How does Scrum work when you have multiple projects? [closed]

Answer 1

I think the answer depends on "who will be prioritizing the backlog items" (i.e. decide what needs to be done first). If this is a single person, then this person is the Product Owner for your projects, and you can have a single backlog will all items for all projects - or a backlog per project - and you select the backlog items from all projects when you plan a Sprint. In this case, Scrum "works" fine.

If every project has its responsible, then you're likely to encounter some troubles where each responsible will - more or less consciously - try to favor its project(s). IMHO, you'll need to have one Product Owner only with the authority to settle the priorities by arbitration.

One rule that shall be followed in such a context is to never change the Sprint content during the Sprint. If necessary, you can shorten the iteration to two or three weeks to lower the risk of having to add an urgent item in the current Sprint.

Answer 2

I would suggest running one Sprint for each Project and have 1 daily standup meeting to handle all active Springs/projects.

Answer 3

As @Chris said, a normal project has sub projects inside. You only have one backlog though.

Think in a backlog with all your projects. First problem: are you assigning priorities to tasks or projects? I do prefer a backlog per project. At least to have clear the priorities that the product owner has.

Having different product owners, and due to the fact that those product owners are not going to agree on how much time they should give to each project. "Someone" will have to absorve the decision on how to manage interproject priorities. Note: developers shouldn't do it.

Here it comes our project"S" manager that will balance the resources product owners need and the time members of the team can give. Product owner A paid for one month of work, but product owner B is always updating his project (and paying you well too). There some how you'll balance your team for A to have his one month (developer time), and do not stop B from filling your pockets.

In the case of internal software (one company, a thousand projects). The different product owners should agree on the time given to them. They do not live isolated, but in the same boat as you (project"S" manager). They will make your life easier being able to postpone some tasks, but at the same time you should never forget their needs.

Well, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this. But this is what we're pushing right now. I hope it helps.

Answer 4

Team members can split their time between scrum projects, but it’s much more productive to have team members fully dedicated. Team members can also change from one sprint to the next, but that also reduces the productivity of the team. Projects with larger teams are organized as multiple scrums, each focused on a different aspect of the product development, with close coordination of their efforts.