Daily Scrum
After all is defined, we can start the development process based on PBI on a sprint. To make sure the development keeps on track, we need to do daily scrum. Every team member shares about their progress, plan, and blockers on their backlogs. The daily scrum is just running for 15 minutes every daily scrum. Why just 15 minutes? it is to keep the communication effective!
I used Trello as our dashboard to track the progress of every team member on a daily scrum. On every card, there is a detailed user story. This is an example of one of the backlog card
Sprint Review
Finally, the development process ends! After do daily scrum and the development process done we will do a sprint review. We will do a demo or run-through of all backlogs on the sprint with all stakeholders to get feedback. The feedback can be implemented on the next sprint (but adjusted to the other existing backlogs on the next sprint).
Sprint Retrospective
Usually, we do the sprint retrospective along with the sprint review. After doing the demo, we will reflect on what has been done during the sprint and make a maintenance plan so the sprint will be better next time. The Scrum team will discuss what went well, what problems were encountered, and how those problems will or were solved.
This cycle keeps running until the last sprint and the product successes develop. Sometimes becoming a Scrum Master sounds ‘so easy’ when it is not. Sometimes, when we do a development process there is problems like, unclear, wasting time, lack of focus, uncomfortable expressing opinions, decisions made unilaterally, or dominant participants. Scrum master facilitates the meeting (acting as the meeting moderator), team decision-making (not making decisions but facilitating the decision-making process based on consensus), and individual capacity development within the team (assisting the team and its individuals to grow). That's why we need Scrum Master, it keeps the collaboration progress on track.
For me, it’s challenging, but I’m excited to do it. Ever since the last project or organization I did, I’ve become someone who is in charge of team management and collaboration. So when I take on this role, it keeps me passionate. While there were certainly hurdles along the way, seeing my team work together effectively and deliver a successful product was incredibly motivating. If you’re interested in learning more about Scrum or agile development in general, let’s discuss! 🚀🚀
#ScrumMaster #TeamCollaboration #ContinuousImprovement
