Introduction to Agile & Scrum Methodologies

If this the first time you’re learning about the project management and Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), then it will be confusing for you to keep up with the different terminologies.

And especially the terms Agile and Scrum are often confused among new developers. In most cases, they are used synonymously because of their similarity.

In this article I will be explaining how these two project development methodology differs from each other. Before we explore their difference let’s see what these methodologies mean.

What is Agile Methodology?

Agile is a development framework that contains continuous iteration and development of the software which aims at the final customer satisfaction. In Agile the development and testing are done concurrently. This helps you to find the bugs in every development phase.

Due to the continuous testing and development nature of this method, there is a need for frequent client response. There are different types of Agile Project Management techniques like Kanban, Scrum, Extreme Programming (XP), etc…

Joseph Griffin states that “Agile is primarily a project management philosophy centered on specific values and principles, Think of Agile broadly as a guiding orientation for how we approach project work”

The basic principle of the Agile methodology is that the development process should be flexible enough to accept the change.

What is Scrum?

As mentioned earlier, Scrum is a type of Agile Software development methodology. It also follows the principles of Agile methodology but more product or project-specific.

Under the Scrum-based project development, the whole development process is broken down into several small parts called sprints. Each sprint carries specific tasks and a definite period to finish it. Mostly, each sprint will be one or two weeks long.

At the end of each sprint period, the project is tested before the client, and if any error is found they are fixed before the starting of the next period. The Sprint report is prepared at it will be ascertained by both the project manager and the client.

The Scrum master and the project manager plays important role in the success of Scrum Development process. They will separate the whole task and assign the period for them based on the complexity of the project.

Like this, it also follows the agile principle of continuous testing and development.  And it is also easy to change the development direction if the client’s needs changed in-between the development process.

Comparison Table: Agile vs Scrum

Though Scrum is the sub-division of agile project development, it also integrated some principles from other methodologies. So they have many differences between them. Here are some of them for you.

PARAMETER	AGILE SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT	SCRUM SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
Nature	Agile is a product development philosophy	Scrum is a type of software development framework derived from the agile philosophy.
Approach	It takes an incremental and continuous iteration approach	It involves a continuous iteration approach but aims to deliver the software in the shortest time.
Flexibility	Comparatively agile is more rigid; it is flexible but can’t handle frequent changes.	It is more flexible and responds quickly to the changes
Clients Involvement	It needs face-to-face client co-operation in each testing.	There are no many client involvements, all the changes are fixed in the daily stand-up meeting by the Scrum master, product owner, and team members.
Pre-Implementation process	It needs a lot of up-front works and organizational changes before implementation.	Comparatively, it has an easy implementation
Roles	There are one leader and team member. Here the leadership plays an important role.	There are three different roles like scrum master, product owner, and development team members.
Internal working	The project head or leader is responsible for all the works.	There is no leader so the entire responsibility is shared between the team members.
Design nature	The overall design and execution are kept simple.	The development design can be innovative and experimental
Delivery	The software is delivered and updated regularly with the client.	The software is delivered at the end of each sprint.

Download the Comparison Table: Agile vs Scrum

Though Scrum is the framework derived from the agile methodology, it is more effective than the agile framework in some scenarios. If you are willing more freedom of development and fast delivery then scrum is the best choice for you.

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