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Applying Agile 0x0002

Epic: the broad framework Story: [As: who, I want: what is needed, So That: what it will be used for] Subtask: divide the story according to how it will be carried out

Requirements​

  • The Scrum Master must make every effort to build trust between developers, between developers and planners, and between planners and business stakeholders. To that end, developers actively participated in estimating schedules and establishing execution plans.
  • The management team did not make decisions unilaterally.
  • Developers did their best to meet the schedules they had committed to themselves.
  • Because developers completed work by the promised deadlines, planners came to trust the developers, and key stakeholders came to trust the planners.

Planning process​

  • Developers should be creators who use inventive ideas to improve the process's speed and quality.
  • We reviewed ideas together through Pros/Cons analysis. This took place when discussing execution plans and breaking down tasks in the planning meeting.
  • For example, every developer participated in Pros/Cons analysis and offered opinions when choosing a database framework or defining a data schema.

Why / What / How / When​

  • In planning meetings and backlog grooming, planners explained "What To Do" and "Why To Do It" to developers.
  • This was the process through which developers understood the importance of a user story (requirement).
  • In the planning meeting, developers told planners "How To Do It" and "When It Will Be Done." This communicated how much time was needed to implement the user story (complexity estimation), and the planner adjusted priorities after analyzing cost effectiveness.
  • Based on priorities mutually agreed by planners and developers, developers announced which user stories (requirements) they would complete in the sprint and decided how to implement them. This was the task-breakdown process.

Self-Management & Self-Development​

This is possible when the team has excellent team spirit. In that case, the team leader can guide the team to carry out Scrum activities while pursuing autonomous management and development for both the members and the leader.

Planning Meeting​

  • It is generally divided into phases 1 and 2.
  • Planning Meeting 1: the planner explains the user stories and epics in the product backlog to developers.
  • Planning Meeting 2: developers select user stories and break down tasks.
  • When needed, hold a backlog-grooming meeting in which the planner explains higher-level user stories and epics in detail, allowing development to begin from a shared understanding.
  • Lower-level user stories are also explained during the daily stand-up meeting, as long as the meeting does not exceed 30 minutes.
  • The way requirements are carried out, including models such as King and Servant, appears to require further consideration.

Daily Stand-up Meeting​

  • The Scrum Master has a very important responsibility here.
  • They must update team members' progress, establish the team's operating model, and build relationships.
  • A new team must discover for itself how to collaborate and mature.
  • The leader is not a commander issuing top-down orders, but someone who uses suggestions and advice to help team members discover their own operating model.
  • Remember that the first two months will be chaotic and disorganized. LINE went through it as well.

Live Demo​

  • At the end of every sprint, use a live demo to explain user stories from the user's perspective to planners and key stakeholders.
  • This activity is important for improving developers' skills and capabilities.
  • It also helps build trust between planners and developers, because planners can understand why development required more time than they had expected.

Retrospective

  • This is an important activity for building a team capable of autonomous management and development.
  • It identifies key areas for improvement.
  • The goal is not to correct every problem, but to improve ourselves a little every day.
  • During the first few sprints, the focus is on improving the co-development process.
  • These are essential improvements for the Scrum team to establish a mature system-development model.
  • Team members discuss what went well, what needs improvement, and whom they would like to thank.
  • Finally, under the Scrum Master's guidance, members choose one or two key improvements to work on in the next sprint.
  • The Scrum Master reminds the team of them and reviews the results in the next retrospective.