Scrum Development
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One of the less apparent requirements of our Project is the framework we work in, namely Scrum. Scrum is an Agile Project Framework that is prominently used within the video game industry. For me personally, Scrum has always been slightly mysterious. That may sound a bit strange to say when you consider the fact that I am studying Project Management, but there are some reasons for this. I just finished up a whole semester of studying traditional Project Management, in the agile course we are being taught the DSDM framework and now we are suddenly expected to use Scrum in the Game Design Course. The thing that confounds me about Scrum, is that I don’t quite feel like I understand it completely. I don’t know excactly how much we are supposed to know about Scrum, how accurately we are meant to follow the framework, or how well I and my team live up to those requirements. We were actually given a quick rundown of Scrum earlier in the Game Design course which also included a test, and since I pretty much aced that test, I should be confident in my abilities right? Well, comparing the 5 questions of the Scrum “test” to the literal books we read about Traditional management, makes me feel like there are deeper aspects of Scrum than what those five questions expected me to understand. Putting those concerns aside however, I think that our team has benefitted tremendously from applying the Scrum framework. Primarily the incremental and adaptive form of development. Since the product backlog was completed, it has been both easy and efficient to work on the project. Working in continuos sprints where we could prioritise and arrange tasks as needed has helped us create a working environment in which the goal always feels achievable. I also believe that the repetitious pattern of working in sprints helps create a sense of security within the group, a clear pattern to follow each week. Speaking of patterns, one of the more challenging aspects of the Scrum framework has been the Stand-Up-Meetings. I have already discussed this in my first blog post, but to give a quick summary: Stand-Up-Meetings can be difficult to arrange because of how the schedules differ between the individual team members, as well as how reluctant team members can be to actually meet face-to-face for just a meeting. While this created some difficulties initially, I managed to overcome it, and I feel like I have gotten useful experience which will help me in future Scrum projects. And that is what the course is about after all, it is a learning experience, and valuable lessons like those is what makes me appreciate the course. For this reason, I am glad that we were given the opportunity to work in such a prominent framework.  |