Scrum
Customer and market requirements are changing at an ever-faster rate and product complexity is constantly increasing. Change is becoming the norm. Scrum is an agile method that helps you master this situation and keep change costs low. We help you to introduce, apply and optimise Scrum in pilot projects or across the board.
Scrum: Closer to the customer, more flexible and faster
Market and customer requirements are rising with increasing speed, products are acquiring more functions and thus becoming more complex. Unforeseen difficulties arise despite pre-development and risk management. Can specifications and requirements be kept stable throughout the product development cycle? The answer is no – change is becoming the norm. The focus is, therefore, shifting: the focus is not on preventing changes but on reducing change costs.
This is where the agile method of “Scrum” can help you, which, after its successes in software development, can now finally also be successfully used in hardware development: With Scrum, the product is developed incrementally in development cycles that are always of the same duration (sprints). In each sprint, a potentially deliverable product increment is created, on which the customer and/or internal stakeholders can provide feedback in a sprint review. This feedback is taken into account in the subsequent sprints.
Scrum is suitable for task management in independent project teams with a size of 5 - 11 team members. These project teams can be interdisciplinary, i.e. they can also have project purchasing, production planners etc. on board. Scrum works, in a simple case, with three defined roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team. The role of the classic Project Manager is not included.
Scrum regularly involves the customer in the product development after each sprint. Due to the fact that the team frequently reviews its goals and the development status with the external or internal customer, only relevant product functions are created. This shortens development times. In brief: Products are developed for (and with) the customer.
Maximum transparency for all participants is another principle. Here, the method relies on frequent information exchange, simple visualisations and the right attitude of all involved. Together with clearly defined roles, a high level of commitment through self-organisation and a tightly organised meeting organisation, this is the reason for the success of this agile development method.
The benefit to you
- Scrum integrates the customer more strongly into the product development process through regular feedback and thus ensures higher product quality and less over-engineering.
- Risky tasks are dealt with at an early stage.
- Scrum teams work during the sprint without outside interference.
- Transparency, simple visualisations, clear responsibilities and a tightly arranged meeting organisation ensure efficiency.
- The team focus on a deliverable outcome creates more commitment.
- Personal responsibility, trust and direct customer feedback increase motivation.