Scrum Glossary

burn-down chart

A chart showing the decrease of remaining work against time.

burn-up chart

A chart showing the increase of a parameter—e.g., value—against time.

Daily Scrum

A daily event, time-boxed to 15 minutes or less, to re-plan the development work during a Sprint. The event allows the Development Team to share daily progress, plan the work for the next 24 hours, and update Sprint Backlog accordingly.

definition of “Done”

The set of expectations on quality that a product Increment must exhibit to make it releasable—that is, fit for a release to the product’s users.

Development standards

The set of standards and practices that a Development Team identifies as needed to create releasable Increments of product no later than by the end of a Sprint.

Development Team (also: Team)

The group of people accountable for all evolutionary development work needed to create a releasable Increment no later than by the end of a Sprint.

emergence

The process of unforeseen facts or knowledge of a fact coming into existence or prominence of a previously unknown fact; or knowledge of a fact becoming visible unexpectedly.

empiricism

The process control type in which decisions are based on observed results, experience, and experimentation. Empiricism implements regular inspections and adaptations requiring and creating transparency. Also referred to as empirical process control.

forecast

The anticipation of a future trend based on observations of the past, like the selection of Product Backlog deemed deliverable in the current Sprint or in future Sprints for future Product Backlog.

impediment

Any hindrance or obstacle that is blocking or slowing down the Development Team and cannot be solved through the self-organization of the Development Team itself. Raised no later than at the Daily Scrum, the Scrum Master is accountable for its removal.

Increment

A candidate of releasable work that adds to and changes previously created Increments, and—as a whole—forms a product.

product (n)

A tangible or nontangible good or service providing immediate value to its consumers (1); the outcome of an action or process (2). Defines the span of: Product Owner, Product Backlog, and Increment.

Product Backlog

An ordered, evolving list of all work deemed necessary by the Product Owner to create, deliver, maintain, and sustain a product.

Product Backlog refinement

The recurring activity in a Sprint through which the Product Owner and the Development Team add granularity to future Product Backlog.

Product Owner

The person accountable for optimizing the value a product delivers, primarily by managing and expressing all product expectations and ideas in a Product Backlog. The Product Owner is the single representative of all stakeholders.

Scrum (n)

1) A simple framework for complex product delivery; 2) a simple framework for addressing complex challenges.

Scrum Master

The person accountable for fostering an environment of Scrum by guiding, coaching, teaching, and facilitating one or more Scrum Teams and their environment in understanding and employing Scrum.

Scrum Team

The combined accountabilities of Product Owner, Development Team, and Scrum Master.

Scrum Values

A set of five fundamental values and qualities underpinning the Scrum framework: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage.

Sprint

An event that serves as a container for the other Scrum events, time-boxed to four weeks or less. The event allows teams to get a sufficient amount of work done and ensures timely inspection, reflection, and adaptation at a product, strategic, and process level. The other Scrum events are Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.

Sprint Backlog

An evolving plan of all work deemed necessary by the Development Team to realize a Sprint’s goal.

Sprint Goal

A concise statement expressing the overarching purpose of a Sprint.

Sprint Length

The time-box of a Sprint, which is four weeks or less.

Sprint Planning

An event marking the start of a Sprint, time-boxed to eight hours or less. The event allows the Scrum Team to inspect the Product Backlog considered most valuable at that time and design that forecast into an initial Sprint Backlog against the Sprint Goal.

Sprint Retrospective

An event marking the closing of a Sprint, time-boxed to three hours or less. The event allows the Scrum Team to inspect the Sprint that is ending and establish the way of working for the next Sprint.

Sprint Review

An event marking the closing of the development of a Sprint, time-boxed to four hours or less. The event allows the Scrum Team and stakeholders to inspect the Increment, the overall progress, and strategic changes in order to allow the Product Owner to update the Product Backlog.

stakeholder

A person external to the Scrum Team with a specific interest in or knowledge of a product that is required for the further evolution of the product.

time-box

A container in time of a maximum duration, potentially a fixed duration. In Scrum, all events have a maximum duration, except for the Sprint itself, which has a fixed duration.

velocity

Popular indication of the average amount of Product Backlog turned into an Increment of releasable product during a Sprint by a specific (composition of) a team. Velocity helps a team to forecast Sprints.