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Productivity methods and focus

Scrum

A lightweight framework, defined in the Scrum Guide, in which a small team delivers work in fixed-length Sprints of one month or less and adjusts after each one.

What It Means

Scrum is a lightweight framework for teams working on complex problems, defined by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland in the Scrum Guide, most recently revised in November 2020. A small Scrum TeamScrum teamThe small, self-managing group that does the work in Scrum: one Product Owner, one Scrum Master and the Developers, typically 10 or fewer people. See more works in Sprints, fixed stretches of one month or less, and each Sprint aims to produce a useful piece of finished work. The team plans at the start of each Sprint, checks progress daily, shows the result at the end and looks at how it worked before the next Sprint begins.

Try It: Walk Through One Sprint's Events

Tap an event, or use Next, to see what happens at each point in a Sprint.

Sprint Planning

Opens the Sprint. The whole team agrees why the Sprint is worth doing, what can be finished and how. The Scrum Guide caps it at 8 hours for a one-month Sprint.

Event 1 of 4. All four sit inside the Sprint.

How People Say It

  • "We run two-week sprints."
  • "Let's take that to the retro."
  • "That's for the product owner to decide."

The Breakdown

The pieces of Scrum

PieceWhat the 2020 Scrum Guide says
Scrum TeamOne Scrum MasterScrum masterThe person on a Scrum Team accountable for the team's effectiveness and for Scrum being understood and used as the Scrum Guide defines it. See more, one Product OwnerProduct ownerThe one person on a Scrum Team accountable for maximizing the value of the product and for managing the Product Backlog, including the order of its items. See more and Developers, typically 10 or fewer people
SprintA fixed length of one month or less; the next one starts when the last ends
Sprint PlanningSprint planningThe Scrum event that starts each Sprint, where the whole Scrum Team agrees why the Sprint is valuable, what can be done in it and how the work will get done. See moreStarts the Sprint; at most 8 hours for a one-month Sprint
Daily ScrumDaily scrumThe 15-minute Scrum event where the Developers meet each working day to check progress toward the Sprint Goal and adjust their plan. See more15 minutes for the Developers
Sprint GoalSprint goalThe single objective a Scrum Team sets for one Sprint, agreed at Sprint Planning, which gives the team a shared focus while leaving room in the exact work. See moreThe single objective for the Sprint

How a team runs Scrum

  1. The Product Owner keeps an ordered list of everything the product might need.
  2. At Sprint Planning, the team agrees a Sprint Goal and picks the work to reach it.
  3. The Developers meet for 15 minutes each day to check progress and adjust.
  4. At the end, the team shows the finished work to the people it's for.
  5. In the retrospectiveSprint retrospectiveThe last Scrum event of each Sprint, where the Scrum Team looks at how it worked and picks the changes most likely to make it more effective. See more, the team decides what to change next time.
  6. The next Sprint starts right away.

Short version to try today (Buhata's own example). A family planning a move could run one-week Sprints: Sunday evening, agree one goal for the week ("kitchen and garage packed"), check in for a few minutes each morning, and on Saturday look at what got done and what to change.

Where It Comes From

Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland created Scrum and wrote the Scrum Guide, which they revise together; scrumguides.org lists each edition, and the November 2020 edition is the current one. Both men were among the seventeen who signed the Agile ManifestoAgileA way of working, set out in the 2001 Agile Manifesto, that delivers in small pieces, gets feedback early and adjusts the plan as it learns. See more in 2001.

Good to Know

The 2020 edition changed some wording that older books and courses still use. It speaks of accountabilities rather than roles, so the Scrum Master, the Product Owner and the Developers are sets of duties inside one team rather than job titles, according to Scrum.org. Its name for the old "Development Team" is simply Developers. When a coworker quotes a rule, check it against the current guide at scrumguides.org, which is free to read.

FAQ

How long is a Sprint in Scrum?

One month or less, and fixed for the team. Many teams pick one or two weeks, and a new Sprint starts as soon as the previous one ends.

What are the three accountabilities in Scrum?

The Product Owner, the Scrum Master and the Developers. The 2020 Scrum Guide calls them accountabilities rather than roles, and all three belong to one Scrum Team.

Is Scrum the same as agile?

Scrum is one framework for working in an agile way. Agile is the broader set of values from the 2001 Agile Manifesto, and Kanban is another popular way to apply them.

Do It in Buhata

Tasks, Calendar and Team Space

Put each Sprint's work in Tasks inside a Team Space in Buhata, and add Sprint Planning, the Daily Scrum and the retrospective to the Calendar so they come around on schedule.

Open Buhata

Related Terms and Categories

  • Scrum team

    The small, self-managing group that does the work in Scrum: one Product Owner, one Scrum Master and the Developers, typically 10 or fewer people.

  • Sprint planning

    The Scrum event that starts each Sprint, where the whole Scrum Team agrees why the Sprint is valuable, what can be done in it and how the work will get done.

  • Daily scrum

    The 15-minute Scrum event where the Developers meet each working day to check progress toward the Sprint Goal and adjust their plan.

  • Sprint retrospective

    The last Scrum event of each Sprint, where the Scrum Team looks at how it worked and picks the changes most likely to make it more effective.

  • Product backlog

    In Scrum, the ordered list of everything needed to improve a product, and the single source of work for the Scrum Team.

Productivity methods and focus

Sources

Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, The 2020 Scrum Guide (scrumguides.org); Scrum Guides, "Scrum Guide Revisions"; Scrum.org, "What You Need to Know about the 2020 Scrum Guide"

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