Scrum offers different benefits to people in different roles. If you’re a developer, switching to Scrum will help you in several ways. I am a developer, and I confess, I was a bit apprehensive about Scrum when we started about 3 years ago. But having done it, I think it was the best move for me, my team and our client. The biggest advantage I experienced was a sense of empowerment.

Scrum promotes self-organizing teams. As a part of this team you’ll have better support, better control and higher flexibility. Every sprint the team works towards a common goal and team members are bound to voluntarily help each other do whatever it takes to meet that goal. You’ll have better coordination with your colleagues. Team members will be more willing to seek help when they’re stuck. Team members will also be more willing to help each other. You also get the flexibility of working on different kind of tasks. Team members usually pick tasks in the order of their priority, so you’ll get to work on new things (sometimes with help from another team member). Eventually, the collective knowledge of team will grow.

As a part of scrum team, you have more control over estimations. In scrum, you’re not working on someone else’s schedule. The team estimates, everyone has a say (and stake) in estimation. The commitment per sprint is simply a reflection of your velocity. The whole thing is pretty transparent. Which is beneficial to you as a developer and also to your customer. Estimation techniques like Planning Poker facilitate this and makes sure every team member is involved in the estimations and the conversations around it.

As a part of scrum team, you’ll have lesser instances of high work pressure (or burnouts). Scrum works in Sprints of short durations. Each sprint has a fixed set of goals/commitments which is known right at the start of the sprint. In fact, the team chooses this commitment. Throughout the duration of sprint, the team works together in meeting these goals. The daily scrum meeting helps the team coordinate their efforts towards this goal. You work at a consistent pace and don’t have late nights or burnouts.

I’ve also found that Scrum makes your more involved with your work and your customers. You’ll talk to your customer more often, you understand their problems better and are in a better position to offer solutions. In turn, you’ll feel more satisfied with work you’re doing. You get to make a difference. You’ll also be delivering more often and get feedback from the users sooner. It’ll help you and your customers immensely.

Are you a developer? Are you doing Scrum?

Are you not doing Scrum? Do you have questions or comments for me?

Feel free to post them below.

- Anand Gothe