Scrum glossary and terminology cheat sheet

The scrum team is made up of the product owner, scrum master and development team. They each play important roles.

• The product owner maximizes the value delivered by the product.
• The scrum master maximizes the impact of the development team.
• The development team transforms the product vision into reality.

Learn more about how a scrum team works together. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Project managers and scrum masters differ in where they focus and what they emphasize. 

The project manager is focused first on the work. Does the project have everything it needs to get done? The scrum master is focused first on the people. Are they the best team they can be to get projects done?

Continue learning about the relationship between a scrum master and a project manager. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

This combo is very doable, but it depends on the person. Some people are great team contributors but are not good scrum masters. 

Often, people suggest the type A personality to be the Scrum Master because they seem like the typical leader type. Unfortunately, what usually happens here is that person begins to act like the team's boss, which is not the role of the scrum masters.

Learn more about the roles of a scrum team. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

With less than three, you don’t get much of the benefit of collaboration or shared momentum. More than nine, and the logistics of coordination start to eat away at the benefits of coordination.

Learn more about how a scrum team works together. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

There are three roles in Scrum:

1. Scrum Master 
2. Product Owner
3. Development Team

Learn more about the scrum roles. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

You really can’t run Scrum without a product owner or scrum master, so someone will likely have to wear multiple hats. Here are some recommended combos:

• One Scrum Master for multiple teams
• Scrum Master + Development Team member
• Product Owner + Development Team member

A combo you want to avoid is being both the Product Owner and Scrum Master at the same time.

Learn more about what to do if you don’t have all the scrum team roles. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

A scrum team has stakeholders on two sides.

1. Organizational leaders.
2. Customers or end-users.

Success depends on identifying and serving the goals and motivations of both groups of stakeholders. The product owner is responsible for harmonizing and prioritizing the needs of both.

Learn more about the different scrum roles. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Often an agile coach serves as someone who can come in from the outside to help an organization evaluate their practice of scrum or implement it for the first time. 

An agile coach should also have competency around agile practices beyond just scrum.

Learn more about the roles in scrum or the difference between scrum and agile. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

The definition of done is a list of what must be true to consider a PBI done. The whole team creates and agrees to what is in the definition of done and is updated as needed for the team to function effectively. 

Learn to use the definition of done and explore acceptance criteria vs definition of done.

It is the next complete piece added to build the product. The increment is complete in the sense that it should be ready to release to the end-user even if the team chooses to wait.

Learn more about incremental and iterative development or explore the essential Scrum glossary.

Scrum is founded on three essential pillars, and each leads the team to ask a critical question.

1. Transparency. How does this make things more visible?
2. Inspection. Where does this create space to evaluate?‍
3. Adaptation. When does this encourage growth?

Learn how to apply the three pillars of Scrum and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.

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There are five values critical to the practice of Scrum: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.

1. Commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
2. Courage to do the right thing and work on challenging problems.
3. Focus on the Sprint's work and the Scrum Team's goals.
4. Open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
5. Respect each other to be capable, independent people

Learn how to align Scrum values with your organization and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.

The sprint goal encapsulates the product owner’s vision into a concrete statement for the development team to measure the sprint against. The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together. 

Learn more about the role of the sprint goal in scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.

They keep the team focused on the value they create for the end-user and are written using the following format:

• As a… [user]
• I want to… [goal]
• So that I can… [motivation] 

See examples of user stories to learn to write your own and explore the essential Scrum glossary.

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Acceptance criteria is written using the following structure:

• Given that [context allowing me to take an action]
• When [I take the action]
• Then [a result occurs indicating success or failure]

Learn more about how acceptance criteria is used in Scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.

A user story focuses on the identity, goals and motivations of the user you’re designing for. It emphasizes the why of the new functionality.

Acceptance Criteria focuses on the action taken by the user to meet their goal. It highlights the what of the new functionality.

See more acceptance criteria examples and learn to write acceptance criteria or learn other essential scrum terms.

Acceptance criteria is structured using the template

• Given that [context allowing me to take an action]
• When [I take the action]
• Then [a result occurs indicating success or failure]

Here are 3 examples:

Checkout process functionality

• Given that I’ve added all the items to my cart and I’m logged in,
• When I click the check out button,
• Then the checkout page loads with all my payment and shipping information preloaded.

Advertising campaign

• Given that someone fits our ideal customer persona,
• When they search for keywords we’re targeting,
• Then a link to a compelling offer is displayed above the fold.

Marketing campaign (Did you know you could use Scrum for marketing)

• Given that a customer is already receiving email communications,
• When they visit the site and engage content related to a specific product,
• Then they will be automatically subscribed to nurturing campaign highlighting that product. Or

See more acceptance criteria examples and learn to write how to create your own or learn other essential scrum terms.

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They aren’t absolute measurements like hours or days but measure the amount of work a PBI takes relative to other PBIs. Typical measurements include using Fibonacci numbers or t-shirt sizes.

Learn to use story points and explore the essential Scrum glossary.

The rhythm of scrum consists of various events.

• Sprint planning
• Daily standup 
• Backlog refinement
• Sprint review
• Sprint retrospective
• The sprint

The last on the list is sometimes debated as to whether or not it’s actually a scrum event. I include it because it's critical to creating a cadence of work for the team. 

Learn more about the rhythm of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Most scrum events are timeboxed relative to the length of the sprint:

• Sprint planning: 2 hours / sprint week.
• Daily standup: 15 minutes.
• Backlog refinement: 2 hours / sprint week.
• Sprint review: 1 hour / sprint week.
• Retrospective: 45 minutes / sprint week.

Just because an event has a timebox doesn’t mean it needs to be that long. The timebox is the maximum time allowed for the event.

Learn more about the different scrum events. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum events are generally held in the following order

• Sprint planning: Held at the very beginning of a sprint.‍
• Daily standup: Every day at the same time and place.‍
• Backlog refinement: Flexible. Held at whatever time and frequency best serves the team.‍
• Sprint review: Held on the last day of the sprint.
• ‍Retrospective: Very last event of the sprint. 

The backlog refinement session is unique in that it can be held anytime. 

Explore further the events of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

I included this because it is frequently asked, but the question misunderstands the importance of the scrum events. It’s like asking which of your limbs is most important. You may be able to answer, but they are really all critical. 

If pressed for an answer, the daily scrum probably has the greatest impact on the team's effectiveness. 

Learn more about the events in scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum is founded on three essential pillars leading teams to ask the following questions:

1. How does this make things more visible? (Transparency)
2. Where does this create space to evaluate? (Inspection)
3. When does this encourage growth? (Adaptation)

Further explore the definition of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

This is because Scrum’s simplicity makes learning easy, but Scrum truly changes how you work, and that adjustment can be difficult. It changes power dynamics and expectations within the team and between the team and the rest of the organization.

You can explore further is Scrum hard to learn, along with the pros and cons of Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum was initially used as a term related to project management in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their paper “New New Product Development Game” In the Harvard Business Review. The first recorded Scrum project came a little later in 1993 from Jeff Sutherland.

You can learn more about Scrum’s backstory. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Learning Scrum for the first time can be overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum. I’ve listed the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.

It forces clarity and prioritization, which provides the focus necessary for teams to be effective. Scrum embraces complexity and change by keeping many things simple and iteratively evaluating and adapting. 

You can learn more about why to use Scrum and three challenges Scrum solves. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum isn’t always the best option for teams. Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values. It also depends on the nature of the work you do. If you work if very linear, predictable and tightly defined, you may not experience many benefits Scrum provides.

Find out more about aligning your organizational values with Scrum or how Scrum might fit in your context. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum functions at its best when you have a dedicated team focused on developing a singular product. Its agility shines when there are time constraints combined with uncertainty. 

Explore the pros and cons of Scrum along with expectations vs. realities with Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Important factors include your team size and the type of work you do. Kanban is very process-oriented, so you should consider how defined, static, or long your process is? 

You can explore Scrum and other agile approaches. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum forces clarity and prioritization, which are critical to organizational effectiveness. It provides a competitive edge by allowing teams to adapt as the market or priorities change. Teams operate more effectively because Scrum combines empowerment of the team members with alignment to top priorities.

Learn more about scrum’s impact on organizational culture. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

Scrum is more of a framework than a methodology, and it helps teams adhere to Agile principles and get stuff done. Scrum provides basic rules but doesn’t prescribe how to do the work. It provides principles, values, rules, and some core structure but still leaves a lot undefined.

Learn more about scrum as a framework. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

When people say “agile,” they usually refer to it as a mindset. Scrum is a framework for how to organize people and work in an agile way. If you’re practicing Scrum, you’re working in an Agile way.

Learn more about the relationship between scrum and agile. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.

There are actually two backlogs, the product backlog and the sprint backlog. They each contain the definitive list of work to be done. The product owner keeps the backlog ordered by priority. 

Learn to use the backlog in Scrum and check out the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum.

The product backlog prioritizes the features needed in the product. It is a singular visible source of requirements for the product.

The sprint backlog represents the work to do in a given sprint. It is a definitive list of all the scrum team is being asked to produce for the sprint. 

Learn more about the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum.

Each item in the backlog represents precise work and value to deliver. Often these PBIs are written using both user stories and acceptance criteria. The PBIs are what gets refined during the backlog refinement session, and if one is too large, it may be broken down into smaller PBIs.

Learn more about how backlogs are used in scrum, the sprint backlog vs product backlog in Scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.

The Scrum sprint backlog is a prioritized list of items from the product backlog that the development team plans to complete during the upcoming sprint.

It is a plan for the Sprint and is created during the Sprint Planning meeting where the Development Team decides on how to build the functionality that meets the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog typically includes user stories, bugs, technical work, and other items that the development team needs to work on during the sprint. Each item in the Sprint Backlog has a clear definition of done, so the team knows when the item is considered complete.

The Development Team is responsible for creating and updating their Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint, making sure they are on track to meet the Sprint Goal. The Sprint Backlog is a working document that helps the Development Team visualize their progress and make any necessary adjustments to their plan as they go along. The Sprint Backlog is also transparent, allowing stakeholders to see what work is being done during the Sprint.

Learn more about the backlogs of Scrum.

In Scrum, the product backlog is a prioritized list of features, bugs, technical work, and other product-related items that need to be addressed by the development team.

It serves as a single source of truth for what needs to be done on the product.

The items in the product backlog are ordered based on their importance to the product owner and the value they bring to the end-user. As the project progresses, the product backlog is constantly updated to reflect new priorities, changes in requirements, and feedback from stakeholders.

The product backlog is a living document that evolves throughout the project's lifecycle. It provides transparency and enables collaboration among all members of the Scrum team.

Learn more about the backlogs in Scrum.