The Top 8 Benefits of Choosing Scrum Software

Why do software development teams use Scrum? What makes Scrum software so popular that almost 70% of software teams use either Scrum hybrid or Scrum?

Want to know if Scrum software is the right option for you? Here’s a scrum guide to facilitate you in your research:

What is Scrum?

Scrum is an agile framework for managing a process such as software development that uses incremental as well as iterative practices.

It consists of development cycles called ‘Sprints’ that help speed up delivery, ensure quality, and mitigate risks.

Benefits of Using Scrum

The top eight benefits of using scrum software are:

1) Higher Quality

You want the highest possible quality and need the project to accomplish a specific goal at all costs, don’t you? Scrum software helps you do just that. Here’s how Scrum ensures quality of your software:

• Developing the project in sprints, Scrum provides more opportunities to test, sort out problems, and solve them.
• It defines and elaborates on the project requirements in a timely manner to develop a relevant, high-quality product.
• Providing the framework for continual feedback, Scrum takes into account feedback from all stakeholders to improve quality.

2) Less Time to Market

Scrum software delivers value to the end customer, at least 30-40% faster than the conventional method. This is primarily because:

• The development phase occurs earlier since the scrum team elaborates requirements in a timely manner and there’s no need for upfront documentation.
• The prioritization of requirements allows the highest value and risk requirements to be worked on and delivered quick.
• A working product and service increments are delivered at the end of each sprint.

3) Higher Customer Satisfaction

Scrum teams are committed to satisfying their customers by:

• Engaging and collaborating with customers throughout the duration of the project
• Funding projects incrementally rather than requesting a big handout at the very beginning
• Updating the backlog consistently and promptly responding to any changes
• Demonstrating working functionality at the end of every sprint and delivering product more often instead of doing it just one time at the end of the project

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4) More Control

Scrum development teams can control project performance and make amendments as every sprint provides a number of opportunities to the entire project team, including scrum master, product owner, development team, and customer, to adapt as well as inspect and consequently exercise control to build a better product.

Whether it is about adjusting priorities, embracing changes, increasing performance, refining scrum process or addressing issues, the project team has more control on each aspect of scrum development.

5) Increased Return on Investment (ROI)

The ROI of scrum is high mainly because:

• The decrease in time to market means that the desired benefits such as revenue start coming in sooner and accumulate over time.
• An effective feedback mechanism and upfront testing ensure that issues are found early and corrected. This saves time as well as money.
• If the scrum project is bound to fail, it fails earlier, reducing wastage and costs.

6) Low Risk

Scrum alleviates risks pertaining to project failure by delivering a tangible product at each sprint and failing early on if the project is doomed to failure. It does this by:

• Focusing on the highest risk parts first as it provides the maximum amount of time to cater to the issues and deliver the most valuable part in case the project is terminated.
• Providing feedback regularly.
• Developing in sprints, using minimal investment and time to validate whether an approach or product will work or not.

7) Project Visibility

While developing Scrum software, each team member has the opportunity to know how the project is progressing. This allows the team to correctly identify any potential issues and track how things are going. Transparency at each stage helps in organizing, planning, and improving the project.

8) Relevant Metrics

The metrics used by the Scrum development team to estimate cost as well as time – and measure the performance of the project – are often accurate and relevant because:

• The individuals directly involved in the project provide estimates according to their capabilities and performance
• The progress of the development team towards the sprint goal can be tracked on a daily basis through the burn-down chart
• The project owner can make an informed decision about terminating the process at the end of every sprint by comparing the value of the project to it’s actual as well as opportunity cost

Final Word

In order to make the most out of your scrum software, you must adapt and regularly analyse the scrum process which is particularly suitable for undertaking complex projects.

Nevertheless, a thorough analysis at the initial stage is important to make the right decision about the methodology to adopt, which can ultimately help achieve business goals.

A comparison between the two branches of Agile framework, Scrum and Kanban can help you make the right choice for yourself.