What is the Difference between Agile and Scrum?

Project management has been an integral part of business entities. Since it’s inception, it is used in different forms in many businesses in order to achieve the business goals. Anything planned to achieve individually or collaboratively is called as a project. The project success is dependent on budget, feasibility, time and proper management. This blog will help you to know the different aspects of managing project, also we will figure out what is the difference between agile and scrum.s

1. What is Project Management?
2. What is a Project Management Methodology?
3. What is an Agile Methodology?
4. What is the Scrum Methodology?
5. Differences between Agile and Scrum.

What is Project Management?

Project Management is the application of different tools, process, skills, and resources, ideally to achieve the objectives of a Project. Project Management is applied through five stages:

•   Initiating   
•   Planning
•   Execution
•   Monitoring and Controlling
•   Project Sign Off/ Closing     

Now, there are a lot of ways to apply project management, these ways are generally referred to as project management methodologies. Let’s explore more about this concept.

What is a Project Management Methodology?

The steps involved in any project management methodology in general are,

• A formally written plan is initially created and it will be put for the consideration of others. The plans are created based on the requirement received from a client or within the organization. This stage is called the initiating stage.
• After this, the project manager will start planning for the project. The requirement gathering and forecasting will be done at this stage.
• Planning stage helps the project manager to calculate the cost, feasibility, resources required and time frame required for the project.
• Subsequentially after the planning is done, execution will be started. The project manager will drive the entire process as per the project plan which was created earlier.
• Along with execution, the project manager ensures the supervision of the project also to make sure that the project is going as per plan and to correct it if not. 
• Project Sign Off is the acceptance of the project by either the client or the one who raised the requirement. This is done through a post-review meeting to ensure all the task mentioned in the project plan are achieved and it’s satisfactory, most cases there will be demo or testing.

This is how generally project management is done. But the overall process has a system of method which is accepted universally to perform an activity, that’s called methodology. There are different types of project management methodologies, each methodology has its own specialties, they are different from each other in terms of execution and achieving the goals of a specified project. It depends on the type of project to choose the methodology. Following are the generally used project management methodologies.

•       Agile
•       Scrum
•       Kanban
•       Lean
•       Waterfall
•       Six Sigma

Before discussing the differences between agile and scrum, let’s try to understand each of these methodologies in detail.

Agile Methodology

Agile methodology is an incremental and iterative approach, used mainly for software development. The basic concept used here is to break the complex projects into smaller units which are achievable in the specific time frame. Here are some key factors regarding the agile methodology that you must be aware of.

• In agile, software development and testing are conducted parallelly in this approach.
• This approach enjoys greater flexibility since it is possible to change the requirement since the development are done as separate blocks.
• It promotes a lot of cross-functional collaborations among the members and real face 2 face discussion are needed in this process.
• Agile promotes feedback to make sure that the product is more useful
• In Agile methodology, the stakeholders, business owners, developers, and project managers often meet to discuss the progress and to update any change of requirement.

As per the Agile manifesto cemented in 2001 by 13 industry leader’s there are four values and 12 principles which drive the Agile methodology.

Values listed in Agile Manifesto

1.   Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
2.   Working software over comprehensive documentation.
3.   Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4.   Responding to change over following a plan.

Agile methodology can be considered as the prime process as it has paved the way for the development of many other iterative and incremental approach. The most popular Agile frameworks which were created out Agile are Scrum, Crystal, Dynamic Systems Development and Feature- Driven Development.  Agile development requires continuous planning, development, testing, and integration for the development of the project. It is not complex considered to the traditional waterfall method and is flexible enough to adapt as per the circumstances arise. Agile Model focuses on building quality product parts into production rather than inspecting for quality once the project is implemented, that’s why Agile is referred to as an incremental and iterative approach.

Scrum Methodology

Scrum is another project management methodology which comes under the broader umbrella of Agile project management. Like Agile, Scrum promotes accountability, teamwork, and function in an iterative and incremental approach. Scrum projects are driven by Scrum master along with product managers and developers. The time frame for each built which are released into production are denoted as a sprint in a Scrum system, normally a sprint will be 10 days to 4 weeks longer.

• It is a framework within which people can solve complex adaptive problems and continuously providing results in smaller portions which are of higher quality.
• Scrum system has its own rules, events, and roles which enables more efficiency. 

In Scrum, the process starts with sprint planning within the members to discuss the work that is going to be undertaken in the upcoming sprint. Once the sprint gets started there will be daily sprint meeting to discuss access the development of the project. After the sprint is completed there will a sprint review and sprint retrospective to check the efficiency of work and to come up with a better plan for the upcoming sprint.

Scrum is not Equal to Agile, Why?

Scrum is a part of Agile, while Agile is a larger umbrella which consists of other methodologies also.

Agile was derived because of the problems caused by the traditional waterfall method used in software development. Waterfall method was too sequential and to avoid that Agile was invented. Agile process enjoys the flexibility and adapting the changing requirements. Agile always included the customer in the process of development by getting consistent feedback. This reduced the risk of low acceptance of product at the final stage from the customer side as well. Agile is shapeless since it doesn’t have any structure. All the members in Agile shares equal responsibility in sharing the success and failures. It’s a collective effort in Agile methodology.

Scrum is an improved way of Agile Methodology. It shares the same principles and values of Agile while adding its own unique features. Scrum methodology has two new mandatory roles: Product Owner and Scrum Master.  Product owners always communicate with the client to get the requirements and feedbacks, it helps to turn the client wishes to product features. Scrum master is the person who is responsible for the coordination for the Scrum team’s activities. It is a highly successful and widely used agile approach with multiple benefits.

Conclusion

So, what we can conclude from the above discussion is that both Agile and Scrum are formed from the same idea of providing a flawless experience to the customer in the software development cycle, but it depends on the type of project, budget, time and feasibility to choose which one apt for the project we are working on. Both cannot be substituted with each other, Agile is more preferred for an aggressive approach compared to Scrum. No, they are not similar they are known for their differences.

This brings us to the end of  ‘Differences Between Agile and Scrum’ article. Make sure you are well versed with the Scrum terminology before you start using it. There can be no better time than right now to get certified in Scrum.

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section of this “Scrum vs Agile” article and we will get back to you as soon as possible.