Scrum workflow is the series of meetings, processes, and tools that teams complete to deliver products in Scrum methodology. These processes enable teams to deliver the highest standard of quality and as much value to stakeholders and customers as possible.
A critical part of the Scrum workflow is the sprint. The official Scrum Guide describes them as “the heartbeat of Scrum, where ideas are turned into value.” Sprints are typically between two and four weeks long and are “containers” of all events of the process.
A key idea with Scrum, and Agile project management in general, is to deliver value incrementally. It’s an iterative process where reviews of both the product and workflow itself are formal steps in the Scrum workflow.
Roles in the Scrum workflow
In Scrum, every member of the project team is both aware of their responsibilities and how their work maps to wider project goals. This nurtures a more positive culture that helps keep the momentum going.
Product owner
Works with stakeholders and end-users to determine features to be shipped with the product release. The product owner focuses on the artifacts: the product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment to ensure that the shipped product delivers its original scope.
Development team
Developers, testers, designers, analysts, and anyone involved in delivering product increments, forming the team working through the sprint cycle.
Scrum master
He or she is responsible for coordinating people, platforms, and processes to ensure the projects move ahead smoothly and every opportunity is taken to uphold and improve the Scrum workflow.
Overview of the Scrum workflow
Four events occur during a Sprint workflow cycle. The four Scrum workflow events are:
- Sprint Planning
- Daily Scrum
- Sprint Review
- Sprint Retrospective
Following the delivery of an increment, both product and processes are reviewed in the sprint review and sprint retrospective steps. Learnings from these may result in changes to the product backlog and sprint planning.
Measuring the effectiveness of the Scrum workflow
This is the responsibility of the Scrum master who will have identified key Scrum metrics to measure individual components of the workflow as well as the process as a whole.
For example:
- Sprint goal success
- Team velocity
- Time to market
- ROI
The Scrum master will refer to these to continually refine and improve the process.
