Scrum Board

Scrum is a simple project management method, in which goals are reiterated at set intervals: sprints. A typical length for a sprint is 2 weeks, during which the object of work has to reach a workable state. No matter how many iterations there are, the product needs to be completed at the end of each. It may not have all the planned features, but it has to work. Sprints should have Work In Progress limits applied to them, to establish exactly how many tasks per teammate are allowed at any time. Furthermore, sprints are divided into tasks - advisably one-action items. The smaller they get, the easier it'll be to manage and complete them.

How does Scrum work?

It is widely popular to use stories in Scrum as representations of the general idea that you want to achieve. For instance in product development, you'd write stories about what the user wants to experience with your product, or about what you'd like to achieve in through the development process. An example of a scrum story might be: "as a user, I want to be able to use the product ABC offline as well as online".

It's also a Scrum characteristic to divide your team into small groups, combined of team members from different departments. By doing this you are to achieve more all-rounded results, as input from across all sections of the organization will allow a broader approach to any issue.

After the sprint has been completed, there is normally a review of the progress, which should result with improvement ideas for the overall process. This way all impediments the team comes across during work can be molded into workflow improvements and recurring problems' fixes. Following this line of though, your process can get very well streamlined.

Scrum and Kanban are similar project management methodologies. Though they differ in some respects, Kanban Tool suits both working methods very well. Just make columns for your Stories, a Backlog, This Sprint, To Do's, Doing and Done, then apply a WIP limit to This Sprint column and apply a "no new tasks created here" column policy for the columns to the right of This Sprint. This way your WIP limit is met, your sprint completed without overstretching and What is to be gained from this?

By use of a Scrum board in Kanban Tool you can largely improve your productivity and streamline your process greatly. Also, thanks to Kanban Tool's insightful Analytics, you can monitor your team's performance and gather data allowing you to continuously improve your work process. Try for yourself now with a Kanban Tool free trial.