Sound interesting, right? By the end of this article, you’ll know whether DAD might be right for you. To help, we’ll dive into the detail of exactly what it is, how the framework, lifecycle, and team roles fit together, and compare it to other popular frameworks such as Scrum and XP. 

Let’s get started!

What is Disciplined Agile Delivery?

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD, or sometimes referred to as DA for Disciplined Agile) is a people-first, hybrid Agile approach to software delivery and IT project management. 

Based on an agile methodology and with continuous delivery principles in mind, DAD provides development teams with a set of comprehensive, end-to-end delivery lifecycles that streamline processes and guarantee excellent results.

While relatively new to most, it draws on frameworks you’ll already know and may have already used. Specifically, it takes inspiration from XP, Scrum, Agile, and Lean, combining many of those toolkits to create a range of structured, hassle-free, scaled agile frameworks. 

The History of The Framework

DAD was born in one of the most advanced, well-known, and influential tech companies, IBM. Although used in practice since 2009, the framework was introduced to the world by Scott Ambler and Mark Lines in their book ‘Disciplined Agile Delivery: A Practitioner’s Guide to Agile Software Delivery in the Enterprise‘ in 2012.

The first exploratory iteration of DAD as a way of working was focused on providing more structured processes and decision-making governance. By adding structure and governance to DevOps and agile ways of working, teams immediately began to see tangible results with DAD. Over time, the concepts evolved into ‘Disciplined DevOps‘ before going on to become a commonplace framework across the wider software development industry.

Nowadays, the broader methodology of DAD has extended beyond just software development. It is now a common approach to agile delivery in business areas such as finance, procurement, IT infrastructure, and IT strategy development.

The Lifecycle and Phases Explained

One of the best things about the Disciplined Agile Delivery Framework is that it has something for everyone, depending on how you apply it. 

At the highest level, DAD focuses on the entire system lifecycle, providing structure and guidance from project initiation through to the ultimate retirement of a system. 

Source – Project Management Institue

Below this high-level lifecycle is a wide range of sub-frameworks to choose from. Most of them focus on variations of the key three delivery phases (Inception, Construction, and Transition) as these concentrate on getting working software into the hands of users. Examples of these sub-frameworks include: 

• Agile Lifecycle. Great for Agile projects, the Agile lifecycle is based on Scrum but extended to cover pre-work such as strategy development and stakeholder alignment.
• Lean Lifecycle. A Kanban-based lifecycle that’s great for new, lightweight teams that want to combine Kanban, Lean, and Agile principles.
• CI/CD Agile Lifecycle. Same as number one, but focusing on long-lived, stable product teams.
• CI/CD Lean Lifecycle. Same as number one, but focusing on long-lived, stable product teams.
• Lean Startup Lifecycle. Great for teams looking for easily consumable guidance on strategy and efficient delivery in a startup environment.
• Program Lifecycle. Great for strategic managers focusing on scaling and bringing together a team of teams.

The Disciplined Agile Delivery Roles – How Does The Team Fit Together? 

Like all agile frameworks, DAD has a set of defined roles that help teams deliver smoothly and effectively.

While DAD doesn’t set out to prescribe exact details to teams, building an agile team that can still self-organize, work collaboratively, and delivers on its stakeholders‘ requirements is essential. For that reason, the DAD framework requires the following key roles: 

1. Stakeholders. Like many other frameworks, in DAD, a stakeholder is defined as someone who can impact or is impacted by the solution being built. Your project will have a variety of stakeholders, from end-users to senior management. The key thing for DAD is identifying your stakeholders early and involving them regularly in your projects. 
2. Team Member. Team members are those who directly contribute to building the solution, e.g., programming, designing, testing, or planning. Like all Agile teams, team members contribute skills that the team needs, but DAD recognizes (unlike other frameworks) that those skills may not always be in direct development. Like with stakeholders, you’ll have many team members across your project.
3. Team Lead. Much like a Scrum Master or Agile Coach in other methodologies, the Team lead facilitates and guides the team instead of taking on technical responsibility. The Team Lead should act as a servant leader, continuously looking for ways to optimize team performance, capture agile data that drives improvement, and help remove blockers and issues.
4. Product Owner. The Product Owner is the one individual on the team that represents the customer, either through or in direct collaboration with the stakeholders. Each DAD team will have a dedicated Product Owner who helps answer questions, manages communication with stakeholders, and champions the team’s work.
5. Architecture Owner. Where many frameworks fail is that they forget to consider the bigger picture. To overcome this, DAD explicitly includes the Agile Modeling role of the Architecture Owner. The Architecture Owner looks holistically at the system design, the longer-term plans, and the risks to the system and the project. Unlike the other DAD roles, the Architecture Owner can be a dual role and is often held by the Team Lead as they are the most senior and have the most technical knowledge.

Outside of this, there may be several supporting roles, such as Subject Matter Experts, Specialists, Domain Experts, and Independent Testers or Integrators.

Read also: Guide to Scrumban methodology

Disciplined Agile Delivery vs. Scrum vs. XP – Why Might DAD Be Better For You?

As we’ve seen throughout this article, DAD was built on the foundations of other frameworks, such as Scrum and Extreme Programming. 

If you’re currently operating Scrum, XP, or any other agile software development framework, here are some reasons you may choose to transition to Disciplined Agile Delivery. 

• More Complete Lifecycle: DAD provides you with a complete end-to-end framework and lifecycle covering everything from the solution concept to the eventual retirement. There is where DAD goes beyond Scrum and provides fuller support for your entire software development operation, including strategy design, deployment, and production. 
• Structure & Adaptability: DAD provides a solid base of structure and support while also building in adaptability to flex for your own business needs. Other Agile methodologies can be very prescriptive, giving delivery teams no freedom to express themselves within their end-to-end process. Thanks to the many options within DAD, such as Disciplined DevOps, Lean Lifecycle, and Program Lifecycle, you can find something that works for you. 
• Constant Updates. As DAD becomes increasingly popular, new updates, thought leadership, and varieties are being developed, helping you and other users stay ahead of your ever-changing environment. Unlike Scrum, which is set in stone, this allows DAD to remain resilient and modern moving forward.

Read also: Agile Software Development: Extreme Programming (XP) Explained

To Wrap Things Up…

If you’re looking for a way to deliver agile software development while maintaining structure, good governance, and control, the Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) framework might be for you. Modeled on some of the best and most popular methodologies, such as Scrum and XP, DAD provides everything you and your team need to deliver great results for your business stakeholders. 

At Inetum, we provide all the services necessary to achieve IT excellence in everything you do. Whether it’s disruption, efficiency, or scaling your operation, our team of experts can help you go to the next level by helping you choose, implement, and scale your chosen delivery methodology. 

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

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By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to start your own agile transformation. Once we’ve defined exactly what an agile transformation is, debunked some of the buzzwords, and explored the benefits, we’ll take you through 5 things to consider to help you start your agile journey. 

What is an Agile Transformation? 

Put simply, an agile transformation is a change management programme where an entire organization creates business agility by adopting agile ways of working.

While this starts by fostering a high-level agile mindset, over time, it evolves to revolutionize management practices, such as company culture, principles, processes, and methodologies. This is usually done with the support of a specially designed agile team.

The key mistake businesses make is to limit their agile transformation to just product development or technology teams. If, instead, you want to maximize the benefits across the organization, the entire company must adopt an agile mindset, starting with the leadership team. They set an example that promotes agility, iterative thinking, and a growth mindset in everything the company does.

Buzzword Bingo – Agile Organization, Agile Methodology, and Agile Project Management and More Explained

If you’re new to Agile, the terms, buzzwords, and acronyms can be confusing. To help you speak the language, let’s answer some common agile transformation questions. 

What Do We Mean by an Agile Organization? 

When an organization has ‘Business Agility‘, it’s seen as people-centered, dynamic, and adaptable, able to deliver value even in times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Agile businesses collaborate, make decisions, and manage risk creatively, allowing them to stay ahead of their competition and respond to customer feedback.

Agile adoption starts with leaders and managers transitioning to an agile mindset, often with the support of agile coaches. It then spreads downward in the organizational structure through specially designed methodologies, practices, and processes.

What is the Agile Methodology or Agile Practices? 

If you want to implement agile successfully, it needs to be embedded into the day-to-day work of every employee. This is where an agile approach comes into play in the form of agile methodologies, agile practices, and agile processes. 

Whether it’s a development team, a sales function, or a customer support service, anyone can work in an agile way, so long as their working practices reflect the following characteristics: 

• Collaboration
• Autonomy
• Customer focus
• Flexibility
• Adaptability
• High-quality
• Learning from mistakes
• Transparency
• Honesty

How Does Agile Project Management Fit Into This?

Like any other team’s methodology or process, project management teams often use an agile approach to deliver customer outcomes. This is most commonly seen in software development projects, where specific delivery frameworks, such as Scrum, are used to create an iterative development process that focuses on reacting to customer feedback, improving value-driven metrics, and driving digital transformation. 

Expert knowledge Guide to Scrumban methodology What are the differences between Scrum and Scrumban? Read the article!

The Benefits of Agile Transformation

So, now that you know what agility is and how it looks in different businesses and teams, it’s time to look at what’s in it for you. If you’re planning a new agile journey, here are some benefits you can expect to see in your organization. 

• Continuously improving teams that strive to learn and grow.
• Closer alignment with your customer, helping deliver greater value.
• Enhanced operational performance visibility thanks to simple data and metrics.
• Faster communication, rapid decision making, less silo team working.
• Improved collaboration and coordination from team member to team member.
• Greater resiliency and the ability to respond to external factors.
• Less business risk thanks to the ability to plan, execute, and improve at pace.

Building Your Own Successful Agile Transformation Roadmap – 5 Things to Consider to Get Started

If you’ve got this far, it’s time to start thinking about how you’ll execute your own agile transformation strategy. While the journey to become truly agile can take several years, here are 5 things to think about to get you started. 

1 – Consider How You’ll Create An Agile Mindset From The Top

The first thing to remember is that your agile transformation isn’t going to happen overnight. To go agile, it all starts from the top by setting a clear vision of where you want to go and how you want to get there.

Your leadership team is key here, as they need to define, sponsor, and embrace the core agile principles, values, characteristics, and behaviors that everyone should follow in a new agile world. Successful agile journeys have strong leadership from those at the top, so make sure you lock this in before even attempting to move forward.

2 – Don’t Suffer Alone, Utilize Agile Coaching

The chances are you won’t be able to build an agile transformation strategy without the help of experts who have been there and done it before.

Once your senior leaders are on board with your agile transformation, agile coaching will help managers at all levels embrace an agile mindset and begin to build a blueprint for agile operating. 

Agile coaching isn’t a fire-and-forget support mechanism, though. The most successful transformations utilize coaching throughout the transformation to keep the momentum, expertise, and support high from start to finish. 

3 – Plan to Build Team-by-Team Agile Practices

Once your managers have embraced the agile transformation, it’s time to translate it into your day-to-day practices and processes. To do this, you’ll need to create a blueprint for agile operating across your key departments, such as operations, sales, customer support, and technology.

These will look different from business to business and must flex to what each team needs. For example, a software development team may embody the agile approach by adopting Scrum as its delivery framework. This would mean implementing different agile development ceremonies, such as stand-ups and retrospectives, to display characteristics such as collaboration, customer focus, and autonomy.

Building a team-by-team agile blueprint is one of the most complex and challenging elements of an agile transformation, so give it time, resources, and the expertise of agile coaches to make it a success.

4 – Plan The Key Metrics & KPIs That Will Evidence Your Progress

Like any transformation process, it’s essential to define and track what good looks like. To do this, you’ll want to agree on a critical group of data points and KPIs to show your agile efforts are delivering value for your company. 

Again, these will look different for each business and each team, but common examples include the following:

• Customer satisfaction
• Delivery speed
• Employee satisfaction
• Product/service quality
• Cost reduction/efficiencies

Remember that agile teams also make mistakes and often need improvement. Don’t expect that by going agile, you’ll automatically solve every problem your business faces – agile isn’t a silver bullet!

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE Do you know the advantages of Agile project management? How to run an agile project using Scrum? Read the article!

5 – Remember to Learn & Adapt As You Go

Undergoing an agile transformation is, in itself, an iterative process. In the spirit of agile working, plan regular reviews of your progress, make time to celebrate successes, and create the space to make changes if things aren’t going well. 

To do this, many organizations start by running an agile pilot, rolling out agile department-by-department. This way, the pilot allows them to measure their success before launching more agile teams in other business areas. Depending on how well each launch goes, transformation leaders speed up or slow down the pace of the transformation to meet the needs of the business and the customer.

Remember, there’s no right or wrong when it comes to your transformation needs, so do what works for you and your business.

To Wrap Up…

Organizations across the globe are launching an agile transformation to revolutionize how they deliver value to their customers.

Despite their many benefits, it’s worth remembering that agile transformations are challenging, long-term endeavors that can go wrong if you don’t have the right expertise.

That’s why at Inetum, we’re here to help you define your transformation plans’ strategic target, direction, timing, and speed. We provide operational support to implement solutions adapted to your core businesses, size, and processes with a laser focus on helping you achieve exceptional business value. 

If you like the sound of that, you can find out more about our Transformation & Disruption services here.

Scrum in sales team management

In my opinion, selected fragments and parts of e.g. Scrum may be successfully utilized in managing sales teams. This is especially easy if these teams cooperate in any form with developers who use agile methodologies in software development. This facilitates the transfer of knowledge and culture, which is necessary for agile project management, but is not absolutely essential. In fact, any organization or team can implement Agile and SCRUM, although it may be harder if the process starts from scratch.

The key role in this case will have the Scrum Master, because apart from being a team member, he is also responsible for promoting the agile approach in the organization and maintaining the adopted standards. Agile and Scrum methods are what our team use with many of our IT Outsourcing Projects that we undertake to get the best results.

How to organize an agile sales team?

Let’s consider how we could transform marketing and sales into agile teams. The Scrum Guide emphasizes the fact that we must take the diversity of our team into account. Among the people who form the core of our team, let’s assume that there will be: a graphic designer, a content writer, a marketing specialist, a new sales specialist, a key account manager, and a project delivery manager.

By implementing Scrum, we must choose someone to act as Scrum Master and support the flow of information. It should also be remembered that positions connected with management (e.g. Marketing Manager) and sales (Sales Manager) are de facto equal, which requires an approach drawn from the assumptions of the holacracy model and teal organizations. They assume cooperation without designating traditional, hierarchical positions such as a director or manager. Decisions are made jointly in project circles by team members, and one person can participate in numerous projects and fulfill many roles, depending on their knowledge, experience and involvement.

Our agile sales team should also include a Product Owner. This role may be filled by the Sales Director, the CEO, or someone who is responsible for sales, the delivery of solutions or recruitment activities, but it is necessary to define such a role before starting work. The Project Owner’s task is to define the scope of project tasks among others, in this case determining the sales and marketing objectives, broken down into markets and specific sales people who are responsible for given areas.

Read also: Remote team management in Scrum

Creating a backlog of tasks is certainly a great challenge. Commercial and marketing work is connected with constant change and the fact that the clients are different each time and require a bespoke sales and design approach. Task allocation and prioritization therefore requires parallel work in several projects, which may give rise to the danger of “putting aside” difficult topics in favor of easier ones, or concentrating your energies on the wrong client.

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

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Scrum/Kanban in B2B agile sales teams

From my project and business experience, it appears that B2B sales work very well for models based on agile methods such as Scrum framework or Kanban, because they promote the work of their own sales person or marketing department as a separate entity in the company at the beginning of the sales process.

As a rule, sales representatives work with clients individually and generate the right number of leads in the sales funnel with the support of the marketing department. An efficient salesperson is able to conduct the first conversations with a potential client independently. Only at the stage when specialist knowledge is needed (e.g. business or system analysis) should the Product Owner of a given agile sales process act to create a team modeled on Scrum, consisting of e.g. a business analyst, a solution architect, a project manager and/or delivery manager, a quality control specialist, and a recruiter. 

By defining tasks in the product backlog (and using publicly available tools such as Jira, Notion or Asana) one can properly prioritize, monitor status, organize Scrum team daily Scrum standups meetings or organize a team meeting with the client. Slack is an example of a great tool for communication in such a model.

Read also: Scrum vs Kanban. Which to choose in software development?

This type of approach is also suitable at the point when the representative transfers the customer (assuming that the contract has been signed) to the production/delivery department. At the moment, we maintain full agility and project continuity, and the people who will be responsible for e.g. the development of a given system are already familiar with the client, the solution, the people responsible etc., which also helps in the efficient transfer of knowledge. The Business Manager remains part of the customer service process, but is only responsible for the contract, orders, etc., whereas, for example, the delivery manager becomes the project owner.

Sales Sprints

The model described can be applied by selecting appropriate events and artifacts known from Scrum, such as sprints or retrospectives. If the process of signing a client up lasts, say, 3 to 6 months, it is easy to break this time by Sprint planning into two-week sprints, for example, and thus monitor the progress and costs associated with sales activities for a given customer. It’s also easy to stop the project when we think that finalizing the sale is unlikely.

Read also: Personality types and soft skills for Agile workers. How to make a good agile team?

Using Scrum in sales we can also discuss progress with the potential client during the sprint review, and during the retrospective, for example, indicate the three most important elements to be improved during communication and the customer acquisition process. In addition, when the client is already signed up, it is easy to progress to further Kanban-based service process management.

Agile awareness

The key to this process, however, is a thorough understanding of the Agile approach, especially Scrum/Kanban in sales methodology – and this not only applies to sales people but also the rest of the team members that support them. Educating the client in terms of using the Scrum sales process is also a relevant factor. However, we cannot deny that the use of Scrum in sales and marketing means not using this methodology “in a textbook manner”.

It requires significant modification, which means that it is no longer Scrum in its pure form according to the principles of the Scrum Guide. On the other hand, I think that if it helps us with effective sales management, the sales process, and finally the signing of a contract with the client, for whom Agile is not just an empty word, it is worth considering this type of approach.

What are Agile Scrum artifacts? 

The Cambridge dictionary describes the artifact as “an object, such as a tool, that was made in the past”. Some of the definitions by Dictionary.com also defines an artifact as “a substance or structure not naturally present in the matter being observed but formed by artificial means”. 

The Scrum Guide describes: “Scrum artifacts as reflecting work or value”. Using a simpler nomenclature, the Scrum artifacts show the actual work we have done in the project and what we plan to do. In the following article, I will try to explain what they are and why there are artifacts in Scrum. For a better understanding, I will use quotes from the latest version of the Scrum Guide published in 2020. 

Also read: How to Sprint plan?

Artifacts and Agile: What is the difference between Agile and Scrum?

To start with, however, let’s distinguish two concepts that, despite the growing popularity of agile methods of work, are still sometimes confused. Participants of training often ask me the question – do we need all these artifacts to be agile? Let’s remember that Agile is rather a way of thinking and a general concept that defines an agile approach to software development. Scrum, on the other hand, is a framework created and constantly improved to facilitate the delivery of value in a complex world.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT Scrum vs Kanban Which to choose in software development? Read the article!

What are the names of the 3 Scrum artifacts? 

Scrum distinguishes 3 artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment. Although the Product Goal, Sprint Goal, and Definition of Done are directly related to artifacts by ensuring clarity and focus, they are not Scrum artifacts themselves.

What is a Product Backlog?

According to Scrum Guide, Product Backlog is “an ordered and emergent list of what is needed to improve the product. It is the single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team”. Simply put, the Backlog uses tasks to describe all the work that needs to be done throughout a project. A Product Owner is responsible for managing the Backlog. This may include such activities as: 

• creating new elements of the Backlog – tasks, 
• prioritizing and organizing the elements of the Product Backlog – for a better understanding of work, at the top, there are tasks with a higher priority, and below those of low importance or requiring further detailing during the Refinement,
• ensuring accessibility and transparency – a situation in which everyone interested knows where the Backlog is and what it describes.

The Product Owner may transfer or delegate management of the Product Backlog to another person, but in the end, PO is responsible for this area. The Scrum Guide also indicates, which is extremely important, that the Product Owner is one person and not a committee or group of people. The Product Owner should take into account the requirements and expectations of stakeholders and the external environment in their work, but ultimately the Product Owner makes decisions regarding the Product Backlog. Why is it so important in everyday project work to emphasize that the Product Owner is one person? This allows you to avoid the dispersion of responsibilities and internal fights over which area of the product is more important.

Improvement or Refinement

I must also mention the improvement, that is, the Refinement. In common understanding, it is considered as a meeting during which Product Backlog is discussed, divided into smaller parts, and specified. However, by definition, it is a continuous process that is not reflected in a single, specific meeting.

The Product Backlog is inseparably linked to the Product Goal, which describes the future state of the product. According to the Scrum Guide, “The purpose of the Product is reflected in the Product Backlog”. In practice, it is a guideline and signpost for developers as they plan work and during the work itself.

What is a Sprint Backlog?

The authors of the Scrum Guide precisely stated that: “The Sprint Backlog is composed of the Sprint Goal (why), the set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint (what), as well as an actionable plan for delivering the Increment (how)”.

It is important to understand the above definition. In the common and at the same time incorrect understanding, the Sprint Backlog is defined during the Sprint planning meeting at the beginning of each Sprint as a defined scope of work, the implementation of which is undertaken by the Development Team. Meanwhile, the definition states exactly that the Sprint Backlog consists of selected elements of the Product Backlog (what), as well as the Sprint Goal (why) and the delivery plan (how). 

To picture this – imagine that the Sprint Backlog is a kind of bag in which there are tasks and a plan on how to deliver them. The goal of the Sprint, in turn, is the signature on the bag itself. 

Remember that the Sprint Backlog is not a “pact with the devil” signed with developers’ blood, but a living artifact that may evolve with the progress of work throughout the Sprint. Over time and with a better understanding of work and requirements, as well as due to unexpected internal and external dependencies (holidays or sick leaves), it may turn out that the Development Team will update the Sprint Backlog in such a way as to achieve the Sprint Goal. The Development Team is responsible for the preparation and implementation of the Sprint Backlog. 

To sum up, the Sprint Goal set during Planning is a commitment of the developers but gives them freedom and flexibility in terms of what the team should do to achieve the unchanged Sprint Goal. 

What is Increment in Scrum?

The Increment can be depicted as a Lego block, thanks to which we add another brick to the construction of our castle. Just as the Lego bricks need to match, the Increment needs to fit and be verified so that it was entirely usable, that is, to deliver value to the user or customer. 

More than one Increment may be delivered per Sprint. Although Sprint Review supports the empirical approach, we cannot assume that only at the Review meeting is the Increment presented and delivered. The increment worked out during a Sprint may be greater than one and may be delivered before the Sprint is completed.

Like with Lego bricks – we can choose one big brick from the bucket, or take several small trying to build a construction using more elements.

Definition of Done and Product Increment

The Increment is inseparably linked to the Definition of Done. This is a kind of set of conditions that must be met to recognize the work done. The definition of Done is a standard that affects the quality and value of the work of developers. If any of the elements of the Sprint Backlog does not meet the Definition of Done conditions – it cannot be presented to the customer and considered as part of the Increment. 

Nothing prevents developers from applying stricter conditions than those set out in the Definition of Done. This happens when the team wants to put more focus on the value delivered. The Definition of Done can be considered as a minimum criterion against which one can “level up but never down”.

The Definition of Done can be considered as a quality guarantee for stakeholders or the client, which ensures that the Increment received by them is fully operational and meets the quality criteria. 

Main artifacts of Scrum framework – the summary 

According to the Scrum Guide, the Scrum framework includes Scrum Teams and related roles, events, artifacts, and rules. All these elements are important, and the Scrum artifacts I have described allow for transparency, provide an opportunity for adaptation and inspection, and therefore favor the strengthening of the Scrum pillars in the project. 

Scrum: people over processes

As per the Agile Manifesto, Agile methodologies value “people and interactions over processes and tools”. This results in an increased need for contact and cooperation between people occupying various roles in a project. These people are often characterized by different perspectives, with different motivations and goals. However, only with effective cooperation between all members engaged in a project is it possible to achieve collective success – delivering the best possible software to the client.

Soft skills in Agile development

In the Agile methodology, so-called soft skills are important, such as:

• creativity
• ability to communicate clearly
• the ability to work in a team

In addition, a lot depends on the feedback received from both clients and team members during regular meetings – known as retrospectives. Therefore, the ability to give, receive and respond to feedback is also necessary for development in an agile environment. Considering the limited project documentation, asking clear questions is also a highly appreciated quality. Additionally, it is worth being sympathetic and trying to meet the needs of other people involved in the project: clients, members of the Development Team, business representatives and managers.

Taking into account the dynamic development of the IT world and the general trend towards globalization, additional challenges often include social or cultural differences, and continuous improvement of soft skills should be of high importance to help people overcome these barriers.

Working in IT and stress

In an environment which varies in terms of seniority, culture, or the motivation of individual employees, it is not easy to remain objective and calm. Stressful situations such as disagreements or upcoming deadlines for the delivery of a new version of a product, where documentation is often incomplete, make communication and the ability to resolve conflicts an essential and critical aspect of accelerating success in a project.

What’s more, working with agile methodologies is very dynamic, and changes are an integral part of the day-to-day work of developers’ collaboration. All of this generates a lot of stress, and burnouts are hard to avoid. In stressful situations, it is worth remembering that there are guideposts in the form of Scrum values.

5 Scrum values

It’s important to bear in mind that effective cooperation between team members is part and parcel of working in a Scrum Team. Only by working together can we get the work done: meet the goals of a Sprint and deliver valuable software. A Scrum team should be guided in their work by 5 values:

• Commitment
• Courage
• Focus
• Openness
• Respect

Team building and personality types

A stressful working environment, changing requirements, and cooperation with people who often have different points of view call for some kind of flexibility and mental resilience.

Workers who are prone to stress, too timid, or afraid to speak out may find it hard to adapt to working in an agile environment. But what would collaboration look like if all team members were bold, extroverted, and always putting their feet down?  It sounds like a recipe for constant chaos and fierce competition. So how can you choose soft skills for agile team members effectively when it comes to the character?

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

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Belbin test

Fortunately, there are some helpful tools for this. One of the most popular is the easy-to-perform Belbin personality test that distinguishes nine roles in the team in terms of behavior:

• Plant – creative, with great imagination. Has many ideas and can think outside the box
• Resource investigator – an optimist, full of enthusiasm, open to new contacts and various new opportunities
• Coordinator – confident, able to see the potential and talent of others and skillfully delegate tasks in the team
• Shaper – has the driving force and the courage to take up challenges, not afraid of obstacles, and is able to operate under time pressure
• Evaluator – an insightful strategist, who sees many options and is able to evaluate accurately
• Teamworker – a good listener and diplomat, who can relieve tension in the team and build good relationships
• Implementer – a good organizer, characterized by a practical approach to tasks and efficiency
• Completer finisher – diligent and hard-working, improves processes, carefully searches for errors and places for improvement
• Specialist – brings knowledge and unique competences in a specific area, self-motivating

Each role has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the team should consist of different, complementary roles. The ideal team should consist of all nine roles. However, we need to bear in mind that one person can fulfill more than one role, and they can also evolve with the seniority and experience of a given team member.

Read also: Soft skills in demand, and how IT outsourcing can help

DISC model – 4 personality types

Another tool worth mentioning is the DISC model (Dominant, Inspiring, Supportive, Cautious), which distinguishes four personalities:

• Dominant – an extrovert personality, task-oriented and focused on achieving goals, with leadership skills
• Inspiring – an extroverted personality, people-oriented, creative and with leadership skills
• Supportive – a reserved personality, people-oriented, appreciates the sense of safety and the good of the entire team
• Cautious – a reserved personality, task-oriented, independent and appreciates self-development

People with a given personality type have similar behaviors, working and communication styles. It may also be easier or more difficult for them to collaborate with people characterized by other attitudes. However, similarly to the Belbin roles, only the combination of the above-mentioned personalities in the team can guarantee success here as well.

The leadership role of a Scrum Master in team building

Apart from choosing team members carefully, the level of teamwork is also important. The Scrum Master plays an important role here, and he can positively influence the team by:

• organizing periodic retrospectives
• providing opportunities so that individual team members could get to know each other better
• creating an atmosphere of trust and honesty

This way, the cooperation between individual team members improves and the risk of conflicts is minimized. However, even in the most harmonious and carefully selected teams, conflicts cannot be completely avoided.

Read also: Scrum Master vs Agile Coach

It is worth remembering that, at the end of the day, the team members have a common goal – to provide software of the highest possible quality and functionality as quickly as possible and at the lowest possible cost. Despite the differences in the context of personalities, origins, roles or seniority, only thanks to cooperation does the project have a chance to succeed. It is good to bear in mind that unresolved, ignored conflicts build up over time, and the best way to cooperate effectively is to quickly settle discussions to prevent conflicts from growing and escalating.

How to build a good agile team – summary

How to build a good team? It turns out that the key to success increasingly often lies in knowledge of personality types, the development of soft skills and the selection of team members so that they complement each other. Each team member has a different, valuable contribution to make.

Agile methodologies such as Scrum foster the development of teams based on communication and trust, and the Scrum Master plays an important role in this process. At the end of the day, it is worth remembering that Scrum is not a recipe for avoiding conflicts in a team, but a path to continuous improvement.

• https://www.katarzynapluska.pl/test-rol-grupowych-belbina-jaka-pelnie-role-w-zespole-pociąg-test-pdf/
• “Soft competences in IT are the key to success”, Katarzyna Witak, Computerworld, 09.2013
• “Surrounded by idiots. 4 types of Human Behavior (or how to understand those who cannot be understood)”, Thomas Erikson

Go to

1. 1. TDD vs Agile
2. 2. What is Test-Driven Development (TDD)?
3. 3. Test-Driven Development Diagram
4. 4. Can you start with the Green phase? 
5. 5. Advantages of starting with the red phase
6. 6. Benefits of TDD for the Client and the Developer
7. 7. TDD development technique – summary

At least a few significant applications have been created that I know about, including warehouse management programs supporting the operation of stores, financial institutions and banks. However, over the last 15 years, we have observed more emphasis being put on tests, and the old approach is slowly becoming history in a development sense. So let’s move on to the present day and take a look at Test-Driven Development, an approach which is the ‘state of the art’ of modern software testing. Why is it worth adopting TDD? 

• Test-driven development (TDD) promotes test-first development. The programmer tests a function before he writes the code. 
• TDD focuses on delivering thoroughly tested software solutions. It is an approach to development which combines Agile methods with a comprehensive test suite.

Read our Guide to Agile software development

TDD vs Agile

The TDD approach is one of the agile techniques of software development. The Test-Driven Development technique, introduced by Kent Beck, one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto, involves repeating the Red – Green – Refactor cycle repeatedly. What distinguishes the Test-Driven Development technique is the fact that you test before you write a function, meaning you write tests for new features that have not been developed yet. 

Also read:

• PHP Code refactoring 
• Test-first approach – shift left testing 

What is Test-Driven Development (TDD)?

Using TDD allows you to add any new functionality to the developed application, minimizing the risk of accidental errors in unmodified areas of the program, which we could forget about, e.g., after a few months. One of the advantages of Test-Driven Development is that by modifying or adding functionality, we automatically receive reports on all related areas that are affected by our changes. This gives you an opportunity to quickly improve them and prevent any errors being introduced along with functionality. The Test-Driven Development approach allows you to design advanced patterns and makes designing applications legible and transparent thanks to automation. It works particularly well for complex projects. A great deal could be written about Test-Driven Development. In this article, I would like to focus on the use of TDD in practice and the benefits of this approach.

Years ago, when I was taking my first steps as a programmer, I joined a project in which my colleague and I were tasked with creating a dedicated configurator for a window manufacturer. The mere fact of the technological complexity of window production should determine maximum caution. The user of the application could configure the window based on both standard and non-standard parameters. Depending on the dimensions, certain options were either available or unavailable. The user had to follow several steps with numerous possibilities. The final price was influenced by various options and factors.

In this project, I observed at least a few disputable practices, e.g., no testing code or code review. However, the manager and the client did not know that wherever possible, we tried to review our work, the effects of which were intended for use directly in production.

Throughout the project, I was under significant pressure. I did not argue when I was told that unit tests are not carried out in PHP (which we were writing in). As a result, the code, which we developed after modifications, required multiple corrections. If we had used Test-Driven Development at that time, we could have avoided a great deal of frustration connected with endless improvements.

So how does TDD work?

Test-Driven Development Diagram

The Test-Driven Development (Red – Green – Refactor) diagram seems to indicate something very simple. Let’s look at its individual elements.

• Red – this is nothing more than the stage of writing unit tests for functionalities. Running on the application without the implemented solution, it will inevitably generate an error report, indicating, at best, the incorrect functioning of the application in this area (that is, a lack thereof). In most modern programming tools for writing code, such a report will be colored red. This stage is very important. This is when the developer recognizes the problem he is working on, analyzing the existing code that describes this area (if there is one). It is also at this stage that he will shoulder the greatest burden during the implementation of the new functionality.
• Green – this is the next stage, in which the red from subsequent reports after running unit tests will progressively move to green. IDE (Integrated Development Environment) will signal that the test passes. At this stage, the proper implementation of the new functionality will take place.
• Refactor – at this stage, we introduce improvements to the newly implemented functionalities. We are also able to share similar solutions used in other places. For proper implementation, we clean the code and improve prepared test cases. This phase does not mean the end of the tests, because after further modifications of the code, the Red – Green – Refactor cycle repeats.
  
  Also read: RxJS in JavaScript

Test-Driven Development – can you start with the Green phase? 

Of course, we can achieve similar results starting with the Green phase, via Red, to Refactoring. As there is a decent chance to implement the application before we even prepare sets of unit tests, such a path even seems quite tempting. However, there is a catch to this approach. While dealing with subsequent functionalities, we may begin to pay less and less attention to the quality of test scenarios. I’m not saying it will happen for sure, but sooner or later our testing code may not cover the possible scenarios or may even become worthless. This increases the risk of serious errors in the production – errors that are difficult to repair and are most often found in rarely used areas. This often results in considerable expense on the client’s side related to fixing the errors.

Write a test – advantages of starting with the red phase

There is a lot of discussion about the fact that by starting the functionality cycle from preparing unit tests, we will need more time for the task than when we start work from the implementation stage. This may be true when a programmer starts working on a new project and has to prepare everything from scratch. Then you may need to create additional classes to support the creation of test cases or implement one of the available template engines to generate requests or events. Later in application development, if there are any differences, they are rather at a marginally low level.

Minimizing the number of tests in a development process

Shouldn’t we create test scenarios for everything, even the smallest bit of the code? Even the smallest elements are components of some larger structures and there is usually a chance that they can be described together using several reasonable scenarios of edge cases. Of course, there are areas like validators or calculators, which are often impossible to examine and cover with a small number of cross-sectional tests. However, I would like to suggest how to minimize the number of tests to save time and use the full potential of TDD on a daily basis.

Test coverage and non-existent business cases

An interesting issue is how to cover non-existent business cases with tests. We most likely won’t face such a dilemma creating tests for validators or filters, but it may occur when it comes to writing tests to check how a created functionality works. These are usually situations that, for some reason, will never happen – e.g., when our functionality depends on data from strictly defined sets.

Selecting the country code of the occurrence of traffic damage, when we use the intended functionality to register it, might be an example. As we know that the user will be able to indicate one of the codes defined in the database, we also know that when the app works he will not have the option to choose another code or a non-existent one. In that case, does it make sense to test how the application would react when the user chooses the country code “XXL”, if he will always only have options like, for example, “PL” and “DE”?

Another example of minimizing the number of tests while maintaining coverage is parametrization, a technique for consolidating scenarios. I encourage you to use it. Although we still create the same number of test cases using this approach, there are fewer test codes. Due to the multiplicity of conditions necessary for testing, this solution can be useful when testing classes of validators, calculators, etc. A disadvantage may be the lower legibility of descriptions of such tests contained in the names of the methods, which can usually occur during consolidation. However, this will not be an obstacle or problem if we decide to use modern tools in our project, such as the Spock Framework, which will make it easier to write assertions. These facilities will be obtained strictly from the Groovy language on which the framework is based. Groovy provides greater transparency in the context of tests and documentation. We will get the names of the scenarios easily, as well as having the option to add extra descriptions. 

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE Agile Methodologies in Software Development Find out what agile means and what are different agile methodologies in software development. Go to article!

This will also allow you to maintain a clear form of test cases, consistent with “given, when, then”. This will allow us to better document our functionality.

We can sometimes come across advocates of creating separate cases per scenario, that is, non-consolidation. But then we get back to the topic of future maintenance of all tests, as our application develops. There’s always “something for something…” However, it is usually best to maintain a balance. When you come across a complex aspect while searching for a golden mean, despite many similarities in test cases, in my opinion it’s worth writing them down separately, one by one. The categorical nature of the approach may lead to losing the usability that unit tests should bring to daily work. By focusing too much on the form, we may lose an understanding of the test scenario function. 

Ensure the readability of unit tests

It is important not to lose the form while focusing on the function of testing analyzed areas. The proper arrangement and descriptions in the names of scenarios, methods or variables, documents given areas of functionality and allows us to use the test in a conscious and understandable way. I will risk stating that the measures of utility of a unit test will be both the reasonable coverage of the tested area and the legibility of its implementation. This approach will allow us to avoid a situation that many may have experienced, namely when after a long time it is difficult to start working on the development of a long-implemented area. Without carefully written, legible tests, our work will be an uphill struggle.

Benefits of TDD for the Client and the Developer

TDD for developers means:

• comfort of work – including with existing code thanks to fewer errors being made,
• documentation of functionality at a high level,
• better business knowledge and thus better know-how of the product,
• more chance of clean code,
• easier to start working on the project,
• reduced stress and pressure.

TDD for the customer means:

• more confidence that the application will work well and there will be fewer errors,
• an option to predict the costs of application maintenance and introduce modifications to existing solutions,
• savings on adding new programmers to the project,
• finding and correcting errors faster,
• greater chance of interesting suggestions from developers regarding the implemented solutions, thanks to better knowledge of the current functionalities,
• TDD means better code, and therefore a better application.

TDD development technique – summary

I hope that I’ve been able to show you what TDD brings to everyday work and what the consequences of not using it may be. The principles I mentioned play some part in minimizing the number of tests: parameterization, minimizing the number of them, omitting non-existent business cases in scenarios and the readability of the test code do not directly result from the definition of TDD. However, in practice it’s impossible to achieve real development by means of tests without reasonable observance. I believe that I have been able to present what the Test-Driven Development methodology is and how much value can be achieved by using it in custom software development.

Learn more about 5 scrum values

In a kitchen somewhere in the world…

An example of a situation that could happen in any project.

Before Sprint Planning, two developers go to the kitchen for coffee. One of them is exhausted and has bags under his eyes.

“So, how’s it going?” – the other guy asks him.

“You’d better not say anything, last time the PO insisted on finishing that dumb chat function before anything else. It makes no sense at this stage, but I’ve been working overtime to get it done. He even texts me after hours to check on my work! I sleep 4 hours a night and I wonder what he’ll come up with today.”

“Me too. This PO is a strange man, bud” – adding, in a whisper – “a friend of mine told me he is the CEO’s brother-in-law…”

“That’s why I keep quiet in meetings. But I feel like I am done with people like him” – he replies, taking a sip of coffee and rubbing his tired eyes – “but you know what? I got an interesting job offer yesterday. Cool tech stack, cool people, and no idiots.”

The importance of openness in Agile projects

It is not only the Scrum value of openness which is disrespected in the above conversation. The fact that two developers are gossiping and insulting the PO means they have no respect for him. They do not share their doubts with colleagues so it seems they do not trust them, and the fear of the PO’s connections may indicate they lack the courage to express their opinion about prioritizing the Sprint Backlog and reveal micromanagement practices. The fact that the developer works overtime does not prove his commitment or focus but rather suggests he misunderstands these values or is overloaded with tasks or lacks knowledge. How different could their work be if only they shared their thoughts with colleagues openly, asked for help, and took measures hand in hand, as a team?

The Scrum value of openness

What does ‘success’ mean? Is it the completion of a given functionality in Sprint and customer satisfaction?

As per the Scrum Guide, the “successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living five values: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage”. Openness is one of the five values that help to build the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation. We mentioned that adopting openness will help the Scrum team maximize the value of Scrum. Let’s look at this in more detail and think about what every team member can do to make openness a fact.

Openness in the Development Team

The Development Team is responsible for creating valuable parts of the product in every Sprint. Developers can show openness not only through transparent communication, which was lacking in our imaginary dialogue above. Openness also means being frank in terms of any obstacles, updates and challenges encountered in the project. Agile working methods are based on honesty and continuous feedback, but also on sharing your skills and good practices. A team of developers who sincerely and openly cooperate with stakeholders achieves not only the planned increment but also greater transparency.

How does a Scrum Master demonstrate openness?

Scrum is said to be easy. The role of the Scrum Master might also seem so at first glance. The truth is quite the opposite. Not only is he a facilitator, servant-leader, and coach, but very often he’s also a companion who is always there to offer help to any developer. A Scrum Master encourages open communication during the Daily Scrum, Sprint Retrospective, and Sprint Review and demonstrates openness by respecting team decisions. He is there to ask, not to criticize.

What about a Product Owner and openness? 

The Product Owner is not only responsible for the Product Backlog and prioritizing tasks. His role also requires openness and promoting the values of Scrum. The Product Owner fulfills this requirement by regularly sharing the product vision and business expectations with the development team. Openness also means that a PO is available to answer developers’ questions and clear up any doubts which may arise. He is there to provide (and receive!) feedback and discuss ideas for improvement. All this helps to develop teamwork and results in better transparency in the project.

Read also:

• Agile Methodologies in Software Development
• The Complete Guide to Agile Project Management

Benefits of Openness

• Improved creativity – teams that are open to change attain better results. This is particularly true in teams that focus on diversity and inclusion. Different points of view and backgrounds inspire inventiveness.
• Common trust – openness creates a friendly environment that enables team members to share their ideas. Psychological safety makes them feel they can talk freely and that they won’t be punished for expressing different (even unwelcome) opinions.
• Transparent collaboration – thanks to openness, business and stakeholders get a clear understanding of what the team is working on and what progress they have made in the project.

Open interactions = better transparency

Now that we have a better understanding of the team’s contribution to creating openness, let’s quote the Scrum Guide again:

“The emergent process and work must be visible to those performing the work as well as those receiving the work. With Scrum, important decisions are based on the perceived state of its three formal artifacts. Artifacts that have low transparency can lead to decisions that diminish the value and increase risk”.

So how do we ensure open interaction? Some of the best practices include using visual tracking tools, project management tools and holding regular meetings to keep track of progress.

But let’s not forget about informal methods, which still help to build a transparent environment, albeit indirectly. Meetings outside of work, casual chats, and anything that allows people to get to know each other will work to your advantage. Even if your Scrum team is dispersed or works remotely, nowadays, thanks to technology, you have a myriad of opportunities to address this matter.

Summary

According to the 2022 State of Agile survey, in which almost 3,000 people participated, Scrum is the most widely used agile framework in companies. Its popularity rose to 87% (a 14% increase compared to the previous study).

At the same time, almost 90% of respondents admit that highly functioning agile teams are characterized by a clear culture and people-centric values. Scrum values fit into this model. Of these, openness plays an important role – whether in communicating or adopting attitudes that bring teams closer to success. Openness is crucial as it enables us to achieve the Sprint Goal transparently and efficiently. If you employ Scrum but feel you are not maximizing its potential, don’t be afraid to ask for help! There are many options, from external Scrum Teams to certified Agile coaches, that can remove barriers to making progress.

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

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Scrum, by definition, is simple and based on the following 5 values: courage, openness, respect, focus, and commitment. In the article, we will delve into the subject of commitment and see how it influences the success of a project. Are you curious as to how this particular value affects products? Read the blog post and get the most out of the Scrum framework!

Learn more about 5 scrum values

Agile Software Development

Agile methods rely on flexibility, trust, self-organization, and the ability to respond to changing circumstances. Many Agile frameworks allow you to achieve your goals, and one of the most popular in software development is Scrum. In this article, you will learn more about commitment in the context of Scrum.

The Scrum Guide 2020 on Commitment

According to the Scrum Guide, the “successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living five values: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage“.

These values should lead the team and reflect on their work and actions. If you follow our blog, you have already discovered the importance of focus and respect. Scrum values are connected and cannot be applied selectively. For example, it would be a contradiction to say:

“We respect each other, but I don’t trust that one developer”.

“We trust each other, but I won’t talk openly to a Scrum Master”.

Therefore, every time we talk about a given value, we consider it in the context of others.

The Scrum Value of Commitment

In the Scrum team, everyone is equally important. Every developer creates an Increment by sharing their best skills. The team strives to deliver the most valuable work possible in each Sprint – as promised during Sprint Planning.

A mature team makes only promises they can keep, and its estimates are based on experience from past Sprints. The Scrum Master supports their efforts by promoting the use of visualization tools, presenting metrics, and building awareness of the work progress and the capabilities of team members.

The Scrum Team and Commitment

In Professional Scrum, during Sprint Planning, the team estimates how much work can be done within a given Sprint to achieve the Sprint Goal. These estimates must be realistic and in line with the capacity of the team (and not, for example, made under pressure or in response to business expectations). Commitment in Scrum means a situation where a Development Team confirms they can complete a particular number of tasks within a given Sprint. For example, a PO has chosen 5 tasks for a new Sprint and the team makes the commitment (meaning that the team accepts this goal as achievable).

However, in the event of any obstacles, dependencies, or there being too many tasks, the team can say they cannot make such a commitment (“No commitment for this scope”). In such a case, it is necessary to reduce the number of tasks or answer all questions which arise. Without a commitment, we can assume that it is impossible to complete all tasks in a Sprint.

EXPERT KNOWLEDGE Do you know the advantages of Agile project management? How to run an agile project using Scrum? Read the article!

The Product Owner and his role

The Product Owner’s role is to represent the interests of stakeholders and provide the Scrum Team with all essential business requirements. He is also accountable for prioritizing tasks in the Product Backlog (this is one of the Scrum artifacts – a list of ideas, requirements, and technical improvements that need to be talked about, cleared out and specified so that it is understandable).

But to do it well, the PO needs to know the capabilities and velocity of the team. Only then will he be able to plan and prioritize the Sprint Backlog, and finally enable the team to achieve the Product Goal.

Read also: Scrum Master vs Agile Coach

Commitment traps in Scrum

There are several situations in which Scrum Teams might fail at commitment. One of them is Sprint Planning e.g., too optimistic estimates.

The issue might occur while committing to a distant goal too. In the case of the latter, you need to bear in mind that in far-fetched projects, as workload and expectations change, primary assessments might not be appropriate. To avoid this trap, Product Owner needs to be careful while committing to client’s requirements very far in advance.

Summary

Every member of the development team is responsible for respecting and promoting values. The Scrum Master helps in this regard, but remember that he doesn’t shoulder all responsibility! A committed team strives to deliver the most valuable product, and everyone does their best to build a motivating work environment. This way not only does the team create working software, but it also facilitates the personal development of programmers and everyone involved in the project.

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

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Learn more about five scrum values

A trait of development team heroes

Courage is a trait of heroes, and the Scrum Team must have the courage to make decisions and solve the problems they encounter on their way. Often these are decisions made in crisis situations, burdened with a lot of stress. In an ideal world, there are no burning environments, no endangered releases, and no changing requirements. In the world of superheroes, such situations are commonplace. In every Sprint they set off tirelessly to fight for the best possible Product.

Psychological safety as a definition of courage in a team

In planning and in everyday life, they need the courage to speak out. Express their opinion. Make a decision. And also admit that they may have been wrong. An open discussion about the causes of failure also requires a lot of courage. Scrum Master needs the courage to admit to himself and to the team that something went wrong. And sometimes, what can be more difficult, encouraging someone to admit their mistake. Courage to tell the truth in difficult situations and the courage to listen to the truth is the way to development.

Read also: The Complete Guide to Agile Project Management

For a team to be courageous, its individual members must be sure that they have the right to be wrong. In a difficult situation, it is more important to make a decision at risk of failure than not to make it at all. This attitude requires a lot of work in the team itself, in the organization and with the client. An atmosphere of mutual respect and trust that the team does everything in its power to deliver the best solutions is the basis of this relationship. This atmosphere can be created if everyone working on the project is open to new things or experiments.

Scrum value of courage

Allowing to make mistakes is also crucial. This may seem difficult. After all, we want the process to run as smoothly as possible. And this intuitively could exclude errors. However, Agile at its core gives people the right to make mistakes. Scrum guide even assumes that they are inscribed in the product’s life! It also gives tools to fix them quickly.

Short production cycle and frequent feedback give the possibility of quick but painless failure. Owing to transparent culture, any bugs and product backlog tasks are resolved faster by finding new ways or solutions. Sprint retrospective allows you to draw conclusions and propose improvements. After each Sprint Review, during which the Team’s work is evaluated, they receive feedback on what they have prepared.

Good leadership is about knowing how to behave after receiving negative feedback, how to turn it into progress for the next Sprint.

Conclusion: courage makes it easier to adapt to the changes that are often necessary for the process of development. Change requires the collaboration of everyone involved in the process.

Summary

Sometimes it happens that despite the best will and commitment of the Team, the Customer is not satisfied, and it may cause various emotions and reduce enthusiasm for work. People need the courage to continue working tirelessly. Accepting the fact that no one is perfect, they open up to change.

They give the Customer the freedom to express their opinion about the Product and accept their comments with full openness, so as to make the Product even better. Not only the Development Team and the Scrum Master act in the spirit of courage but also the Product Owner. He can demonstrate courage by understanding that there are no ideal requirements and that shaping them is a process in which the vision can evolve. All they are not afraid of change. They are not afraid of challenges. Ultimately, they bravely look into the future because they know that they are a strong group, they know their goal and their value.

Elevate Your Application Development

Our tailored Application Development services meet your unique business needs. Consult with Marek Czachorowski, Head of Data and AI Solutions, for expert guidance.

Schedule a meeting

Learn more about 5 scrum values

Scrum value of focus

The focus is one of five values needed to successfully work throughout the Sprints.

Putting this approach into practice requires understanding and focus from all the Team members. A quick review of the To-Do list, setting priorities and finally total focus on delivery. This allows you to move from task to task in an Agile manner and in accordance with the Scrum Guide. Sounds simple… but it’s hardly ever easy.

There are a couple of things we need to adapt while working on the given Sprint. Some need more information than others to make decisions. Also, we often have conflicting goals and defining priorities.

Product Owner and focus in Scrum

In a Scrum Team, it’s the Product Owner’s role to prioritize the Product Backlog. They are the ones to decide on priorities. Of course, the PO is not alone, there is an entire Team ready to advise, however, it’s the Product Owner who has the final say.

Who then decides on the order of tasks in the Sprint? The Sprint Backlog belongs to the Team Members and it’s their decision how they turn it into a Product Increment. The progress toward project development requires the cooperation of all team members.

Scrum Master and his role during Scrum events

Sprint Ceremonies, such as Planning and Daily Standups, where the Team summarizes their progress help to achieve this goal. These Scrum events are also the place to remove any impediments that may arise. Daily Scrum allows us to verify our work and keep track of progress.

This is where the Scrum Master comes into play. It’s their mission to keep the Team in focus. SMs job is to ensure that every Team Member understands what and when needs to be done and guard them from external “attractions”, but actually – distractions.

They watch not to have unproductive meetings, stops any activities that are out of the Sprint’s scope, removes the impediments, so that they can be fully focused on their tasks. They help focus on creating, focus on getting skills and focus on improving by showing respect for the work of developers. SM explains, on all levels of the organization, how important these things are, in order for the Team’s work to be most effective.

Read also: Scrum values – respect in Scrum

Focus is essential in Agile software development

Recently I came upon an interesting phrase:

„If you have to do 100 things, and very little time, best to concentrate on the top 10, do them well, instead of doing them all mediocre”.

Why so?

First of all, it raises our chances on completing the critical tasks. Secondly, reduces the necessity – the cost of switching context. What is that?

Getting things done: start finishing your tasks

The term originates from computer science and it’s the process of storing and restoring the state of the processor so that it can serve many processes. 

In people, it’s about the effort the human brain needs to switch from one activity to another. It may seem like a short break in writing code to write an email, or a quick chat while testing is not that big. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of focusing on main tasks, we start thinking about another and another… It’s estimated, that when working on 2 things, 20% of the time is lost for switching contexts so limiting work in progress is really important. So, the conclusion is: stop starting tasks and start finishing them. This way, focus helps deliver quality solutions on time. 

Read also: Agile Methodologies in Software Development

Summary

When writing this article, I decided to experiment on myself. Measure the time it takes me to write this article and compare with the time it took me to write the previous one.
Every day, like many of you, I talk, I attend meetings, read and write emails, fill in the backlog. You can also add “I code, complies and test”

Writing this text, I feel the painful cost of doing things “in the meantime”. And reading each paragraph over again just to add one more sentence before the next meeting I’m wondering where it is going to take me.

It is a valuable lesson and next when I see my friend, coding away in his earphones, cut off from the rest of the world, I will think twice if my question to him really cannot wait.

Let’s take a look around and notice the concentration of others, respect and value it. Let’s try to limit our multitasking. I’m not sure how I’m going to manage my work, but I will definitely try. Let’s learn to do the important things before the ones that can wait. Prioritization should be natural for us and always happen before execution.