Scrum

External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#the-sprint
External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-planning
External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#sprint-retrospective
External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#scrum-values
External reference: https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-glossary
External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html
External reference: https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#developers
External reference: https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Scrum is formally defined in a document called the scrum guide¹.

It is much simpler that most people think. It provides a minimal framework². That means that

you can add stuff to scrum (velocity, scrum story …) and still call it scrum,
if you remove stuff from scrum, you should not call the result scrum³^,⁴.

I guess that scrum is very simple but is so popular that most people fall into the cognitive ease bias of thinking they know scrum because they heard soooo many times about it. Also, it is supposedly an agile method, yet agility is another very popular and distorted concept.

Also, scrum does not provide answers, but merely a framework to see the problems and deal with them⁵.

Pictures like the following one might help reminding some of the important parts of scrum, but they also may be part of the cause why people don’t grasp the whole method.

— https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-framework-poster

two ways of thinking

Scrum has two inspirational ways of thinking: empiricism⁶ and lean⁷. That means that any initiative contradictory with any of them is likely to be contradictory with scrum.

In particular, it is indicated that we can only have meaningful estimates about the future work by looking at the past experiences⁸. This means that estimation methods, like putting people workforce into spreasheets should be validated by experience before being trusted.

three pillars

Scrum leans on *T*ransparency, *I*nspection, and *A*daptation⁹.

Most of the other concepts are explained as going forward those pillars.

five values

Scrum teams needs to have values aligned this those of scrum.¹⁰. They pretend that those values allow supporting the three pillars of scrum, but don’t explain why¹¹.

Here is my rationalisation.

The team focuses¹² on the goals that it has committed to¹³. This focus allows seeing when you fall of the wagon, thus provides inspection and gives room for adaptation.

Yet, only seeing the issue is not enough. If you want to be transparent about the issue, you have to trust others to listen to you with openness and respect.

Then, it takes some amount of courage to deal with the issue (adaptation) rather than just blindly moving away from it (biais de bonne conscience).

a scrum team composed of three roles¹⁴

Scrum team members are not committed to one another. They are committed together, as a team, to several accountabilities. Yet those accountabilities are split in three classes, defining three roles:

scrum master, embodied by only one person,
product owner, embodied by only one person,
developers, embodied by several people,

a scrum team of less than ten persons¹⁵

It should be small (<= 10) or it might easily get out of control.

four kinds of events embedded in a fifth event: the sprint¹⁶

Scrum formally describes the events that take place during a sprint.

The guide emphasizes that those are necessary for scrum to be useful¹⁷.

three kinds of artifacts

There are a few scrum artifacts that are used to convey the work or value of the scrum team.

Notes linking here

Permalink

Scrum Guide contains the definition of Scrum

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
As Scrum is being used, patterns, processes, and insights that fit the Scrum framework as described in this document, may be found, applied and devised. Their description is beyond the purpose of the Scrum Guide because they are context sensitive and differ widely between Scrum uses. Such tactics for using within the Scrum framework vary widely and are described elsewhere

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement Scrum theory

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Rather than provide people with detailed instructions, the rules of Scrum guide their relationships and interactions.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Each element of the framework serves a specific purpose that is essential to the overall value and results realized with Scrum

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Changing the core design or ideas of Scrum, leaving out elements, or not following the rules of Scrum, covers up problems and limits the benefits of Scrum, potentially even rendering it useless

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

implementing only parts of Scrum is possible, the result is not Scrum.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
The fact you think some stuff in scrum are not appropriate to your use cases and the fact to call the result scrum are two independent topics. You can have very good reason not to use scrum, but that does not makes it a good reason to call scrum whatever stuff you do. ↩︎
Scrum makes visible the relative efficacy of current management, environment, and work techniques, so that improvements can be made.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Scrum is founded on empiricism

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Scrum is founded on […] lean thinking.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
complex environments, what will happen is unknown. Only what has already happened may be used for forward-looking decision making.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
implement the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Successful use of Scrum depends on people becoming more proficient in living five values:

Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
When these values are embodied by the Scrum Team and the people they work with, the empirical Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life building trust

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html#scrum-values

↩︎
focus is on the work of the Sprint to make the best possible progress toward these goals

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Scrum Team commits to achieving its goals

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
The Scrum Team consists of one Scrum Master, one Product Owner, and Developers

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

It is a cohesive unit of professionals focused on one objective at a time, the Product Goal.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

Scrum defines three specific accountabilities within the Scrum Team: the Developers, the Product Owner, and the Scrum Master.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
The Scrum Team is small enough to remain nimble and large enough to complete significant work within a Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

10 or fewer people

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Scrum combines four formal events for inspection and adaptation within a containing event, the Sprint

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎
Failure to operate any events as prescribed results in lost opportunities to inspect and adapt.

— https://scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html

↩︎