What's a good, simple introduction to scrum for software development?
February 12, 2010 6:56 AM Subscribe
What are some good resources for a small team looking to adopt scrum for game development (and software creation in general)?
Going to be starting on a new software project (game, if it matters) hopefully in the near-ish future. It's going to be a pretty small team, so I'd like to try to get everyone on board for doing something more scrum-ish. But the longest I've ever been on a scrum project was about three months. Enough to get a taste for how it can be useful, but not long enough to really internalize the process. So I'm looking to fill that in a bit.
Basically, I'm looking for information in line with what I'd getting spending a couple hours in a pub with someone who'd been through several projects doing this successfully. The three big mistakes folks usually make adopting scrum, and things of that nature. I know there are scrum certifications, class, etc. That's too heavy-weight given my time and our needs.
37 Signal's Getting Real looks good, but I'm not sure how portable their advice is to games. Articles, books, even personal experiences would be fantastic.
Going to be starting on a new software project (game, if it matters) hopefully in the near-ish future. It's going to be a pretty small team, so I'd like to try to get everyone on board for doing something more scrum-ish. But the longest I've ever been on a scrum project was about three months. Enough to get a taste for how it can be useful, but not long enough to really internalize the process. So I'm looking to fill that in a bit.
Basically, I'm looking for information in line with what I'd getting spending a couple hours in a pub with someone who'd been through several projects doing this successfully. The three big mistakes folks usually make adopting scrum, and things of that nature. I know there are scrum certifications, class, etc. That's too heavy-weight given my time and our needs.
37 Signal's Getting Real looks good, but I'm not sure how portable their advice is to games. Articles, books, even personal experiences would be fantastic.
Try the references listed in the "Further Reading" section of the Scrum Wikipedia article. I can particularly recommend Scrum and XP from the Trenches.
If your team is smaller than five members, however, Scrum may not provide you enough benefit to justify its costs. The sweet spot for Scrum teams is the hoary old "seven-plus-or-minus-two" team members.
posted by springo at 7:54 AM on February 12, 2010
If your team is smaller than five members, however, Scrum may not provide you enough benefit to justify its costs. The sweet spot for Scrum teams is the hoary old "seven-plus-or-minus-two" team members.
posted by springo at 7:54 AM on February 12, 2010
There was a recent discussion on Slashdot about why scum/agile may not be good for game development in particular. Not saying I agree...
posted by cseibert at 9:18 AM on February 12, 2010
posted by cseibert at 9:18 AM on February 12, 2010
The biggest issues with scrum and game dev are art and engine, but those issues are usually only really problematic on larger games.
Also, scrum is often pitched like a religion, and a very dogmatic one at that. In game dev I find it's better to understand scrum, what problems it helps address and then impliment those things that help with problems your team is having. In fact, dogmatically implimenting scrum can backfire if your team members are creative, anti-rules types like game devs tend to be.
The best bits of scrum for game dev (I have found) are the concepts of a backlog with gatekeepers, daily communication with the whole team, the concept of vertical slicing, short unchangeable milestones, letting the team solve the problems, pre-planning and demo/review. I guess that's most of it huh.
If I could only add one scrum-like thing to a team it would be the daily meeting where everyone says what they did yesterday, what they are doing today, and if they have anything blocking them or need to meet with others to get answers/stuff done. This keeps people on the same page and accountable to their team daily. It can also be powerful for team building.
If you have more questions or want to talk about it on skype or something you can email me at jopreacher at gmail. <note: I am a producer in the game industry and am scrum master certified - twice - once generically and once at a game specific scrum cert)
posted by jopreacher at 5:15 PM on February 12, 2010
Also, scrum is often pitched like a religion, and a very dogmatic one at that. In game dev I find it's better to understand scrum, what problems it helps address and then impliment those things that help with problems your team is having. In fact, dogmatically implimenting scrum can backfire if your team members are creative, anti-rules types like game devs tend to be.
The best bits of scrum for game dev (I have found) are the concepts of a backlog with gatekeepers, daily communication with the whole team, the concept of vertical slicing, short unchangeable milestones, letting the team solve the problems, pre-planning and demo/review. I guess that's most of it huh.
If I could only add one scrum-like thing to a team it would be the daily meeting where everyone says what they did yesterday, what they are doing today, and if they have anything blocking them or need to meet with others to get answers/stuff done. This keeps people on the same page and accountable to their team daily. It can also be powerful for team building.
If you have more questions or want to talk about it on skype or something you can email me at jopreacher at gmail. <note: I am a producer in the game industry and am scrum master certified - twice - once generically and once at a game specific scrum cert)
posted by jopreacher at 5:15 PM on February 12, 2010
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Top 10 Pitfalls Using Scrum Methodology for Video Game Development. This article looks very good at a glance. I'm sure there's more information on Gamasutra, since Scrum has become such a hot topic in the last five or so years.
I've been in the industry for 10 years, but have only used Scrum for a few of them. In my personal experience: don't use Scrum as an excuse to not write documentation or fully implement systems. A fully implemented system has feedback and UI, even if it's not shippable.
posted by liet at 7:30 AM on February 12, 2010