Anyone who has been working in software development over the last 10 years or so will have at least heard of the term Agile. People often talk about doing Agile or being Agile but, beyond a cool-sounding buzzword, what is Agile all about? Well, to answer that question we need to look at the origins of Agile Software Development.

Back in the late 1990s, many senior software developers and industry leaders, fed up with the static and inflexible software development methodologies prevalent at the time, were already experimenting with more flexible and responsive techniques and approaches. Between 2000 and 2001, a small group of these visionaries met up to discuss these methods and techniques. The unifying force behind this effort was a desire to be able to quickly deliver working software to end users and get rapid feedback on the software’s impact and scope. In the forthcoming years, the methodologies developed under this philosophy came...

In the previous section, we mentioned that in the late 1990s, several visionaries were experimenting with flexible and adaptive ways to develop software. Two of these visionaries were Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. They produced an Agile framework called Scrum, which was based on using the scientific method of empiricism, rather than strictly following a predefined plan. Scrum embraces Agile, not only because it was created by two of the people involved in the creation of the Agile Manifesto, but also because the Scrum Values are actively derived from Agile principles . In fact, most organizations that have adopted Agile methods use Scrum (see The State of Agile in the Further reading section).

It is important to emphasize that Scrum is a process framework, not a process by itself. It introduces rules, milestones, and checkpoints that must be adhered to, regardless of the underlying development process. The Scrum framework can contain a varied number of popular...

One of the greatest benefits of using Scrum is that it prescribes an iterative and incremental approach to software development. This is by far the most effective and efficient approach for creating software in today’s world, and in the next sections, we will explain exactly why that is the case. Let us begin by remembering how we used to develop software.

The Waterfall legacy

When I first started programming, we used to build our systems in distinct, single stages: first came analysis, then design, then coding, and so on. Each stage would cover everything we would need to consider delivering the entire system, down to the finest detail. Once one stage was complete, we would move on to the next stage of the development life cycle and never revisit the previous, completed stage. This is now known as the Waterfall approach because each stage resembled a distinct level of a waterfall, with one stage following the other in...

Although Scrum is by far the most popular Agile development framework, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, it is by no means the only one. I am not going to patronize you by telling you that Scrum is the best approach and that you should always follow it unquestioningly. As with every other tool, you need to decide whether it fits your needs. Scrum is very well suited for accelerated delivery in product development, which is an environment where requirements and goals are subject to frequent changes.

Note

Lean development is a way of engineering software that tries to keep procedures and goals as business-oriented as possible. This means getting rid of any wasteful actions that are not adding value to the product while focusing on maximizing customer value. Lean and Agile are development/delivery philosophies that have different origins but overlapping goals. Often people will use the terms interchangeably, as Agile practices sometimes leak into...

The Scrum Master assessments are available to anyone who wishes to validate their depth of knowledge of the Scrum framework and its application. Those who pass the assessment receive industry-recognized certifications to demonstrate their level of Scrum mastery. To better understand how these assessments came about, let’s look at how Scrum was organized and how it evolved.

Scrum organizations and their history

Back in the What is Scrum? section, we mentioned that Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland created Scrum back in the 1990s. To better support Scrum and encourage its adoption, Schwaber, Sutherland, and others created Scrum Alliance in 2002 (https://www.scrumalliance.org/). In 2009, Schwaber decided to go his own way and created Scrum.org. Scrum Alliance and Scrum.org remain the only valid and authentic Scrum organizations. They both offer Scrum-related certifications. Scrum.org offers the Professional Scrum Master™ ...

In this chapter, we discussed the concept of Agile development and its nature as a specific philosophy, guided by certain values and principles. Adopting the Agile mindset will help you immensely with applying Scrum and solving everyday problems with your projects. We then introduced the Scrum framework, describing its three components and we reviewed its benefits, namely its flexibility, adaptability, and transparency. Finally, we examined the iterative and incremental development approach used by Scrum and highlighted its relevance to the modern software development world.

We concluded the chapter by talking about the Scrum certifications and assessments.

Throughout the rest of this book, we will expand our knowledge of Scrum and how to apply it, thereby gaining knowledge that will help you to obtain your Scrum certifications and become a successful practicing Scrum Master.

In Chapter 2, we will discuss the Scrum values and principles and how they support and affect...

• Principles behind the Agile Manifesto, https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
• The Scrum Guide, https://scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2020/2020-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf#zoom=100
• Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, Software in 30 Days: How Agile Managers Beat the Odds, Delight Their Customers, and Leave Competitors in the Dust, Wiley, 1st ed., Mar 2012