Irrespective of your software category and work knowledge, it is unlike that you don’t have heard of or used the Agile vs Scrum methodologies. If you don’t, you will gather ample information about these two project management methodologies by the end of this blog.
if you somehow know the usage, you must agree on the term even though both consist of similar approaches and goals.
They have key differences that are hard to define but need to be designated for the betterment of your career.
However, to help you better understand Agile vs Scrum, we have decided to give you a detour of its comparison, key differences, and essential methodologies inside out in the best possible ways.
So, let’s start with a fundamental question!
Table of Contents
What is Agile Methodology?
Agile is a widely used project management methodology in software development work by various IT organizations to accomplish tasks within a collaborative and flexible approach.
Agile comprise enormous set-up task into smaller chunks making them easy to understand and complete in a shorter time frame.
This improves the development team’s productivity, making it easy and quick to adapt to project changes and significantly reducing development cost, time and inefficiencies.
Four core values drive the Agile:
- Assuring more priorities to individuals and interaction than process and tools.
- Quick response to change rather than following the same plan
- Customer collaboration above contract negotiation
- More focus on working software above comprehensive documentation
These four sigma rue of Agile have taken it to the next level. Apart from software industries, many other sectors such as tech, marketing, design, finance, and even constriction department have adopted Agile methodology for the smooth operation of their projects precisely.
What is the Perfect Time to Enroll on Agile Methodology?
As mentioned in the above section, Agile is now highly adopted by different category sectors, there is no such perfect time, and everyone has the freedom to use it as per their need.
However, according to experts, the best time to hop into Agile is when you have multiple projects dealing with unpredictable changes.
You can also use it in large short-term projects such as significant events where you have many categories to fill up with a fixed time and budget and divide the work into various groups for quick deliverables.
What is Scrum Methodology?
Scrum belongs to the Agile framework community, designed to facilitate project collaboration and efficiencies in a frequently changing environment.
Scrum-based project development cycles are divided into tiny blocks, famously known as “Sprints”.
Those sprints consist of three major components – product backlogs, sprint backlogs, and sprint goals, and each sprint is defined, developed and tested by a specific function.
Depending on the complexities of the project, each sprint comes with a due deadline of one to four weeks.
The Scrum team ranges from three to nine people, including a Scrum master and a product owner.
It’s a widely used methodology, including 66% of Agile users and 15% of Scrum, Scrum ban, and Scrum/XP derivatives.
Scrum is built upon three strongest pillars:
Transparency – Everyone involved in the project development process has complete access to information, progress and goals/execution.
Adaption – The project and work are subject to quick change. Be ready for that!
Inspection – Regular inspection will significantly improve the working procedure, resulting in a fast and better outcome.
And five core values:
- Openness
- Courage
- Focus
- Commitment
- Respect
What is the Perfect Time to Enroll on Scrum Methodology?
Scrum is highly preferred by organizations that constantly deal with high-end complex projects in a rapidly changing environment.
Similar to Agile, Scrum is good at handling both small, mid-scale and large projects, assuring quality save in time, cost and effort.
If you are dealing with fixed project requirements within a more traditional approach, Scrum should be your first choice at any given time.
Agile vs Scrum
Agile is designed explicitly for project management, whereas Scrum is a subordinate of Agile that consists of the methodologies you implement in those project development management.
However, certain areas of Scrum set it apart and make it unique from Agile.
Key similarities between Agile vs Scrum
- The primary focus is on people, collaboration and effective communication.
- Adherence to quick adaptivity, changes and feedback
- The short-period project development cycle
What makes Scrum different from Agile?
- Specific roles and responsibilities are divided into scrum master, product owner and development team.
- Work is organized into tiny Sprints, lasting between one to four weeks.
- Scrum team member needs to attend regular “daily scrum’ update meeting.
- Product backlog keeps track of daily tasks, pending tasks and deliverables.
Scrum vs Kanban
The name Kanban came from the Japanese word “Signboard”. The Kanban method uses a board (Virtual or real) and divides it into columns to represent various project phases.
As the project continues its movement, a sticky note representing the project switches to the next step and continues switching until the project meets the deadline.
Unlike Scrum, the project development work in Kanban continues to flow within a strict timeline.
The roles in Kanban are not pre-decided and are subject to change in the mid-way of the project.
The combination of Scrum and Kanban is called Scrum ban.
Scrum vs XP
The acronym of XP is Extreme Programing; another Agile methodology used explicitly for software development management. Similar to various other Agile methods, its primary focus is on minor releases and iterations.
In XP, two developers can pair up and work together on the same project.
Conclusion
To keep pace with your competitors in the ever-evolving and rapidly growing technological era of software development, one has to adapt to adequate project management methodologies like Agile vs Scrum.
Agile first arrived in 2001, and since then, it has become the first choice for smart project management in many industries globally. And why not?
These methodologies help you streamline your project procedure far better by improving overall productivity and smart communication and reducing development costs and time in an advanced manner.
