My view on ALL the changes in LeSS Scrum

2020 Scrum Guide vs LeSS Scrum

Last week I wrote about LeSS divorcing from Scrum. It caused quite a stir on LinkedIn, including an elaborate response from one of the founders of LeSS, Bas Vodde.

The comments to my post boil down to three different observation themes:

• LeSS had followed a different version of Scrum for a long time, even before the Scrum Guide existed. Now they made it official.

• This is not helpful in the quest to help organizations be more effective using Agile approaches.

• The changes are superficial and hardly worth it.

I tend to agree that these Agile infights do not help. They confuse people, especially when the same name is used for different things.

Today I will give my opinion on the changes. I will list all of them and then add my viewpoints. You may wonder why I do this. I think it matters. It matters to trainers who need to understand what they teach their trainees. It matters to coaches who help organizations adopting Scrum or LeSS. Perhaps trainers and coaches may wish to ignore the differences. But I believe they can only do this well as a conscious decision, knowing WHAT they ignore.

With this explanation of why I have a 2nd article on the topic, let’s dive into it!

Adding “product” to the Scrum definition

The 2020 Scrum Guide says:

“Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems.”

The LeSS Scrum Guide says:

“Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps organizations to productively and creatively deliver a product of the highest possible value that addresses complex adaptive problems.”

LeSS underlines that Scrum exists to create a product of the highest possible value. I understand this change. Scrum is about creating a product of value and acknowledging the complexity of said product. Why would you ignore that in the definition?

In fact, I am convinced the removal of the product in its definition hurts Scrum's reputation these days when product operating models are all the rage. I also think it is strange, as the Scrum Guide introduced the Product Goal at the same time while continuing to have Product Owners, Product Backlogs, Product Backlog Items, product planning, a product definition and “product-related activities”.

The LeSS Scrum Guide took the Scrum definitions from the 2017 Scrum Guide and the 2020 Scrum Guide and took the best parts.

For reference, here’s the 2017 Scrum Guide definition of Scrum:

“A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.”

I give the LeSS Scrum Guide a thumbs up for this change.

Scrum Values

The section of the Scrum Values did not change.

No Scrum Team / Developers to Team

LeSS doesn’t have the Product Owner and Scrum Master as part of the team. According to Bas Vodde, this has always been the case. LeSS is based on Scrum as defined in the book “Agile Software Development with Scrum”, Appendix A. Since then, Scrum has evolved.

With this in mind, it is no surprise LeSS has no Scrum Team (with Developers, Product Owner and Scrum Master). LeSS has a Team, a Product Owner and a Scrum Master. The Product Owner and Scrum Master are not part of the Team. This changes the dynamics.

LeSS is a framework for creating products with multiple teams. At the same time, a product has one Product Owner. A Product Owner works with multiple teams. The Scrum Master may work with multiple teams too.

I understand why a Product Owner and Scrum Master aren’t added to a Team as defined by LeSS. At the same time, it doesn’t change that much, except that the Product Owner may not be at the Sprint Retrospective. Which is understandable for me in a multiple-team situation. I am neutral about this change.

Roles instead of Accountabilities / Differences in the Roles

LeSS doesn’t talk about Accountabilities but about Roles. Just like Scrum did before the 2020 Scrum Guide.

I am neutral about this change. How important is this naming, really?

The Team

The Team (Developers in the 2020 Scrum Guide) inherits the characteristics of the Scrum Team on top of the characteristics of the Developers. The most notable consequence is that they are typically 10 or fewer people. This means 10 or fewer developers vs Scrum’s 10 or fewer including the Product Owner and Scrum Master.

Other changes I find interesting to point out:

• LeSS adds this to explain self-management: “They are responsible for monitoring and managing the process and progress.”

• LeSS adds this to explain that there are no sub-teams: “no sub-teams related to topics such as testing, architecture, operations, UX or business analysis.”

• Also: “The Team members may have specialized skills and areas of focus, but accountability belongs to the Team as a whole.”

• And: “The Team recognizes no responsibility-limiting titles or roles for Team members.”

The LeSS Scrum Guide has more clarifying text. I consider the clarification to be helpful and applicable to Scrum in general.

The Product Owner

The passages discussing the Product Owner are very much the same, with one major difference: the Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Team. They are not accountable, contrary to the 2020 Scrum Guide. They went back to the 2017 Scrum Guide, mentioning responsible, not accountable.

They ARE accountable for effective Product Backlog management. Here they decided to move away from the 2017 Scrum Guide and embrace the 2020 Scrum Guide.

The Product Owner isn’t part of the Team. As a result, they are not in the Sprint Retrospective. For the remaining events, their role stays the same.

I have issues with the accountability vs responsibility debate. Does the change in wording change the position of the Product Owner? I think not. So why complicate things?

The Scrum Master

The Scrum Master is not accountable, but responsible instead. Whatever. For the rest, the wording is a bit different here and there, but in my humble opinion, this does not change anything substantially.

Scrum events

The Sprint

LeSS doesn’t see the Sprint as an event. It still has all the same traits as a Sprint in Scrum. I am indifferent about the change.

The Sprint Planning

LeSS removed Topic 1/2/3 terminology from their Scrum Guide. For the rest, nothing substantial changed. The wording is a bit different and they trimmed a few sentences that clarified certain topics. But all in all, the section is very much the same as the 2020 Scrum Guide.

The Daily Scrum

The only change to this section is stating the event is a maximum 15-minute event. The 2020 Scrum Guide is a 15-minute event always. I like the LeSS version here, but it is a minor issue in my book.

The Sprint Review

Both versions of this section are virtually the same.

The Sprint Retrospective

The 2020 Scrum Guide removed the aspect of enjoyability which was part of the 2017 Scrum Guide. The LeSS Scrum Guide reintroduces this.

This is the only change and I like it. The joy in work is a factor that improves effectiveness and is often ignored.

The Product Backlog Refinement

The 2020 Scrum Guide knows refinement, but not as an event. The LeSS Scrum Guide does call it an event, however, it can be an ongoing activity, a part of the Sprint Planning or a separate event. It is clearer than the Scrum Guide, but I am left indifferent about the addition.

The LeSS Scrum Guide also has a more detailed description of what refinement entails. I would stick with the concise description of the 2020 Scrum Guide.

Artifacts

No commitments

The artifacts no longer have commitments. This means:

1. The Product Backlog is no longer committed to the Product Goal (or Product Vision in LeSS). The Product Vision is important and a guide for everyone involved, but the Product Backlog is not committed to it. That said, the Increment is a stepping stone to the Product Vision. The LeSS Scrum Guide sits somewhere between the 2017 and 202 versions of the Scrum Guide and I am ok with this.

2. The Sprint Goal still is the Sprint Backlog’s actual commitment, but it is not called this way. Whatever.

3. Meeting Definition of Done is a requirement to be able to present or release an Increment, but it is not called a commitment. OK.

How a Definition of Done is established

According to the LeSS Scrum Guide, the Definition of Done is established as an agreement between the Team(s) and the Product Owner. In contrast, the 2020 Scrum Guide states the Definition of Done is organizational standards as a minimum, with additional Scrum Team(s) agreements put on top. I subscribe to the 2020 Scrum Guide here. Organizational standards are too important not to mention.

The Product Backlog

There are no important differences between both descriptions of the Product Backlog. The LeSS Scrum Guide moved some parts to other sections (refinement, Product Vision), but all in all, it is the same.

The Sprint Backlog

Both documents are virtually the same here.

The Increment

LeSS removed the entire part that discusses multiple Increments within one Sprint. I understand this. I always found the language about multiple Increments, resulting in a sum of Increments to be confusing. The only thing I miss is the notion that a Team isn’t limited to a Sprint to deliver Increments.

Conclusion

Is the LeSS Scrum Guide a departure from 2020 Scrum? I doubt it. Frankly speaking, I am at a loss as to why LeSS bothered to create their own Scrum Guide. Are the differences really that glaring/impossible to stomach for LeSS? Or is there more at play? Politics maybe?

Whatever it may be, I hope you appreciate my efforts to highlight the differences. At the very least, it helps you to be informed and ready to answer questions that may come your way.

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