Understanding the Scrum Life Cycle and Framework

In the fast-paced world of software engineering, the Scrum framework stands out as a powerful Agile methodology designed to promote teamwork, accountability, and continuous improvement. Through a structured life cycle, Scrum helps development teams deliver high-quality products in an iterative, time-boxed approach.

This article delves into the Scrum life cycle and framework, illustrating each stage and key roles with an easy-to-understand diagram. Whether you’re new to Agile methodologies or looking to deepen your understanding, this guide offers a comprehensive overview of how Scrum benefits by driving efficiency and quality in software projects.

Agile Scrum methodology, with its Scrum framework, iterative phases, and collaborative approach, has become a widely adopted and effective methodology for managing projects and developing products in various industries. Its emphasis on customer satisfaction, transparency, and continuous improvement makes it a valuable choice for teams seeking to adapt and thrive in today’s fast-paced and unpredictable business landscape.

Agile Scrum methodology is widely used in various industries and projects, including software development, product development, project management, research and development, marketing, and sales, etc.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is a framework for implementing Agile software product development/project management. It can also be applied to software maintenance projects. The idea behind Scrum is to divide the project into as many milestones as possible so that deliverables in incremental phases can be demonstrated to the customer much earlier. This way, feedback/problems/issues can be identified at the early stage of the project life cycle.

This short period of incremental phases in the Agile process is called a sprint. A sprint period is typically about 1 to 4 weeks. Usually, it is taken as 1 month, i.e., 4 weeks. But if the project is very small, it can be taken as 2 weeks to have more milestones in the entire duration, as well as to have the first milestone occur a little earlier.

Agile Scrum is an iterative and incremental approach to software development and project management. It emphasizes flexibility, adaptability, and customer collaboration throughout the development process. The methodology follows a framework called Scrum, which includes specific roles, processes, and ceremonies.

Principles Behind Agile Scrum Methodology

• Customer satisfaction through early and continuous delivery of valuable software in incremental phases.
• Welcome changes in requirements, even late in the project. The same needs to be mutually agreed upon by the customer and the Agile team. To avoid problems at the end of each sprint, the tasks derived from epics/user stories need to be communicated along with acceptance criteria to the customer at the start itself.
• Deliver working software frequently, with more milestones in the entire duration of the project.
• Create self-organizing teams by way of motivation and trust.
• Deliver software which passes the “Definition of Done.”
• The stakeholders, team, and end-users should be able to maintain a constant pace, i.e., their needs should be fulfilled or satisfied.
• Continuous attention to quality will enhance agility.

Scrum Life Cycle Phases

The Scrum development life cycle follows an iterative and incremental approach. The team goes through repeated cycles of planning, executing sprints, reviewing progress, and adapting the process based on feedback.

The Scrum framework consists of the following key components: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team, Product Backlog, and Sprint.

The following steps or phases are followed in Scrum-based Agile software development:

1. First, the high-level requirements are finalized based on the end-user’s perspective/opinions; hence, it is called user stories. These user stories are broken up into tasks until we can’t break them down further. This is created in a document called the product backlog by the Product Owner in association with the customer. All the stories/tasks are prioritized.

2. These tasks, after prioritization, are divided into sprints. Each sprint will contain a set of tasks. This is done in sprint planning. The document created is called the sprint backlog. The entire responsibility for the sprint backlog lies with the Scrum team.

3. Now, the Sprint process will come into the execution phase, wherein the Scrum team will mainly do development/testing activities. During the sprint execution phase, the Scrum team meets daily to discuss the progress. These meetings are facilitated by the Scrum Master. Hence, the Scrum Master plays the role of facilitator or servant-leader. These meetings are called daily stand-up meetings or daily Scrum meetings. These meetings are each of 15 minutes in duration. In these meetings, each team member will talk about three questions, i.e., what they have achieved until yesterday, what they are going to do, and are there any impediments in the way of smooth work progress.

4. After the end of the sprint, the Scrum team will do a sprint review and also sprint retrospectives. This helps in better planning for the next sprints.

5. After the sprint retrospectives, Phase 1 or Iteration 1 of the development is carried out. It is evaluated with the “Definition of Done,” which is also called acceptance criteria. Now, Increment 1 of the development carried out will be demonstrated to the customer, and feedback will be obtained from the customer. The same feedback will be utilized for the next sprints.

6. Steps 1 to 5 mentioned above are revisited again in the consecutive sprints. Hence, the Scrum life cycle is a continuous process.

Figure-1: Life cycle diagram of Agile Scrum framework

• Scrum team: It is composed of the product owner, team members, and Scrum Master, as described above.

• Scrum artifacts: The product backlog, sprint backlog, and burn-down chart are Scrum artifacts.

  • Product backlog: It is basically a list of requirements, including priorities and estimation of each requirement.
  • Sprint backlog: It is a subset of product backlog items selected to be executed during each sprint. This includes a plan to deliver the product increment as well. As new work is required to be added, the development team or Scrum team adds it to the sprint backlog. As work is performed/completed, the estimation of remaining work is done, and from it, a burn-down chart is made.
  • Burn-down chart: As mentioned, the burn-down chart plots the remaining effort versus days. This gives an estimation of when the work is going to be completed.

• Scrum Events/Ceremonies: Sprint planning, daily Scrum meetings, sprint review, and sprint retrospective are Scrum ceremonies.

  • Sprint review: It is a time-boxed meeting to review work carried out in a sprint. It should be about 4 hours long.
    • In this meeting, the Product Owner identifies what is done and what is not done.
    • The Development team discusses what went well and how issues were resolved during the last sprint.
    • The entire group decides on what to be done next.
  • Sprint retrospective: It is also a time-boxed meeting for the sprint and is done after the sprint review meeting. It should be about 3 hours. The purpose of the sprint retrospective is to create a plan to implement whether any improvement is required to the way the last sprint went.

• The diagram below mentions a Scrum chart which is maintained by the Scrum team and updated by them. The Scrum Master may or may not be part of the daily Scrum meetings.

• After the spring planning meetings, we will get features and tasks in these features. The same is taken in the “planned” column. After this, tasks are picked up voluntarily by the Scrum team which are moved from the planned column to the “being done” column. Once the task is completed, it needs to be moved to the “done” column. Every day, the burn-down chart is updated, which forecasts the remaining effort over the next left-over days. All the remaining tasks will be moved to the next sprint cycle. Usually, a sprint is about 3-4 weeks.

• If any issues are raised during the sprint by the Scrum team, then they are listed in the unplanned section and will be taken care of in the next sprint cycle after the next sprint planning is done along with the product owner.

Figure-2: Scrum diagram or Scrum chart

Definition of DONE

When some requirement from the product backlog or sprint backlog is completed or “DONE,” the same needs to be compared with the acceptance criteria, which is also called the “Definition of DONE.” This Definition of DONE varies from product to product, and it has to be finalized or agreed upon at the start of the project between the customer and the product owner.

Scrum vs. Waterfall

The figure below compares the Scrum vs. Waterfall Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

The idea behind the Agile environment is to perform concurrent activities of requirement, planning, coding, testing, review, and release (deploying) phases. These were carried out sequentially in the waterfall model. Hence, as shown in the figure, problems/issues will be known much later in the waterfall model. The idea behind the Agile way of managing a project is to carry out the above-mentioned phases in each sprint multiple times, as shown in the figure. Hence, in Agile Scrum Methodology, issues are known much earlier in the project, and a review is carried out so often within the sprint duration that it helps a lot.

Figure-3: Agile Scrum methodology

Moreover, in the waterfall model, requirements need to be worked out in detail at the start of the project, and there is no room to change or take new requirements in between project execution. While in the Scrum Agile model, new requirements can be taken up during the execution of the project and will be worked upon, and consecutively all the phases will be executed.

In Waterfall, one can have a release after a long time at the end of the project unless a few milestones are planned by the project manager. While in the Scrum Agile model, more releases of the product will be available compared to Waterfall due to more sprint planning in the same duration as that of the waterfall model.

Finally, in the waterfall model, the estimation of tasks is done in time (Man hours, days, weeks, or months), while in Agile Scrum, it is done in story points. Each iteration is called a phase in Waterfall, while in Agile Scrum, it is called a sprint, as mentioned earlier.

Benefits of Scrum Framework

1. Enhanced Collaboration and Communication:

   Scrum promotes regular communication and collaboration among team members through daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and review meetings. This fosters a transparent environment, helping teams address issues quickly and stay aligned on project goals.

2. Faster Delivery of Value:

   Scrum’s iterative approach breaks down complex projects into smaller, manageable sprints, enabling teams to deliver incremental improvements faster. This allows stakeholders to see progress regularly and gain early value from software features.

3. Flexibility and Adaptability:

   The Scrum framework is highly adaptable to changing requirements. Teams can easily pivot in response to feedback, new priorities, or market shifts, ensuring that the final product aligns closely with user needs and business objectives.

4. Continuous Improvement:

   Scrum’s focus on retrospectives and feedback encourages teams to assess and refine their processes after every sprint. This promotes a culture of continuous improvement, leading to better performance and quality over time.

5. Increased Customer Satisfaction:

   By involving stakeholders in each sprint review and delivering functional increments consistently, Scrum ensures that customer expectations are met or exceeded. This fosters higher levels of satisfaction and stronger client relationships.

Conclusion

The Scrum life cycle and framework bring structure and agility to software engineering projects, enabling teams to respond quickly to changing requirements and deliver value incrementally. By understanding and implementing each stage, supported by clear roles and processes, teams can enhance collaboration and drive meaningful results. As Scrum continues to evolve, its core principles remain central to building adaptive, high-quality software in a rapidly changing digital world.