Sprint Zero | Sprint 0 | Sprint Zero in Agile

In my previous article i have given the idea about the agile framework as well as multiple roles in agile. I have explained about what exactly the Sprint is and different sprints as well.In this article i would like to explain the Sprint Zero with real life example. I would like to explain thee Sprint zero discovery process in details so that user will get idea about the process in depth.

What is Sprint Zero?

In this section i would like to give the description of Sprint Zero with its execution steps.Before that we need to know what is sprint.

The sprint is nothing but the short time period in which scrum team needs to complete identified amount of work.

Now we need to discuss about what exactly the Sprint Zero in detail. Sprint 0 is nothing but the period where we require to complete the high level planning to execute the large transformations.

Sprint Zero bulletpoints :

1. Sprint 0 will use to define the high level planning for other sprints
2. Sprint 0 time-span might vary from 2-4 weeks
3. Planning for team and team building will be done in this phase

There are multiple phases in Sprint zero :

Phase 1 : Defining the Objective of Sprint

In this phase user or scrum master needs to define the Objective of the sprint in detail.It involves high level planning and defining the objective and benefits of the solution.

Example :

If you want to build eCommerce website for the Post office for Maharashtra state. You want to define objective clearly and the short term and long term benefits of it.

kindly check the following important objectives :

• Place the Post office Maharashtra as player and website will be in all languages supported globally.
• What will be the probable enhancements as per the demand.
• Provide user friendly system in major Indian languages
• fetch the revenue up to 5 crore rupees
• Define budget allocation to the teams
• Define multiple external dependencies for the teams – example – Payment gateway system needs to be used.

Phase 2 : Success Factors Identification

We need to identify the success factors with using multiple metrices.

By considering the online solution for the postal system and eCommerce solution following will be the metrics used to identify the success factors for the sprint.

1.Value of the Sprint :

It defines nothing but the revenue of the delivered features.

2.Bug Fixes per Sprint :

It defines nothing but the fixes we require to do per sprint.

3.Velocity :

Velocity is nothing but number of story-points.

4.Efforts :

Efforts are nothing but the efforts we spent for completion for sprint.

5.Defects Density :

Defect density is nothing but the total number of defects per sprint.

6.Percent Rework :

The Percent rework is nothing but the rework we require to do to complete the sprint one by one.

7.Total test cases :

The total test cases we require to complete the testing features.

The above metrics are used to fine tune the process of scrum.

Phase 3 : Identify and Onboard the team

The third and important step for the Scrum zero is to identify the correct team for the project and onboard it accordingly. As i have explained in previous articles that the following are three important roles we require to consider in scrum :

1. Developer Team
2. Scrum Master
3. Product Owner

Developer Team :

By considering the eCommerce project for Maharashtra post department we require to build the team or onboard the team.

Developer 1 : Which has knowledge of Designing the website.

Developer 2 : Who will complete code part for the eCommerce Website.

Subject Matter Expert : Who is the expert in eCommerce sites.

Client : Client who is the product owner

Technical Architect : Who can design the architecture for the website

Content writer : Who can build the content

Business Analyst : Who can collect the requirements from the customer and give that requirements to the developer.

Testers Team : We require the functional testing team to test multiple functionalities.

The developer team is nothing but the mixed team with the architects,testers,developers and subject matter experts.Following 3 points we need to consider while onboarding the team :

• The team has to have mixed experiences with freshers and experienced people
• There is need of technical architect who may guide the team according to technical things
• We require to take adequate number of developers and testers

Scrum Master :

The vital role of Scrum process is on-boarding scrum master. Scrum master should be the person who can have good experience in managing the projects who can own the scrum process and resolve the issues related to the scrum process. He is responsible for :

1. Scrum Process : He/She is responsible for the actual scrum process.
2. Problem Solver : He/She is the problem solver.
3. Protector : He has to be protector and he is responsible for any loss in scrum process.

Responsibilities of Scrum master in Sprint Zero :

a.   Identify the skill sets required

b.   Onboard a stable and cross-functional team

c.   Ensure availability of product owner or identify a proxy product owner if customer and team is not co-located

Product Owner :

The person who is responsible for the vision and goal of project with the actual release management as well. The product owner is responsible for multiple sprint releases. The customer is the good or best choice for product owner. We can hire project managers,Customers or business analysts as well.

1. A Proxy product owner is the person who is mirror image for product owner who is responsible for the all product releases or product related activities.
2. Availability of product owner is a must for Scrum to succeed
3. It is a good idea to have one product owner identified for a team rather than have multiple people playing that role to avoid confusions and conflicts in requirements.
4. It is recommended to use the client as product owner and business analyst as proxy product owner for success for scrum.

I hope you like the article on sprint zero and you will able to build the scrum team and execute the sprint zero.If you like this article or if you have any questions related to the same kindly comment in comments section.