Agile SCRUM, 5 Reasons it transformed the IT industry

When the Agile Scrum methodology met the IT sector, the results were impressive. Teams began to see their KPI's closer and closer, the collaborative environment was strengthened exponentially, and end customers were the biggest beneficiaries.

However, some companies in the industry felt threatened by the change in their workflows that Scrum was intended to foster. This produced some initial resistance to the methodology that only with time and the verification of its advantages could be mitigated.

To fully understand all that this methodology brought with it and what it represented for the technology industry, we must first understand it in depth. Here is a brief overview of what Agile Scrum is and how this work methodology has changed the technology industry forever.

What is Agile Scrum?

Agile Scrum is a working methodology in which a project is approached based on short, fixed duration cycles (in these cases, iterations usually take place every 2, 3 or even 4 weeks, which is the maximum recommended to receive product feedback). When implementing Agile Scrum, each of these iterations must bring about a specific result or product enhancement or benefit, so that it can be delivered to the customer with minimal team effort.

In Scrum, you make regular, partial deliveries of the final product, prioritized based on the benefit they bring to the project recipient. Therefore, Scrum is particularly well suited for projects in complex environments, where results must be achieved quickly, where requirements are changing or ill-defined, where innovation, competitiveness, flexibility, and productivity are essential.

By planning and executing these improvements, teams adopt an ideal work rhythm that connects them to the customer's needs, while better understanding the solutions and making continuous and relevant improvements to the final products.

Reasons why Scrum was a game changer in Technology

You may have noticed that the process that Agile Scrum attempts to establish is very similar to the process a software developer goes through when reviewing, optimizing, and streamlining his code. That is why this methodology seems to be tailor-made for the IT sector. On this basis, its implementation in the sector occurred in such an organic way that today software companies that do not use it are at a total disadvantage compared to those that do.

Here are the 5 reasons why the Agile Scrum methodology marked a before and after in the world of technology and why you should take it into account as a decisive factor when approaching your software development projects.

#1 Meeting Expectations

One of the main reasons why Scrum has been so successful in IT is that customers started to have more clarity in their expectations indicating how much each requirement contributes to the project. From here, the team makes its own estimation and by contrasting this information, it is the Product Owner who establishes its priority.

To follow up on the progress of these priorities, the Product Owner is also responsible for checking that the most important requirements have been successfully met before transmitting the feedback to the team. In this way, the Agile scrum methodology in IT starts off on the right foot because the objectives and priorities are measured, evaluated, and aligned across the board from the beginning between the customer and the team. The clarity that this simple but grateful process provides avoids necessary iterations, loss of focus and compliance with tangible results.

In the past, one leader's objectives might not be viewed in the same way by another from another development area. A point of no return was reached where focus was lost, work was wasted, and teams lost motivation to the point where countless ideas that had a bright future died.

#2 Flexibility to change

In projects as complex as software development, last minute changes, unexpected adjustments, and the demands of a constantly changing market are the order of the day. Teams that began implementing Agile Scrum in IT realized that this system provides them with a high capacity to react to these changes in both customer and industry requirements.

The responsiveness of having professionals in roles that seek change and monitor it is high. With properly planned work and the organization of tasks into sprints according to priority and need, adapting quickly and effectively to an adjustment at any stage of the application development lifecycle becomes simple and expected. Before the advent of Scrum, flexibility and responsiveness to a change, a trend or a technology market requirement were nonexistent. Workflows were rigid and change was not in the glossary of any development team.

#3 Higher software quality and early access

When all iterations are on a schedule, the tasks to see the expected results are clear, and a flexible team of deliverables experts monitor the entire workflow around the software development project, the customer has the ability to start using the key functionality they want to achieve long before the product is fully completed.

Similarly, the iterative work methodology and early customer access to the product lay the foundation for developing superior quality software, with clear expectations and a constant flow of feedback that sets the projects up for success.

At first it was thought that full customer and process reviewer access to the project would mean roadblocks and wasted resources along the way, but this was quickly demystified when this monitoring and alignment of teams and expectations began to be presented in a structured and agile way that empowered the process and everyone in it.

#4 Increased Productivity and Return on Investment (ROI)

Agile Scrum provides a considerable improvement in the productivity of software development teams thanks to the elimination of middlemen, and work bottlenecks due to waiting for approvals and/or deferred reviews. Since the roadmap is clear from the outset, the team's motivation thanks to the autonomy they enjoy leads them to better organize themselves and reach their ideal pace.

By aligning the expectations mainly of the customer, the production of the software project can reach a point where it is only driven by the functionalities that bring the most value to the company thanks to the prioritization of objectives by return on investment. The customer feels that his investment is being optimized at each stage of the digital assembly line through which his idea passes, as a prior assessment is made of which goals represent the highest return and the workflow and team are aligned towards them.

In the past, productivity was hampered by paperwork, resource authorization, intermediaries who wanted to modify the development or the ego of a leader. Also, priorities were often set based on hunches or "common sense" rather than on data that supported ROI.

#5 Predictive Modeling and Risk Reduction

By correctly applying the Agile Scrum methodology in IT, it is possible to know with accuracy the estimated, average, and actual velocity of the teams in each sprint (or project checkpoint), making it possible to easily estimate exact dates of availability of specific functionalities that are still under development. This means not postponing software releases, go-lives or deployments, a phenomenon often seen in the industry before the advent of Scrum.

With all this, planning and monitoring the most valuable priorities first and knowing the speed at which the team is progressing in the project development, allows to reduce possible risks effectively and in advance. Thus, structured action plans for the mitigation of expected risks can be built with enough time to not negatively affect the progress and achievement of project goals.

In conclusion

Agile Scrum came not only to stay, but to guide the path of IT projects that want to see the light, have clear expectations, and are developed with agility and flexibility. This methodology represented a paradigm shift that many large companies in the industry had to understand and adopt, as well as one that many others decided not to employ and sank into rigidity and the postponement and even cancellation of large projects, leading them to disappear in a market that demands more and more every day.

At DreamCode, our clients know and have benefited from the advantages that the Agile Scrum methodology represents for their projects in the IT sector. This methodology is a standard in our workflow, and we have been perfecting its use with every idea we bring to life throughout the Americas. If you want to learn how DreamCode can bring out the full potential of the Agile Scrum methodology or want to learn more about our best practices, click here