I.J. Modern Education and Computer Science, 2017, 8, 16-24 Published Online August 2017 in MECS (http://www.mecs-press.org/) DOI: 10.5815/ijmecs.2017.08.03 Copyright © 2017 MECS I.J. Modern Education and Computer Science, 2017, 8, 16-24 IScrum: An Improved Scrum Process Model Sara Ashraf, Shabib Aftab Department of Computer Science, Virtual University of Pakistan Email: sara22.ashraf@gmail.com, shabib.aftab@gmail.com Received: 27 May 2017; Accepted: 18 June 2017; Published: 08 August 2017 Abstract—Resolving a wide domain of issues and offering a variety of benefits to software engineering, makes the Agile process models attractive for researchers. Scrum has been recognized as one of the most promising and successfully adopted agile process models at software industry. The reason behind vast recognition is its contribution towards increased productivity, improved collaboration, quick response to fluctuating market needs and faster delivery of quality product. Though Scrum performs better for small projects but there are certain challenges that practitioners encounter while implementing it. Experts have made some efforts to adapt the Scrum in a way that could remove those drawbacks and limitations, however, no single effort addresses all the issues. This paper is intended to present a tailored version of Scrum aimed at improving documentation, team’s performance, and visibility of work, testing, and maintenance. The proposed model involves adapting and innovating the traditional Scrum practices and roles to overcome the problems while preserving the integrity and simplicity of the model. Index Terms—Scrum, Improved Scrum, Tailored Scrum, Customized Scrum, Agile Model, Software Process Improvement I. INTRODUCTION Scrum is a light-weight software development framework embodies adaptive, evolutionary, and cooperative attributes [23] [24]. Abrahamsson [24] defines Scrum as a project management approach proven effective for co-located and small development teams. For managing complex and dynamic software projects, Scrum acquainted with the concept of empirical process control. Keeping in view the empirical reality of the project, the plans are consistently inspected and adapted [25]. According to Alliance [27], 62% of the projects employing Scrum have been delivered successfully. Agile Scrum has minimized the overall software development time [26]. It is a customer-centered and value-driven approach, therefore, it embraces changing demands of customers to achieve their satisfaction and involvement. Scrum focuses on project management, for circumstances where planning is troublesome initially, the principle component, the feedback-loops are used as tool for empiric process control. Scrum is employed through three key roles: product owner, scrum master and development team. The product is created by a self- organizing and cross-functional team in short-term stages called sprints (usually of 2 to 4 weeks). Each sprint begins with a sprint planning meeting and closes with retrospective evaluation. Product owner maintains a product backlog i.e. a list of prioritized features that must be implemented. The development team chooses which tasks are to be executed in the following sprint and develops a sprint backlog. Daily Scrum is a stand-up meeting of about 15 minutes, conducted at the start of the day to coordinate the team activities. While Scrum master tackles issues that might cause hindrances for the Scrum team. To acquire feedback, potentially shippable product is presented in sprint review meeting. A retrospective meeting is held at the end of sprint, for evaluation of process and its improvement [29] [30] [41]. The Scrum process model overview can be seen in Fig. 1. Scrum works well for project management but has certain limitations in technical engineering aspect. There are a number of such weak areas in Scrum, a few of them are being discussed here in the following. We have to learn principles and values of Scrum, not only the practices [34]. Many problems arise due to the reason that Scrum team is not Scrum trained [31]. Scrum certification and training is recommended by 32%, while 11% of the members of the organizations need them for effective implementation of Scrum, since it has significantly improved the process and practices of Scrum [35] [36]. If product owner and customer are not scrum trained that may cause project failure. The development is driven mainly by product owner so if he is not well trained, it might lead the development team to a wrong track [32]. There is a lack of documentation in Scrum. Sprints are too short to manage time for a strict formal documentation along with accomplishment of other sprint tasks. It has been found that Product backlog is not updated properly as most of the requests for change in requirements are received directly through emails and phone calls; that may lead to traceability concerns later. Different team members are documenting that may result in lack of standardization and increase in bug rate [37] [38].