How have you implemented SCRUM for working alone?

Question

I am working alone at the beginning of a sizable open source project and would like to leverage some of the core ideas/methods from Scrum to help manage my time and remain focused on development and deploying early, demonstrable functionality. I would like to hear from others who have used Scrum alone and what you have found particularly useful to these ends. Thanks.

Answer 1

You might take a look at Peter Bell's post on Solo Scrum including the comments.

Answer 2

For a sole developer I would think the key items would be

• prioritized backlog
• time boxed iterations

Answer 3

I tried scrum for one, and what worked well was the use of prioritised story cards (Sprint Backlog).

Also going through the process on reflecting (Retrospective) what did, didn't work can also be done alone and is beneficial.

Answer 4

If you're after solo, focusing timeboxes, try the pomodoro technique - 25 mins doing stuff, 5 mins reflection. There's a great free app here: http://focusboosterapp.com/

I'm using LeanKitKanban to manage my backlog, too. Kanban techniques can really help if you've got a tendency to be distracted by several different concerns, because you can limit your work in progress, including your backlog, and get something valuable flowing through more quickly.

I'd also vote Dalton up for his comment about Retros if I had 15 rep (now done!)