In the first part, Design Science – The Origins, we introduced the concept of Design Science. There we explored what Design Science is, how it came to be as a way of thought, and some common terms used.
In the second part, Design Science – The Process, we tackled Litter Luma's waste problem by creating a data-driven waste management software for strategically placing litter bins.
In this final blog of our 3-part Design Science series, we will look at how design science is done by almost every engineering company these days. Design Science – Scrum
The Definition
Scrum is an agile project management framework used for software development. It can be adapted for various other types of projects too. It is a structured yet flexible approach to managing work by promoting teamwork, iterative progress, and continuous improvement.
"Agile" refers to an iterative and incremental approach to project management and product development. Agile methodologies, including Scrum, prioritize adaptability, collaboration, and responsiveness to change, aiming to deliver valuable products or solutions efficiently and effectively.
Scrum is particularly well-suited for projects with rapidly changing requirements or where regular feedback and adaptation are essential (like the Litter Luma’s waste management project).
Where did the word ‘scrum’ come from?
Would you believe that scrum has its origins in sports? Scrum is a command for restarting the rugby game. It comes from the English word ‘scrimmage’.
In the area of product development, the term ‘Scrum’ was first used by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their 1986 paper “The New New Product Development Game”. They borrowed the name from rugby to stress the importance of teams in complex product development.
Much like a rugby team training for the big game, scrum encourages teams to learn through experiences, self-organize while working on a problem, and reflect on their wins and losses to continuously improve.
So how is a scrum structured?
The key components of the Scrum framework include:
1. Scrum team: A scrum team’s size is small (max of 10), but it’s large enough to complete product increments within a sprint.
"Sprint” is a time-boxed period (usually 1-4 weeks) during which the product development team works to complete the items from the Sprint Backlog.
The team includes:
A Product Owner who champions for their product and is responsible for prioritizing the work and ensuring the team delivers value to the customer.
A Scrum Master who champions scrum within the team, facilitates the Scrum process, removes blocks, and coaches the team in scrum practices.
A Development Team who gets things done. They are responsible for delivering the product increment at the end of each sprint.
2.
Artifacts: Important information used by thescrum team that helps define the product and the work to be done to create the product.
The artifacts are:
Product Backlog: a priority list of all the features, enhancements, and bug fixes that need to get done in the project.
Sprint Backlog: a subset of items from the product backlog the development team commits to complete in a sprint.
Increment: (or Sprint Goal) is the usable product produced at the end of the sprint.
3. Events: Scrum practices, ceremonies, and meetings the scrum team performs regularly. These practices make up the Scrum process.
The Scrum Process
Jeff Sutherland created the Scrum Process in 1993 by borrowing the term from Takeuchi and Nonaka’s rugby analogy.
First, Create a Product Backlog. List which artefacts you need to develop a product you believe will have an impact on the desired goals.
Next, Plan a Sprint. The product owner leads the sprint planning meeting. Here, he presents the team with the highest-priority items on the product backlog. Then together, the team outlines the scope of work to be completed during the sprint and a sprint goal. A single sprint can be viewed as a complete DDRC (design-demonstrate-review-communicate) cycle.
Then, the development team starts the Sprint. They work together on the items included on the sprint backlog. Their goal is to create the increment of the product. They hold daily 15-minute scrum meetings (also called stand-ups) to align their activities, report progress, and identify blocks.
When the sprint ends, the team has a Sprint Review.In this meeting the development team presents the completed increment to the product owner and receives feedback from him and other stakeholders. Depending on the feedback given, the product owner adjusts the product backlog.
After this, the scrum master leads the team in a Sprint Retrospective meeting to reflect on their processes and identify improvements for the next sprint. Here, they discuss what went well, and what needs improvement.
The product increment produced from a completed sprint becomes part of the product. At this point, the product is released to the public and the team starts measuring the effectiveness of the new change to the product. The question to answer is, “Did we achieve the desired results or was our hypothesis flawed?”
Finally, the process starts again with the next Sprint Planning meeting kicking off the next sprint. The introduced changes might not give immediate feedback, but there usually are enough hypotheses in the backlog to keep the team going for a while.
At each step of the cycle, we prioritise and select new items from the Product Backlog for the next sprint, based on user feedback and business requirements.
Conclusion
Scrum is one of the most used ways in which design science is performed. Whether in software or other fields, Scrum's emphasis on delivering value, continuously seeking validation, and continuously adapting to change, makes it essential for success in today's dynamic world.
