Questions regarding the scrum guide
Hello all,
I have been reading through the scum guide and some points confused me. Could you help please?
Page 5 :
The Product Owner is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog. Product Backlog management includes:
- Clearly expressing Product Backlog items;
- Ordering the items in the Product Backlog to best achieve goals and missions;.....
...The Product Owner may do the above work, or have the Development Team do it. However, the Product Owner remains accountable
=> In which case the development team may have to express Product backlog items and order them?
Page 6 + Page 5
The Development Team consists of professionals who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable Increment of “Done” product at the end of each Sprint
Scrum Teams deliver products iteratively and incrementally, maximizing opportunities for feedback
=> Who delivers products scrum team or the development team?
Page 9:
The Product Owner discusses the objective that the Sprint should achieve and the Product Backlog items that, if completed in the Sprint, would achieve the Sprint Goal
After the Development Team forecasts the Product Backlog items it will deliver in the Sprint, the Scrum Team crafts a Sprint Goal.
=> Who defines the Sprint goal : development team or product owner? Does this paragraph mean that the PO defines the goal and select items that would achieve the goal and then the development team selects from the list of items established by the PO, the items for the Sprint?
Page 10:
If the work turns out to be different than the Development Team expected, they collaborate with the Product Owner to negotiate the scope of Sprint Backlog within the Sprint.
=> Does it mean that we keep the same Spint goal and change the Sprint backlog items to meet the Sprint goal?
Page 11:
The Scrum Master enforces the rule that only Development Team members participate in the Daily Scrum.
=> Can the PO attend the daily scrum as an observer?
Page 13:
Multiple Scrum Teams often work together on the same product. One Product Backlog is used to describe the upcoming work on the product. A Product Backlog attribute that groups items may then be employed
=> What do we mean by a product backlog attribute? Is it a part of the product backlog that a scrum team will be working on?
Page 14:
The Product Owner may influence the Development Team by helping it understand and select trade-offs, but the people who will perform the work make the final estimate.
=> Is the selection based on the estimate or on the item value for the users/business? or both?
Last question:
- How do we manage the dependancies between product backlog items in scrum framework?
Many thanks for your clarifications,
Imane
Imane,
One of the 5 Scrum values is "focus". There are inherent and achievable benefits with a focused approach.
As much as I would like to respond to your post, it is unfortunately very unfocused, and so packed with detail that it would take me quite a while to respond to your inquiries.
Hi Imane, I will help you out with the first two.
In which case the development team may have to express Product backlog items and order them?
If there are many technical dependencies as this could fall outside of the scope of the Product Owner’s abilities. It’s recommended that the Product Owner consults with the Development Team during this process as they’re the ones that will be held accountable regardless.
Who delivers products scrum team or the development team?
In a classical Scrum Team there are three roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team. The Product Owner manages the backlog, the Scrum Master is facilitator, and the Development Team does the development. Therefore, the Development Team is the ones that deliver the product Increment at the end of each Sprint.
My advice is to re-read The Scrum Guide again and take notes on areas that you are confused on. Then, search the web to find potential solutions to your answers. The web is sometimes convoluted and you could be in an infinite loop of trying to find the appropriate solution. If you have no such luck then post a question on the forum concisely and explicitly detailing your confusion, but remember to limit your backlog of questions.
I would also recommend the proverbial suggestion of investing in more education about the subject matters you’re cloudy on.
Hello Doug,
Many thanks for your answers and advice.
Best Regards,
Imane
In which case the development team may have to express Product backlog items and order them? As Doug stated, there could be technical dependencies that affect the order in which certain features can be created. Perhaps through refinement a requested feature can be split into smaller pieces of work that can be independently implemented.
Who delivers products scrum team or the development team? The Scrum Team delivers the product and the Development Team alone delivers the increment.
Who defines the Sprint goal : development team or product owner? It is a team effort. The Product Owner may have an objective in mind which is not the Sprint Goal itself.
Does it mean that we keep the same Spint goal and change the Sprint backlog items to meet the Sprint goal? Yes. For example Backlog items can be removed or split (and some removed) as agreed upon by the Product Owner and Development Team.
Can the PO attend the daily scrum as an observer? There are several threads on this discussion board regarding that topic. The Scrum Guide does not prohibit it, but the rules must be followed and there are factors to consider when permitting an audience.
What do we mean by a product backlog attribute? Is it a part of the product backlog that a scrum team will be working on? Some electronic tools allow for tags or categorizations to view the same Product Backlog by different subsets. For a physical Product Backlog different colored note cards or a specific mark could be used to differentiate the groupings. Honestly, this is a helpful technique suggestion . . . it's not core to Scrum.
Is the selection based on the estimate or on the item value for the users/business? or both? "Product Backlog items have the attributes of a description, order, estimate and value." The description can be created collaboratively by the Product Owner (from customer input for example) and the Development Team through refinement. The Product Owner is accountable for the order, but can be influenced by dependencies noted by the Development Team. The estimate is the amount of work to complete the item and is determined solely bu the Development Team. The value relates to the business and is generally determined by the Product Owner.
How do we manage the dependancies between product backlog items in scrum framework? The Development Team would be aware of and note (somehow and somewhere) the technical dependencies. The Product Owner may be aware of larger organization business dependencies that affect prioritization; for example needing to have a specific marketing campaign in place. That's a very vague and open question.
>> Who delivers products scrum team or the development team?
> The Scrum Team delivers the product and the Development Team
> alone delivers the increment.
This is nit-picking, but on the whole it is best to view the product and the increment as being identical. This is because in Scrum increments are cumulative, and so the latest increment must always amount to the current product in its entirity.
Regarding development and delivery, the Development Team develops the product, while the Scrum Team delivers it, in so far as release must be sanctioned by the Product Owner. In a narrower sense, the Development Team delivers an increment to the PO for potential release, and hence delivery to stakeholders.