Businesses continue to adopt agile principles and practices in projects because of the benefits they provide such as transparency, flexibility, and early and reliable delivery. Agile started being used in software development to address the longstanding problems unsolved by using traditional approaches.
To provide more specific structure to agile principles, several methodologies were developed, the leader being Scrum. The Scrum methodology enables teams to react quicker and respond more accurately to change. Its practices guide teams to stay focused and effectively collaborate and communicate.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is an agile approach to managing projects. It is used mainly in software development projects, but teams are now adopting Scrum for other types of projects. Unlike other project management methodologies, the Scrum approach is focused on managing the process, and is therefore better described as a framework rather than a methodology. Scrum supports self-organizing teams and allows them to solve problems the best way they know how rather than follow a step-by-step standard method.
In Scrum, there are only two specific roles in the team. They are the product owner who represents the business, customers, and users, and the ScrumMaster, who coaches the team how to effectively use the Scrum process. Scrum teams plan and work in sprints‚ defined time ranging from two weeks to one month, accomplish a prioritized task list called a sprint backlog. The team holds a daily Scrum meeting where each member shares yesterday’s work, what they will work on next, and any issues that may prevent their work.
At the end of the sprint, one or several features are built into the working software. Also, a sprint review or retrospective is held where the new functionality is demonstrated to the product owner. Feedback is taken to be part of the next sprint planning session.
Scrum software features
Scrum software is project management software that allows teams to complete projects in sprints. It supports practices that are specific to Scrum, such as having a collaboration tool to hold daily Scrum meetings, whether face-to-face or remotely. It includes a feature for a product owner to easily list and prioritize the order of tasks in a backlog. Scrum tools allow teams to work on big and complex projects through small iterations. It includes features to track the status and progress of tasks, accept and accommodate change requests, and capture team performance metrics.
Best Scrum software and tools
We recommend the following project management and Scrum software to help you manage and track your sprints. We based our selection on multiple site reviews, customer feedback, development updates, support, and market ranking.
