What Is the Scrum Process?

Scrum process overview

• Pre-game phase: For planning both project and architecture. The latter refers to the systems and tools that need to be changed to implement new features and properties delivered with each Sprint.
• Game phase: The sprint when development work is carried out and completed.
• Post-game phase: Development is complete and the product iteration is released.

Following this, the process is reviewed, lessons are learned, and it cycles back to the pre-game phase for planning the next Sprint.

Steps of the Scrum process

The starting point is the business providing a clear vision as to what needs to be achieved. This helps determine what features and priorities will be added to the product backlog, which is the main artifact of the pre-game phase and Scrum, generally.

Pre-game phase:

• Review of the product backlog, which is a set of user stories and associated tasks
• A sprint goal is agreed
• Spring planning, where user stories and tasks are estimated and assigned to the sprint backlog

Game phase:

• Development teams works on the user stories and associated tasks
• Daily Scrum meetings are held where team members share what they have accomplished, what they are working on and what blocks may be stopping them
• A potentially shippable product increment is released

Post-game phase:

• Sprint review, where the teams review the outcome and determine if the value has been delivered as planned
• Sprint retrospective, where teams determine what changes to the process are needed

The product increment is not the only deliverable. The review process of the post-game phase adds value to the project by ensuring that the next Sprint runs more efficiently and effectively.