How to scrum your cloud? Maximize your continuous delivery

Those who believe that the hard work ends after a successful IT Cloud migration, haven't been keeping up with recent developments. Continuously keeping the systems up and running, implementing new features, and ensuring security remain challenging. What's even more challenging is that you're trying to plan for the big unknown. You simply don't know which improvements or threats might emerge in the near future, requiring swift adaptation to new information. As a result, long-term planning becomes nearly impossible. This is where the most beloved flexible framework comes in handy; scrum. But how can Scrum be leveraged most effectively in the context of cloud operations?

Short intro into Scrum

Scrum is not a new concept; it is a well-established framework designed to manage situations in which a lot of unclarities arise. Based on the principle of ‘empiricism’, scrum relies on continuous inspection and adaptation to align team focus with short- or long-term business objectives. In the context of cloud operations, the Scrum team becomes the cornerstone of the value delivery. However, to fully harness all the benefits of a Scrum team, it requires a different approach than traditional estimate-based offerings where deliverables are already clearly defined.In a cloud environment, the deliverables are often unknown and priorities might be completely different in a few weeks for now. That's where the ’Team as a Service’ concept becomes valuable, enabling teams to benefit from the Scrum framework.

(Agile) team as a Service

Within the “Team as a Service” you don't purchase a predefined scope, statement of work or promised outcome. Instead, you purchase a set of competencies and skills for a certain period, enabling you to quickly address challenges that arise, based on priorities. This approach offers maximum flexibility when swift action is required. However, the absence of an upfront scope, means it also requires high levels of trust. Usually, trust builds over time. But how do you establish it at the start of a collaboration? We believe the answer lies in transparancy, full disclosure on what we're working on, visible at all times. This transparency allows us to give a clear understanding of current activities within the team and expected results. After a while you'll notice greater efficiency, as time isn't wasted on constantly adjusting the original scope. Instead, trust is built through constant delivery. Within CloudNation, we embrace this transparancy and found a way within the scrum framework that fully provides this. We call it Cloud Competency as a Service.

Using the Scrum framework within Cloud Competence as a Service

Cloud Competency as a Service is almost identical to the “Team as a Service” proposition, but stands apart by incorporating a well-structured method that leverages the best practices of Scrum. Rather than simply applying Scrum and hoping for the best, we tailor it to meet the specific needs and challenges of cloud competency. Trust and transparency remain at the core of this approach, ensuring that the framework is not only agile but also fully aligned with the unique demands of cloud operations.

The backlog

Cloud Competency as a Service is almost identical to the “Team as a Service” proposition, but stands apart by incorporating a well-structured method that leverages the best practices of Scrum. Rather than simply applying Scrum and hoping for the best, we tailor it to meet the specific needs and challenges of cloud competency. Trust and transparency remain at the core of this approach, ensuring that the framework is not only agile but also fully aligned with the unique demands of cloud operations.

The sprint

In Cloud Competency as a Service (CCAAS), each sprint consists of a subset of work items which the team commits to complete within that week. Within CCAAS we've deliberately chosen weekly sprints to maximize flexibility, as shorter sprints prevent being locked into plans for multiple weeks.Why sprints? Because it ensures team focus on the same items. At the end of the sprint, we jointly inspect the items that we worked on together with the client to gather feedback. Thereafter, we immediately launch a new sprint based on that feedback to continue our delivery, as the scrum framework prescribes. Idle time in between is zero, ensuring seamless delivery.

The product owner

The product owner is in charge of prioritizing work items on the backlog and can be considered the one ‘behind the steering wheel’ of sprint direction. Therefore, this role should be provided by the client. We as CloudNation can advise, consult, provide and coordinate on what we believe should happen next, but the final decision is always yours. This way you stay in control and ensure the next sprint is aligned with current objectives.

The scrum master

The scrum master's role can be summarized to maximize team output by following the Scrum framework. This role is therefore provided by our CCAAS offering. We are aware that the output of the team has much to do with dynamics, focus, cooperation and making sure everything's aligned. As we have a lot of experience in delivering this, we gladly share our experiences to maximize team output. We think that delivering a team also includes making sure that team is effective.

The team

So far, we've talked about the Scrum master and Product Owner being important, but the real magic happens within the team. The team is flexible, consisting of consultants from CloudNation's side and your side. It can also be up- and downscaled based on requirements or required skills. Also, as everything is performed team-based, it is the perfect setting for knowledge transfer to client side and you have no single point of failure.

The touchpoints

One of the many objections towards scrum is the amount of meetings that are ‘required’ in the framework. Some meetings, especially when performed unorganized, can take up a lot of time and lead to no outcome. We've taken a close look at which elements are necessary within the client-supplier relation, allowing for the majority of the time to be spent on solutions rather than required meetings. We noticed that when you do weekly sprints, you only need one weekly touchpoint to check the results and plan the new sprint. Optional of course are additional sessions like retrospective (feedback) and refinements (check in on work items), but those can be planned as desired.

Get started with scrum in the cloud

CloudNation found a way to take the most essential parts of Scrum and adopt those in a very effective client-supplier continuous delivery method. With expertise in Agile, Scrum, and cloud operations, we guide the process to ensure maximum output and visibility, especially in scenarios where the end goal is unclear or unexpected challenges arise. This is managed through a fully transparent backlog, allowing you to steer, adjust, and improve on a weekly sprint basis. You decide the destination; we'll show you the best way to get there.