In today’s fast pace world, Agility has become a need of the hour for every IT organization and life at large. Every organization wants to shift their focus towards Mainframe Agility. But how does one do that? Is it really the need of the hour? What are the parameters that need to be considered? How do we break the existing robust processes and achieve Mainframe Agility? So many questions wandering in everyone’s mind. I will try to put some light on how we can achieve Mainframe Agility seamlessly with precision.

Scrum Team Structure supports Mainframe Agility

To achieve Mainframe Agility, Scrum Team plays a vital role in Agile. What exactly is the Scrum Team? Just like a Development Team, Testing Team, DevOps Team and so on. Scrum Team is self-driven, self-organized group or team which consists of Developers, Testers, DevOps, Product Owner, Scrum Master etc. There is no bifurcation in the team. All these individuals together known as a Scrum Team in Agile. The scrum team is cross-functional and entails of 5-7 people. In Agile, Scrum Team works towards the goal which is set at the beginning of the Sprint by the Scrum master in association with Product Owner.

Scrum Team defines the tasks and assignments in Agile unlike “Leads” in waterfall model. Since the Scrum Team is cross-functional, each team member contributes in more than one area in the Sprint. Scrum Team follows the Product Backlog. In Mainframe Agility, there is no role called as Project Manager. Project Manager’s task is distributed among Product Owner and Scrum Master. A certified Scrum Master plays a key role in driving the show for the success of the Scrum. Scrum Master takes the ownership and ensures that the Team delivers and the Product owner styles the team via Scrum Master with the requirements unlike Project Manager in waterfall models. Also, the Scrum master sets the Sprint Retrospective meeting as part of sprint closure activity for assessment of the sprint and reasons for success/failure and key takeaway. So, in a Company which is planning to migrate to Mainframe Agility, a Manager can pursue Scrum Master Certification so that he/ she does complete justice and add value to the role.

Scrum Teams Skills Necessary for Mainframe Agility

With the advent of the Scrum, it’s imperative to learn quickly and implement the learnings for fast paced deliveries. This has been one of the most important aspects of sprints leading to teams working towards increasing their skillset to keep up with the mainframe agility. In turn, doing development and testing at regular intervals and receiving outputs in quick succession.

In any Agile based project, for successful goal achievement, the desired and essential skills are Facilitation, Mentoring and Communication. Scrum Master certification can help a non-trained Scrum Masters possess such skills and qualities so that he can mentor and guide the team in a correct direction towards the goal.

By focusing on constant learning and delivering, its outcome can be seen as a milestone in achieving all the aspect of mainframe development at quicker rate. All the specifications are not catered once but churned out in a span of couple of weeks enabling resources to sharpen their skills at regular basis to meet the deadlines.

Its impact can be seen in success stories across the sprint lifecycle. It enables the team to be updated with the latest technology and skillset thereby resulting in effective outputs. Also, boasts confidence and provides a sense of ownership and responsibility to each contributor for achieving the desired milestone by overcoming the impediments. The take away from each sprint only adds to the list of accomplishment in turn fulfilling the objective of mainframe agility.

So as per my knowledge, an Organization must encourage and arrange few certifications such as Scrum Master Certification, Agile Tester, Agile Certified Practitioner, Product Owner etc. so that Employees can upgrade their skills and reap the benefits.

Scrum Team Members Encourages Mainframe Agility

To achieve single most objective, the collaboration, trust and commitment shown by individuals to come together and deliver the best is something to admire. It’s the concerted effort that makes the difference in addressing the impediments and achieving milestones in swift time. It also helps team players to have a greater perspective in building strong interpersonal skills and mature as team contributors.

Mainframe agility is all about the team collaboration and their dynamics. Scrum team works tirelessly to achieve that one goal unlike Waterfall model wherein individual is isolated to complete his/her own work products. It also doesn’t help in building the team and making all work towards one goal as expected in mainframe agility. A Scrum master plays pivotal role in bringing the Team under one roof and make everyone bring something more to the table and help each other to achieve success collectively and to match this, a Scrum Master certification can prove worthy. This culture also encourages the team to celebrate success of every team member and stand for them in case of any roadblocks.

It must not be concluded, teams working on Waterfall are not collaborative in nature and working towards one goal, but Agile teams are more interactive as they meet and discuss too often thereby culminating in vigorous bonds.