I’m going through the complete Scrum Guide (2020 version) and turning it inside out. Hoping to find a satisfying answer to the question: “Does Scrum make sense?”
I started with “Purpose of Scrum” and “Empiricism”. I came to the conclusion that the premise of Scrum is sound. Then I looked into the Scrum Values, which can indeed bring the pillars of empiricism to life.
Then I discussed the Scrum Team. And I wondered how often a Scrum Team and its stakeholders work in an environment where all Scrum Values can be upheld, the team has no hierarchies and everyone understands the Scrum theory well enough to use the framework effectively.
The fourth topic was the Developers, who should own the What, How, and When to achieve a Sprint Goal. And the last two weeks I wrote about my issues with the Product Owner and Scrum Master accountabilities and asked if they aren’t too prescriptive.
I am more positive about the Sprint, the Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective. I believe the Scrum Guide 2020 makes very clear how they serve empiricism. Now, let’s look into the Scrum Artifacts. I will start with the general section and discuss the individual Artifacts in later articles.
The importance of the artifacts
To understand the purpose of the artifacts, let’s recall the definition of Scrum:
“Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems” - Scrum Guide 2020
This begs the question: how do you know you are creating value? Well, the above definition says the value comes through solutions (for complex problems). In the same section, we learn that a solution is created in Increments of value.
But there’s more. Value is generated through adaptive solutions. Scrum is a framework to address complexity. This effectively means that we may think the Increment will bring a certain value, but we don’t know unless we check this. This means that the Increment primarily exists to inspect the actual impact of the Increment. The Increment serves to verify assumptions and get a better view of what to do in the next Sprint to maximize the value of the product. This is confirmed here:
“They [Scrum’s artifacts] are designed to maximize transparency of key information. Thus, everyone inspecting them has the same basis for adaptation.” - Scrum Guide 2020
The Scrum Artifacts exist to create transparency in order to inspect them and then adapt based on the observations. The Scrum Guide can’t be any clearer: the Artifacts are vital to navigating through complexity. They serve the foundation of empiricism: transparency, inspection, and adaptation.
The Scrum Guide says the artifacts represent work or value. However, this is never linear. Artifacts are subject to change. New insights may bring changes to the Artifacts. For this reason, it is a mistake to treat the Artifacts as scheduling objects or delivery measures.
I’m happy with how clearly the Scrum Guide explains the purpose of the artifacts. Anyone reading this chapter will learn they serve empiricism.
Commitment
The Scrum Guide 2020 introduced the commitments. These commitments serve to understand when the objective of the Artifact is met. This increases transparency. Effective use of the commitments can help the Scrum Team and its stakeholders:
understand how far they are from achieving the commitment.
if they have moved closer (or further away) from the commitment.
make informed decisions about what to do to optimize the chances to meet the commitment.
The Product Backlog has the Product Goal.
The Sprint Backlog has the Sprint Goal.
The Increment has the Definition of Done.
Reinforce empiricism
I agree with the statement in the Scrum Guide that the commitments can help reinforce empiricism. The Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog serve to understand what you wish to achieve. It allows the Scrum Team and the stakeholders to change course to optimize the chances to achieve them. The Product Goal and Sprint Goal are the North Star. The Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog are constantly prone to change to optimize the chances to reach that North Star.
The Definition of Done clarifies when an Increment is in a state to be inspected. When Scrum Team and stakeholders know what the Definition of Done entails, they are in a good position to inspect the Increments and make informed decisions on how to adapt.
Reinforce Scrum Values
The Scrum Guide also states the commitments reinforce the Scrum Values. I also agree with that. This is most obvious with the Scrum Value commitment. The commitments indeed reinforce commitment. They also bring focus as it is clear what the objectives are. It can also help in regards to courage, openness and respect. A clear direction, which the commitments provide, helps teams to be more effective.
Final word
I am very happy with the formal inclusion of commitments in the latest Scrum Guide (2020). It highlights the foundation of Scrum, empiricism. Naturally, the Definition of Done and the Sprint Goal already existed. They were always important. Now though, the importance of having something to work towards, to achieve is firmly established.
The items on the Product Backlog serve to achieve the Product Goal. The same applies to items on the Sprint Backlog, serving the Sprint Goal. And an Increment is only done when it meets the Definition of Done. It helps the Scrum Team to determine what is required to do and also what they don’t need to do to meet the commitments.
The Artifacts section is crystal clear about the purpose of the Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, and Increment: it is to serve empiricism. Anyone thinking it is about delivering the work as promised only needs to read these seven lines in the Scrum Guide to change their impression.
I am enthusiastic about the Artifacts section of the Scrum Guide. It is clear and logical.