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3 Best Practices to Manage Software Projects

Software projects require a different set of rules and procedures as compared to other more traditional projects. A project management methodology that was specially created for managing the requirements of software projects includes the scrum project management.

Here we will take a look at some of the important features of the project management approach.

Scrum Project Management for Managing Software Projects

Scrum is a popular software management technique that was developed in the 1990s. It is an iterative approach to managing the projects. The project management methodology has at its core the sprint. During the initial sprint meeting, a sprint backlog is prepared. This backlog is reviewed and amended during subsequent sprints.

Scrum meetings can be held daily by reviewing what the team had completed the day before. The progress of the team is measured by reviewing what the team had done previously. Essentially, the scrum team evaluates the progress towards a sprint goal. After each sprint, a retro meeting is held in order to evaluate the performance and make necessary modifications.

Scrum is popular with managing software projects due to the iterative nature. Inspection and modification is the daily part of the scrum process.

Important Components of the Scrum Methodology

Scrum Master – The scrum master ensures that the team completes all the tasks on time and budget. The scrum master is not the project manager but acts as a facilitator blocking issues and streamlining the process of implementing the scrum approach.

Scrum Team – The scrum team consists of different individuals headed by a project manager. The scrum team is self-organizing and cross-functional. The team carries out actual work including design, analysis, development, documentation, and testing. The scrum team creates scrum backlog that contains important elements that must be completed during a particular period. The team may use a collaboration software to better manage the tasks and operations.

Product Owner – The product owner is generally the customer who is the ultimate owner of the product. The owner creates product backlog consisting of features that must be implemented in the product.

Take-away

Scrum is an agile project management technique that is ideal for managing software projects. The technique provides an opportunity for project managers to efficiently complete the project. The team members work cohesively in order to complete the projects. They are guided by the scrum master to ensure adherence to scrum project management methodology.

The scrum project management approach serves as an alternate approach to Kanban and other similar methodologies for continues improvement. The approach can help in the completion of software projects within specific time and budget. The end result of the inspect-and-adapt project management approach is more quality outcome that can meet the needs of stakeholders. Using the scrum methodology can improve the outcome of the project successfully meeting the requirements of the customer.