Product Update: Agile Project Management with Scrum Boards, Backlog & Sprints in OrangeScrum

It is well known that Scrum is one of the most popular frameworks of Agile Project Management methodology.

A 2013 survey showed that over 56% of all software development projects which are managed using an agile method are using Scrum.

And this percentage of scrum users are increasing for the simple fact that – Scrum is simple, straightforward, and easy to implement compared to other iterative and incremental development methodologies out there.

Scrum helps teams address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value and quality.

This is the very reason why we have released the “Scrum” framework of agile project management in the Orangescrum SaaS (Cloud) edition.

So, let’s see how you can implement agile project management with OrangeScrum. Before we start, let me explain a few scrum terminologies you should know.

Product Owner:

The Product Owner serves as the liaison between the development team and its customers. The Product Owner is ultimately accountable for managing the product backlog and accepting completed works incrementally.

Scrum Master:

This team member serves as a facilitator. The Scrum master is responsible for ensuring that the team adheres to Scrum theory, practices, and rules and that the project is able to move forward. The Scrum Master protects the team by doing anything possible to help the team perform at the highest level. This may include removing impediments, facilitating meetings, and helping the Product Owner groom the backlog.

The Scrum Team:

The Development Team is a self-organizing, cross-functional group armed with all the skills to deliver shippable increments at the completion of each sprint.

Backlog:

The product backlog is the single most important document that outlines every requirement for a system, project or product. The product backlog can be thought of as a to-do list consisting of work items, each of which produces a deliverable with business value. Backlog items are ordered in terms of business value by the Product Owner.

The sprint backlog is a list of tasks that must be completed before selected product backlog items can be delivered. These are divided into time-based user stories.

Sprint:

A sprint is a time-boxed period during which specific work is completed and made ready for review. Sprints are usually 2-4 weeks long but can be as short as one week.

The Daily Stand-up is a short communication meeting (no more than 15 minutes) in which each team member quickly and transparently covers progress since the last stand-up, planned work before the next meeting, and any impediments that may be blocking his or her progress.

Scrum Board:

The Scrum board or task board is a useful visual tool that provides an at-a-glance reference for both the Scrum team and stakeholders. It provides a daily reminder of the sprint goal and the work to which the Scrum team has committed.

How to create a Sprint in OrangeScrum?

OrangeScrum allows you to:-

• Add your planned/necessary tasks to
• Get to know the quick task status of tasks and remaining time in Active sprints.
• Drag and drop the task to change the status of the task in Kanban.
• Get information on the closed sprints in Sprint Report

How to start agile project management methodology “Scrum” in OrangeScrum?

You can add a relevant project management methodology while creating a project. You can follow the below steps:

• Click on ‘+Quick Link’ and click on ‘Project’.
• Add the project detail like Project Name, Project Short Name, Priority, Default task type, etc.
• Further select ‘Scrum’ or ‘Simple Project’ from the Project Methodology drop-down.

• Once all details are added, click on ‘Create’ to create the project.

Method: – 1

• Navigate to the ‘Backlog’ page from the left panel.

• Click on ‘+Quick task’ under Backlog to add the task title and click on 

Method: – 2

• Click on ‘+Quick Links’ and click on ‘Task’.
• Add Task title, Assignee name, Estimated hours, Task type, etc.
• Select the sprint as ‘Backlog’ and click on ‘Save and Exit’.

To create Sprints,

• Navigate to the ‘Backlog’ page from the left panel.
• Click on ‘Create Sprints’ and add the Sprint name and Description.

• Click on ‘Create’ to add the Sprint.
• Once you create a Sprint, you need to add tasks from your backlog list.

There are two methods you can follow to add tasks to a Sprint:-

Method 1:-

• Navigate to the ‘Backlog’ page from the left panel.
• Click on the task. It will take you to the task detail pop-up.
• Click on Sprint to change the Sprint of a task.

Method 2:-

• Navigate to the ‘Backlog’ page from the left panel.
• Hover to the extreme left of the task to get the hand image.
• Click and hold the task to drag and drop it under the required Sprint.

Now you have created your sprint, assign proper priority, and to the concerned scrum team member to work on your sprint items/tasks.

To see where your sprint stands in Scrum Board,

• Navigate to the ‘Active Sprints’ page from the left panel.
• By default, the active sprints of the last used project will be displayed. Select a particular project from the project drop-down to find the active sprints of the chosen project.

Sprint review or daily stand-up meetings can be done on the basis of your Scrum board. Once all your tasks from the Sprints are resolved or completed, you can close a sprint.

You can close a sprint if there are no active tasks under the sprint. If there are active tasks, it will ask you to move the open task to other sprints. To close a sprint, please refer below steps:-

• Navigate to the ‘Active Sprints’ page from the left panel.
• By default, the active sprints of the last used project will be displayed. Select a particular project from the project drop-down to find the active sprints of the chosen project.

• Click on ‘Complete Sprint’. If the sprint has open tasks, it will ask you to move it to other sprints.
• Select the sprint to which you would like to move the open tasks.

• Once done, click on Complete

Again from the backlog list, you can create your next sprint. You can see the Sprint reports once you complete a Sprint.

The Sprint report shows you the details of completed Sprints in the project. In the below image, we can see for the project “College management system”, sprint ‘Placement department’ is completed.

You can see ‘Meeting with Infosys HR’ and ‘Meeting with Principal for placement’ are the completed task. You cannot close a Sprint with tasks in new or in-progress status. When you try to close a sprint with open tasks, you will be prompted with the count of open tasks along with the list of other open sprints from the project to move all open tasks.

Over to you

In conclusion, Scrum is the most popular agile project management framework because of its simplicity and high performance. It provides a sense of achievement, an instant feedback mechanism, and transparent ownership of work done within a team.

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