Scrum Software
Planbox is an Agile Software that follows the Scrum method and its artifacts.
Release Management
As a Project Management method, Scrum focuses on delivering Features, Releases or Deliverables - as often as possible.
As part of the definition, the Deliverable must be Completed, Tested, Debugged and Usable.
In Planbox once completed, an Item can be set as Accepted, Rejected or Ready for Release.
Iterations
Core to our Scrum Software are Iterations. Iterations are fixed-length periods of time, of 1 to 4 weeks during which we try to accomplish a list of things or deliver certain features.
The idea behind iterations is to give the team a short term objective that creates both a sense of emergency and a feeling of accomplishment once it is completed - an addictive cocktail.
Short-term, achievable objectives help to keep team morale high.
Stories
Scrum is highly customer-driven. Therefore, features are usually translated into User-Stories.
A Story explains how a feature is to be used and gives it context. A proper way to write Stories is to start by:
- "As a User I want to ... have access to my data online"
- "As a Client I want to ... have a billboard printed in Times Square"
Stories are called Items in Planbox. They are containers of tasks.
Backlog
The Product Backlog regroups all the remaining User-Stories for a given project. The Product Backlog is meant to be properly maintained and prioritized. Once an Iteration is completed, stories are selected from the Backlog, based on Priorities and are sent to the new Iteration.
Prioritization
There are many ways to organize the Backlog: Business Value, Point value and relative Importance are the most frequently used systems.
- Business Value indicates the $ value of releasing a particular Story.
- Point Value is an indicator of the relative difficulty of delivering the feature
- Importance is a measure of how critical a feature is to the overall project.
Put together, these indicators allow for a Cost/benefit analysis that facilitate the Prioritization process.
Scrum Roles:
There are 4 typical roles in Agile. Product Owner, Scrum Master, Worker and Stakeholder.
The Stakeholder is usually the instigator of the project, the client or the investor.
The Product Owner is the Stakeholder's representative. He is in charge of prioritizing the Backlog and Writing the Stories.
The Scrum Master is a facilitator to the team. He organizes the team, removes impediments, oversees the process, manages the Sprint backlog and the overall progress of the project.
The Workers are the ones getting things done. They estimate the stories in points and the tasks in hours.
If the stories are estimated to be too big for a sprint, they can request the stories to be broken down by the Product Owner.
Sprints, Estimated Hours and Story Points:
In Planbox, the Sprint is called the "Current Iteration" the workers are involved in. You also have a tab called My Work, in which stories are filtered to only those you are involved in.
Workers can organize themselves by creating the tasks related to the stories and estimating them.
Tasks can be estimated in Hours and Stories in Value Points, which can all be be tracked through the Burndown Graphic.
Tasks may also be left as unassigned if you do not yet know who will work on them.
Reap the benefits of Scrum:
Planbox posively helps you in your quest for:
- Quicker Time-to-Market
- Reduced Risk by Managing Uncertainty
- Increased reactivity to changing priorities
- Superior Productivity & Software Quality
- Healthier Customer-relationship
- Better Team Morale