Feb 9, 2015

On Scrum

As members of Space Monkey Studio (SMS), we adhere to the Agile Scrum methodology. By beginning each two week sprint with a two hour planning meeting, we are able to clearly define tasks and take responsibility for those tasks with a certain number of hours bid for its completion. Through “daily” scrum meetings (“daily”, because we meet as a whole team only three days a week), we can easily stay updated on the progress others have made and identify which tasks rely on the completion others. We end each sprint with sprint review and retrospective meetings in which we review our newest iteration of the game and any other artifacts of the sprint. We then identify practices we did well and practices we need to improve on or change.

Scrum has been extremely useful in coordinating a multidisciplinary team. It allows for open communication and the forming of temporary scrum teams to tackle a task, which has encouraged team members to draw on the expertise of members in other disciplines. For example, artists (visual and audio) and programmers worked together to integrate the different artwork (assets) into the game. We also worked to equip the artists with the knowledge to able to rapidly integrate assets as soon as they are produced.

Scrum gives just enough structure to be productive, and no more. It has given us a plan and structure so that we can work effectively as a team, while also allowing individual team members to take initiative and contribute to the success of the project.

For more information on Agile Scrum and how it works in agile software development, Agile Scrum Website!

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