{"id":4250192,"date":"2016-02-21T15:31:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-21T13:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/insight\/why-depts-dos-team-is-moving-to-a-scrum-process-framework\/"},"modified":"2016-02-21T15:31:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-21T13:31:00","slug":"why-depts-dos-team-is-moving-to-a-scrum-process-framework","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.deptagency.com\/en-nl\/insight\/why-depts-dos-team-is-moving-to-a-scrum-process-framework\/","title":{"rendered":"Why DEPT\u00ae’s DOS team is moving to a Scrum process framework"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\n\t<\/svg>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tBack to all articles\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n<\/button>\n\t\tWhy DEPT\u00ae’s DOS team is moving to a Scrum process framework\t<\/h1>
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\n\t\tJonathan Whiteside\t\t
\n\t\tGlobal EVP Technology\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t21 February 2016\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\t\tI recently became a certified Scrum Master, to enable me to implement the methodology with DEPT\u00ae\u2019s Digital Operations Services (DOS) team.\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\t\u201cWhat\u2019s Scrum<\/em>,\u201d I hear you ask. \u201cIs it the new buzzword in delivery and management? Is it just another word for Agile Management?<\/em>\u201d

Well, no and no!\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWhat is Scrum?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tScrum has been around since the early 1990s. It\u2019s a process framework based on empiricism, which employs an iterative, incremental approach to optimise predictability and control risk.

The Scrum process drills down through complexity to centre on building a product that meets business needs. The team and stakeholders work to formulate and assess requirements to deliver a working product incrementally. The team self-organises to deliver the prioritised cases in the sprint in the most efficient way.

The flexible and holistic nature of Scrum methodology enables\u00a0a group to tackle problems and deliver products and changes of high business value.

Scrum Agile focuses on regular and clear communications, working products, collaboration and responsiveness to change. This means it\u2019s perfect for our Digital Operations Services (DOS) team, who are tasked with delivering improvements, fixes and changes to our clients\u2019 websites.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWhy is Scrum right for DEPT\u00ae’s DOS team?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tDEPT\u00ae\u2019s DOS team ensures our clients\u2019 sites are always live (that is our utmost priority), whilst tackling problems and changes to help them maximise the benefits from their digital estate. We always work closely and collaboratively with our clients to ensure the work we deliver is in-line with their business goals.

Pre-Scrum, the DOS team would\u00a0accept bugs and changes without much detail, and it sometimes felt like the ROI on the work being delivered wasn\u2019t as impactful as it could be. There weren\u2019t set delivery dates so, occasionally, there were bottlenecks when clients weren\u2019t available to test the releases we were making, leading to delays in delivery.

These were key areas I wanted to change within DOS to make the work more efficient and effective, whilst ensuring that we help our clients to provide ROI on their digital estates in a rapid and meaningful way.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tThe three scrum personas\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tThere are three key personas in the Scrum team \u2013 Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the Scrum Team.

At DEPT\u00ae, these are usually:\t<\/p>\n\n
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  • Product Owner \u00a0\u2013 the individual responsible for the site on the client side<\/li>
  • Scrum Master \u2013 me!<\/li>
  • Scrum Team \u2013 the DOS team<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\t\tThere is a product backlog made up of stories added by the Product Owner (PO), and they prioritise and maintain the backlog. The PO bridges the gap between their company stakeholders (of which there will usually be many), and translates their requests into requirements and acceptance criteria.

    The Scrum Master ensures that everyone follows the rules and practices under the Scrum Framework. They facilitate daily meetings, aid the PO in preparing for meetings, and support the team in removing impediments and restrictions.

    The Scrum Master and\u00a0Scrum Team have daily stand-up meetings to provide updates on what has been achieved in the last 24 hours, what they plan to work on in the next 24 hours, and any obstacles that will stop them completing the work.

    The Scrum Team own the sprint backlog, decide what they can deliver and when, and break down the stories into tasks with the Product Owner, making it an efficient and collaborative relationship.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWhat’s a story?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tProduct Owners are responsible for writing the \u2018User Story\u2019 \u2013 this is information which captures the description of a feature or fix a stakeholder requires, acceptance criteria and the reason for the request. Stories are a good way to get stakeholders to really think about their request \u2013 \u00a0why they want it, and exactly what it is.

    There are also \u2018Epic User Stories\u2019 \u2013 these are large pieces of work that will need to be broken down into smaller user stories before they can be delivered in a sprint. It covers the who, the what and the why, and will also include acceptance criteria, for example:\t<\/p>\n\n
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    • Who: \u00a0I am a site user who is looking to find where to contact customer services.<\/li>
    • What:\u00a0I want to be able to find the details quickly.<\/li>
    • Why:\u00a0So that I can contact them about my query without frustration.<\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\t\tThe User Stories are then passed to the Scrum team to estimate them.
      \t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tWhat’s a sprint?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tA sprint is a set length of time in which the Scrum Team agree they will deliver a number of stories, to provide a product to the \u00a0PO. This is recommended to be anywhere between two weeks to a month.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tI\u2019m pretty sure that if you were to ask a team what they define as \u2018done\u2019, you\u2019d get a load of different answers.\u00a0*Cue my opportunity for a quick Scrum joke\u2026*

      Knock Knock.<\/strong>

      Who\u2019s there?<\/em>

      Done.<\/strong>

      Done who?<\/em>

      Depends on who you ask.<\/strong>

      Within DOS and under the Scrum Framework, \u2018done\u2019 means that the work is completed with developer testing, fully commented, and documented with a deployment plan.

      Once the sprint is completed (and done!) the team confirm the stories that have been completed.

      The Product Owner and stakeholders review the work and feed back. Of course, they will have ideas and comments, and this will help inform the next sprint of incremental changes to complete.

      At the end of this review, the Product Owner will confirm that the sprint is ready for release, and this will go live across the site. And then the cycle will start again.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tHow are we approaching the move to Scrum?\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tIn one word \u2013 tentatively. \u00a0Scrum principles and processes are easy to learn about, \u00a0but are a lot harder to implement. Whilst we have been using some aspects of the processes already, such as daily stand ups and time boxed sprints, we\u2019ll be focusing these on Scrum principles further.

      Firstly, we\u2019ll be looking to work with our clients on the benefits of Scrum for delivery, and work with the stakeholders writing up Stories. We\u2019ll then gradually bring in different estimation techniques for these and, after a period of time, move to a full Scrum Framework.\t<\/p>\n\n\n\t\tContinuous improvement\t<\/h2>\n\n\n\t\tThe team will complete a retrospective on what went well, but also what we could improve. For example, did we have a bottleneck in QA? Was the acceptance criteria not completely clear (and not questioned), leading to mixed feedback? The team will review this and adapt for the next cycle. We take every sprint as a learning experience, and always seek to continually improve.

      Moving to Scrum will be a learning curve for our team, but one that we are all keen to do \u2013 we\u2019ll keep you posted on the lessons learnt!\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t