DZone
Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile
  • Manage Email Subscriptions
  • How to Post to DZone
  • Article Submission Guidelines
Sign Out View Profile
  • Post an Article
  • Manage My Drafts
Over 2 million developers have joined DZone.
Log In / Join
Refcards Trend Reports Events Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Join Today! Thanks for visiting DZone today,
Edit Profile Manage Email Subscriptions Moderation Admin Console How to Post to DZone Article Submission Guidelines
View Profile
Sign Out
Refcards
Trend Reports
Events
Zones
Culture and Methodologies Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
Culture and Methodologies
Agile Career Development Methodologies Team Management
Data Engineering
AI/ML Big Data Data Databases IoT
Software Design and Architecture
Cloud Architecture Containers Integration Microservices Performance Security
Coding
Frameworks Java JavaScript Languages Tools
Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance
Deployment DevOps and CI/CD Maintenance Monitoring and Observability Testing, Tools, and Frameworks
  1. DZone
  2. Culture and Methodologies
  3. Agile
  4. Scrum Myths: Scrum Conflicts With Fixed Dates

Scrum Myths: Scrum Conflicts With Fixed Dates

Agile software development is a better alternative to the fixed scope project approach. It's more of a value-delivered approach.

Alex Ballarin user avatar by
Alex Ballarin
·
Feb. 07, 17 · Opinion
Like (1)
Save
Tweet
Share
7.30K Views

Join the DZone community and get the full member experience.

Join For Free

This is a very common myth, especially with people who develop software only within the context of a closed scope (i.e., a traditional project). The Scrum framework is agnostic when it comes to set the context of software development; it just talks about “complex product development.” In general, Agile software development avoids this concept of “project.”

The Iron Triangle

iron_triangle

Software development is an activity that is frequently outsourced to IT companies with technical and domain know-how. Most of the time, those collaborations are shaped by a “project contract” based on the iron triangle model. This model identifies four aspects of the software development endeavor that are tightly related: the product scope, the delivery time, the contract cost, and (the most frequently overlooked) the product quality. It happens so often that later, those constraints become impediments in case the contract was not accurate (the bigger the more likely) and changes should be agreed to succeed in the project.

Why is this? The main reasons to continue using fixed scope projects are:

  • Distrust between the customer and the software supplier.
  • Corporate aversion to risk.
  • “We always did it this way.”

The last available edition (2015) of the famous Chaos Report by Standish Group shows than less of one-third of projects is considered successful, so people buying software projects would do well in considering why to continue doing it. Trying to maximize all four aspects of the iron triangle at the same time usually entails losing out in all.

Agile software development generally changes this “fixed scope project” approach, fixing resources, time, and quality, and estimating scope. Due to the transparency and prioritization of the features provided by the product backlog in Scrum, the probability of having a troubled project decreases significantly.

Unused Software

Another source of criticism for fixed scope projects it that they produce software with many unused features. The classical “ROI, it’s your job,” study by Jim Johnson reveals that 64% of features delivered by projects are rarely or never used. Although the sample of projects is very small, my gut feeling tells me that reality may not be very different from that, which is a big waste of money and time.

Planning a Project Using Scrum

Projects can be planned with Scrum. From the point of view of product management, this is usually called “release management.” The scope management tool is the Product Backlog, and it can be estimated before the development starts. Scrum calls for empirical process control to avoid waste due to requirements identified too early, so the lightest scope definition should be made, which creates trust with the product buying part. The “transparency leg” of empiricism entails being radically honest with the customer about the risk of not delivering the full scope on the expected timeframe and eventually allocating a reasonable contingency (i.e., in the form of extra Sprints). The Product Owner is responsible for involving the stakeholders in the progress tracking and helping them to shift from an “original scope mindset” to a “value delivered mindset.”

burndown

Closing

Scrum can be used to plan and track a development with a fixed scope, although some other common beliefs about traditional project management (such as the concept of a fixed scope project) should be revisited to help customers to evolve into a healthier product management mindset.

scrum Software development agile

Published at DZone with permission of , DZone MVB. See the original article here.

Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own.

Popular on DZone

  • PHP vs React
  • Automated Performance Testing With ArgoCD and Iter8
  • Writing a Modern HTTP(S) Tunnel in Rust
  • A Simple Union Between .NET Core and Python

Comments

Partner Resources

X

ABOUT US

  • About DZone
  • Send feedback
  • Careers
  • Sitemap

ADVERTISE

  • Advertise with DZone

CONTRIBUTE ON DZONE

  • Article Submission Guidelines
  • Become a Contributor
  • Visit the Writers' Zone

LEGAL

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

CONTACT US

  • 600 Park Offices Drive
  • Suite 300
  • Durham, NC 27709
  • support@dzone.com
  • +1 (919) 678-0300

Let's be friends: