Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

  Jeff Sutherland

March 25th 2020


My first introduction to scrum was during my computer science capstone project. This introduction was rather very brief and although encouraged to use it, no one saw the merits or the time to implement it. However, after reading this book I have realized the significant benefits and improvements that such a framework can bring.

For anyone that is unaware of scrum, it is basically a framework for product development, emphasizing teamwork, iteration and accountability. The term scrum comes from rugby and refers to the teamwork required to move the ball down the field together.

  " It’s about setting up the right framework with the right incentives and giving people the freedom, respect and authority to do things themselves. "

Scrum, the art of doing twice the work in half the time is written by Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum. The book draws upon a lot of Sutherland’s experience to show how different aspects of Scrum came to be. His experiences although a little much at times, puts the whole idea into perspective. It is however important to note that this book is more about the ideas and reasons for Scrum rather than the implementation side of it.


How does Scrum work ?

During the entire project period, you work in sprints. Each sprint can last upto a month or less but not longer. From what I have gathered and seen, the most common sprint period is two weeks. During each sprint, your team lists a fixed number of work that will be achieved at the end of the sprint. This is called the Backlog.

  " One crucial element of an individual sprint, though, is that once the team commits to what they are going to accomplish, tasks are locked in. Nothing else can be added by anyone outside the team. "


During the sprint period, there is a daily standup meeting lasting no more than 15 minutes. This standup meeting serves to allow other teams members know what work you are doing as well as seek help if there are any challenges.

At the end of every sprint, the team should produce something that can be used by the customer. Nothing is considered done if it cannot be used by the customer.

  " You want to want to get to the things that deliver the most value with the lowest risk first. You want to start delivering value to your customers as soon as you possibly can. You want something that is completely Done-that you can show. "


As Mark Zuckerberg famously put it ““Move fast and break things.” This is exactly what the sprint is designed to achieve. By working in sprints and delivering something physical at the end of each sprint, you receive immediate feedback from the customer.

  " Fail Fast So You Can Fix Early – Working in short cycles and releasing products sooner enables more immediate end user feedback. This means you can eliminate anything that is wasteful or not working quickly to ensure that the work you are delivering is truly fit for purpose."


At the end of each sprint, the team decides one thing that can be improved and becomes the numero uno priority in the next sprint.

  " At the end of each sprint, the team should pick one small improvement or kaizen that will make them happier. And that should become the most important thing they will accomplish in the next sprint. Secrecy is poison. Nothing should be kept secret. "

SCRUM Implementation

The following is taken from the appendix of the book.

  1. Pick a product owner
    This person is the one with the vision of what you are going to do, or accomplish. They take in account risks and rewards, what is possible, what can be done and what they are passionate about.
  2. Pick a team
    The team needs to have all the skills needed to take the product owner’s vision and make it a reality.
  3. Pick a Scrum master
    This is the person who will coach the rest of the team through the Scrum framework and help the team eliminate anything that is slowing them down.
  4. Create and prioritize a Product Backlog
    This is a list of high levels of everything that needs to be built or done to make the vision a reality. Only a single Product Backlog exists: this means the Product owner is required to make prioritization decisions across the entire spectrum.
  5. Refine and Estimate the Product Backlog
    It is crucial that people who are going to complete the items in the Product Backlog estimate how much effort they will take. Do not estimate the Backlog in hours. Estimate by relative size
    Small, Medium or Large.
  6. Sprint Planning
    Sprints are always a fixed length of time. One of the pillars of Scrum is that once the team has committed to what they think they can finish in one Sprint, that's it. It cannot be changed, it cannot be added to. The team must be able to work autonomously throughout the Sprint to complete what they forecast they could.
  7. Make Work Visible
    The most common way to do this in Scrum is to create a Scrum Board with three columns: To Do, Doing, Done.
  8. Daily Stand-up or Daily Scrum
    This is the heartbeat of Scrum. Each day at the same time for no more than fifteen minutes, the tema and the Scrum master meet and answer three questions:
    • What did you do yesterday to help the team finish the Sprint?
    • What will you do today to help the team finish the Sprint?
    • Is there any obstacle blocking you or the team from achieving the Sprint Goal?
  9. Sprint Review or Sprint Demo
    this is a meeting where the team shows what they have accomplished during the sprint.
  10. Sprint Retrospective
    After potentially shipping the product to customers for feedback, the team sits down and thinks about what went right, what could have gone better and what can be made better in the next sprint.

Scrum in a nutshell Picture Source