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agile development

  is the emphasis on face‑to‑face communication to define 

requirements rather than detailed requirements specifications.   

 

Scrum

 is a methodology that supports agile software development. Scrum involves the 

 scrum master  who is effectively a project manager, the  product owner  who represents the 

stakeholders such as the business owners and customers, and the   scrum   team  which includes 

the  developers.   

 Scrum is based on focussed sprints of a  15–  30‑day period where the team creates an incre‑

ment of potentially releasable software. Potential functionality for each sprint is agreed at a 

 sprint planning meeting from the product backlog,  a prioritised set of  high‑  level requirements. 

The sprint planning meeting is itself iterative with the product owner stating their require‑

ments from the product backlog and the technical team then determining how much of this 

they can commit to complete during the forthcoming sprint. The term ‘scrum’ refers to a 

daily project status meeting during the sprint. 

 The principles of agile development are encapsulated in the  Agile Manifesto   ( 

http:// 

 agilemanifesto.org/

 ), which was agreed in 2001 by proponents of previous rapid devel‑

opment methodologies, including the Dynamic Systems Development Methodology and 

Extreme Programming. The Agile Manifesto is useful in illustrating the principles of agile 

programming which it contrasts with traditional approaches. The text of the manifesto is: 

  We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others 

do it. 

 Through this work we have come to value: 

   

● 

  Individuals and interactions over processes and tools  

  

● 

  Working software over comprehensive documentation  

  

● 

  Customer collaboration over contract negotiation  

  

● 

  Responding to change over following a plan   

 That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.     

  Human  resource  requirements 

 Digital business implementation requires specialist skills that may not be present within 

an organisation. The range of specialist skill requirements is indicated in  Figure   10.8   . The 

E‑consultancy (2005) research showed that over half of respondents felt it was a challenge, 

although there were more pressing challenges.  

 Digital business project managers have a choice of building a new skills set within their 

organisation or outsourcing and partnering with other organisations.