I'm interested in your experience with scrum.
How many people are in your scrummy group? Do you have daily scrums and if so are they helpful (and are they actually short)?
Do you actually have short release cycles?
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Hi, a little OT, but to answer shortly:
At the beginning (1 yr ago), we had 10 people in the group, which is more than advised, we have since grown to 12 so we decided to split the developer teams into two subteams nearly the same in size.
We have daily scrums and I feel they are helpful, the two big points are that you know at least a bit what everyone else is doing and the second is that people often get hints from colleagues they do not work together all of the time in case they face an obstacle. Of course time boxing is very important and discussions have to be cut off and postponed to a time after the daily scrum, otherwise things get out of order fast and people start to get bored and question the meeting.
As for release cycles: we usually complete all requirements we agreed at the beginning of a sprint, so, yes, we have short release cycles.
Over all, I am very happy with the process. The key factor for success of course is a good communication between product owner and team members. You have to work hard during planning to get meaningful and realistic requirements. And I also find it essential to have a good software to support the process (showing burndowns, requirements & tasks, completion, responsibilities,...).
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