Comparison of Scrum Team and Traditional Team in Project Management

This report analyzes the differences between Scrum and traditional project management methodologies, emphasizing the shift from detailed planning to iterative, data-driven approaches in Scrum. It highlights the distinct roles, communication strategies, and processes within each team structure, such as the Product Owner in Scrum versus traditional project managers. The report also explores the concept of self-organizing teams, discussing their advantages like shared ownership and adaptability, alongside potential drawbacks such as the risk of ineffective communication and the need for some level of supervision to maintain team collaboration. The provided references support the analysis of these project management approaches.

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
AND AGILE
SCRUM
METHODOLOGY

1) What tasks do you see that are different each day for a Scrum Team versus a
traditional team?
The Traditional team focuses on the detailed planning for the project, setting its scope,
schedule etc. whereas Scrum team emphasizes on data-based, iterative approach with
principal focus on the deliverables that satisfy customer’s requirements. Scrum team has daily
stand up meetings which help in implementing communication or escalation plans, on the
other hand these plans are just documented & rarely used in traditional teams. In Scrum
Team, Product owner manages product backlog, collaborates with internal & external
stakeholders, Scrum Master facilitates daily scrum meetings, sprint execution etc. whereas
project manager handles management activities in traditional team. Sprint planning,
execution, review and retrospective are another few activities in Scrum team, which are
different from traditional team (Qastation, 2010).
2) How would self-organizing work in your organization? Discuss pros and cons.
Self-organizing teams shall work together towards a common goal with a sense of
commitment & ownership with minimal mentoring or monitoring. They shall understand
the changing requirement, manage the work as a group, enhance their skills & work for
continuous improvement. The advantages of having the self-organizing team are shared
ownership, effectively handling changing requirements, motivation which further leads to
greater performance. Apart from these benefits, it also has risk of bad code/product due to
ineffective communication. Self-organizing teams may miss the timeline due to less or no
monitoring. They need some level of supervision to have better collaboration within the
team (Mittal, 2013).
References
1

Mittal, N. (2013, Jan 7). Self-Organizing Teams: What and How. Retrieved from
https://scrumalliance.org/community/articles/2013/january/self-organizing-teams-what-and-
how
Qastation. (2010, Sept 9). Scrum vs Traditional Methods. Retrieved from
https://labs.openviewpartners.com/scrum-vs-traditional-methods/#.WdUN1luCzIU
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