Using Iterative and Incremental development, teams create software in time-boxed iterations. How do you plan and manage the work done in iterations? Scrum is a popular technique for planning, do, and tracking your progress. It can be used with many iterative processes.

To learn about Scrum,

  1. Watch Scrum in Under 10 Minutes (video) a good introduction - but you need to know more than just this.
  2. Read the official Scrum Guide by the creators of Scrum.

The official Scrum Guide is a bit dense. Other excellent docs are:

Then answer these Questions about Scrum

Scrum Key Values

Values guide behavior and decisions.
Understanding the values and principles underlying a process will help you make better decisions, esp. in an unfamiliar or challenging situation.

The 5 key values of Scrum are

  • Commitment
  • Courage
  • Focus
  • Openness
  • Respect

What do these values mean?
Good answers here:

Three Pillars of Scrum

  • Transparency - the process and progress are visible to those affected by the outcome. For example, a shared definition for when something is “done”

  • Inspection - frequently inspect artifacts and progress toward the Sprint goal.

  • Adaptation - when a product or process is deviating from target, the process or the work products must be adjusted. Adjustment should be done as soon as possible.

Read about these in: Scrum Guide, Scrum Primer, and Managing Projects with Scrum.

Using Scrum

To use Scrum you should clearly understand & apply these:

  1. Backlog planning
  2. Iteration planning
  3. Backlog grooming
  4. Sprint Review
  5. Sprint Retrospective

Resources to Learn More

Everyone should read the Scrum Guide.
Then read either Scrum Primer or Managing Projects with Scrum (Head First).
Scrum and XP from the Trenches is great, but a longer read.