What is the difference between agile and scrum?

What you achieve with scrum

With the Scrum method you achieve fast and productive delivery of a project. You work in short sprints, delivering a piece of functionality after each sprint.

“Did you know that Scrum is a term from rugby? A Scrum is a way to restart play after a violation.”

The principle of scrum

“Scrumming is sprinting in short stretches – just like a rugby team.”

Do you work according to the scrum method? Then you work in sprints of two to four weeks. A sprint starts with a sprint planning in which you develop the components of the project. There is a stand-up every day in which you discuss progress. At the end of the sprint, the customer can provide feedback in a review. The sprint ends with a retrospective. In this phase, the team evaluates performance and makes agreements to improve work processes. After each sprint, part of the project is delivered. The sprint is now completed.

The scrum team

The scrum team is multidisciplinary and self-managing. It consists of:

• A Product Owner
• A Scrum Master
• A development team

All necessary expertise is available within the development team. The Scrum Master helps the team to be successful. This person also ensures that scrum meetings run smoothly and that the team works in a self-organizing manner. The Product Owner (project leader) keeps track of the timeline, budget and scope. He or she often prioritizes and sets the scope for the work to be completed at the beginning of a project.

Why scrumming?

Good scrumming delivers maximum customer value and minimum waste. By working in sprints, scrum teams receive feedback from the customer after each sprint. This way the team finds out whether the product they are working on meets expectations. This input helps to respond to changes and prevents costly changes (too) late in the process. By using this agile method you increase the effectiveness of the team.

Scrum summarized

Scrum is a flexible method that offers enough room for new insights during the development process. There is no large, fully defined plan of action in advance, but you make a sprint plan for each sprint so that you remain flexible. And all this according to the core values of the Agile Manifesto:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiations
• Responding to change over following a plan

SST & Scrum

Within SST we have several certified Scrum Masters, so in that sense we are also familiar with all its principles. However, what we find especially important is that we tailor our working method to the wishes of our customers. This means that we are not necessarily Scrum-minded or just apply those principles. No, we are flexible in the application and look at what works in practice and ensure that we carry out our projects in a way that suits the project and the customer in question. Customized software also means customized project approach.