Scrum Guide 2020 – What’s New? | World Of Agile

1.   Scrum Guide 2020 – What’s New? | World Of Agile    Excitement is in the air. The new scrum guide is out. Like always there is a  great curiosity among agile enthusiasts to see how the guide to scrum is  evolving. This article attempts to capture this very aspect. Here, in this  article I have articulated my understanding and perspective on how the  guide has evolved in its latest avatar.      Length of the Scrum Guide reduced – Now more Precise  First thing I noticed was the length of the guide – it has been reduced  further. I certainly do not think that the authors had page count reduction  as a specific objective in mind – However as they have put elegantly in this  version,​ “The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete” ​I see this as the  driving theme behind quite a few of the changes. The reduction in page  count derives from the very fact that the guide now has sharpened the  focus on scrum being a ​lightweight framework that helps people, teams  and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex  problems​.” The guide now is consciously moving away from being  prescriptive and the core theme revolves around Value     

2. Focus of Scrum changed from being a “process framework” to being a  “individuals and interactions” focus  In fact, the scrum guide no longer says that Scrum is a “process  framework. It very clearly states “Rather than provide people with detailed  instructions, the rules of Scrum guide their relationships and interactions.”  I believe this was always the intent but articulating it so transparently, the  guide is reiterating the belief that people are a founding formation that  continually delivers value and scrum is a lightweight framework that helps  people, teams and organizations generate this said value.    With the increased focus on people- their relationships and interactions,  there are a few changes in how the guide describes the people aspect of  scrum guide: the roles and the team interaction.    Articulation of scrum as the framework that guides interactions and  relationships between people is further cemented when the guide refers to  the scrum team as the “The fundamental unit of Scrum”. Ownership of  value is shared between the entire scrum team. The roles now have  morphed in accountabilities, more or less the accountabilities remain the  same – the change of term makes the difference between responsibilities  and accountability abundantly clear while keeping overall ownership of  value delivery with the team. This Scrum team is made up of a group of 10  people consisting of a Scrum Master, a Product owner and Developers.  This count of 10 now covers the entire Scrum Team rather than the 3-9 limit  for the erstwhile development team. In a small change in wording the  development team is now referred to as “​developers​”. This further  progresses the idea about the whole team being one scrum team.    Scrum – “Purposefully Incomplete”  Beautiful way of clarifying to many who expect lots of details in ​Scrum​. It  emphasizes the importance of collective intelligence which defines Scrum  rather than giving detailed instructions. Clearly now the emphasis on  Scrum being a framework rather than a detailed methodology.           

3. Definition of Empiricism – now more precise  Empiricism is now defined as “Making decisions based on what is  observed”. This is a much better wording than “Making decisions based on  what is known”. Removes ambiguity around the word “known”.    “Product” and “Product Goal” – Now defined formally  The product is now formally defined as ​a vehicle to deliver value. ​ This  makes it clear that value is of importance – whether the value is delivered  by a service, an abstract concept or a physical product does not matter.    Product Goal is also now formally defined. This makes the objective of  each product very clear.    Ambiguity with the Development Team and Scrum Team removed  Now there is only one team and that is “The Scrum Team”. ​Product Owner​,  Scrum Master​ and ​Developers​ are part of the Scrum Team. Hence the  ambiguity whether the Product Owner/Scrum Master are part of the team  or not is removed. Now it is very clear that there is only one team and that  is the Scrum Team which consists of the Product Owner, Scrum Master  and the Developers.    Organizing large Scrum Teams – now clearly defined  It is now clarified on how the ​Scrum Teams​ scale. For larger products, the  teams could be organized with multiple Scrum teams however, the Scrum  Teams share a Product Backlog, Product Goal and a Product Owner.    “Commitment” associated with each Scrum Artifact  This theme of transparently stating the focus to be value and not the  process continues and each of the 3 artifacts now is associated with a  clear commitment. This commitment ensures that the artifact provides  information that enhances transparency and focus against which  progress can be measured. For the ​Product Backlog​ the commitment is 

4. the Product Goal. For the ​Sprint Backlog​ it is the Sprint Goal. For the  Increment it is the Definition of Done.    Product goal is a new term introduced and defined as “the long-term  objective for the Scrum Team. They must fulfill (or abandon) one objective  before taking on the next.”    Increment – now more clarity  The guide also clarifies that multiple increments can be a part of the same  Sprint​ as long as the sprint goal is intact. For the first time the definition of  “Done” is now clearly called out as a quality measure.    Sprint Planning – more clarity  One event which is described with more clarity is ​Sprint Planning​ – The  objective of sprint goal definition is now highlighted as the deciding  fulcrum of the Sprint since the ​Sprint goal​ is now visibly tied to the value a  sprint brings. The erstwhile guide talked about topic one and topic two as  “what and how” part of the planning. The latest guide divides the planning  in 3 topics – why , what and how. This brings a better flow and central idea  about Value delivered being the core of each sprint gets reaffirmed.    Scrum Master clarified as a Leadership Role  The accountabilities and characteristics of the scrum master have also  evolved in this guide. One key verbiage change is the ​Scrum Master​ is not  referred to as a Servant leader but “who serves the Scrum Team and the  larger organization”. While seemingly small change it clarifies that Scrum  Master is indeed a leader, a leader who leads by serving.    Self Organized to Self Managed The word “Self-Organized” has been updated to “Self-Managed”. I believe  the essence remains the same. The independent and contained nature of  the ​Scrum Team​ – which “manages its own work” is better conveyed by the  word “Self-Managed” 

5. Definition of Done – A Quality Measure  Now it is crystal clear on what ​Definition of Done​ is. Most people  implemented DoD as nothing but acceptance criteria. Now clarity has  been created on DoD being a “Quality Measure”. This removes a lot of  ambiguity on what DoD really is.    Prescriptive Stuff removed  Prescriptive stuff around conduct of ​Sprint Review​ and Retrospective is  removed. In sprint review a big portion of text surrounding how to conduct  the review is removed – the event description now focuses on sprint review  being a collaboration event. How to structure the event is being left to the  discretion of teams working within Scrum boundaries. Same thing can be  seen for ​Sprint Retrospective​, the detailing around how the event is  structured is now replaced by a concise text about the purpose of the  event which “is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness.” The  guide no longer states that the event is about “creating a plan for  improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.” But emphasizes on a  more long-term objective of ongoing attention to increasing quality.    The guide no longer mandates that the sprint plan contains “​at least one  high priority process improvement identified in the previous Retrospective  meeting.​” The guide still does state the importance of implementing the  improvement items quickly but it stops short of getting prescriptive and  mandating how and when these items are implemented.    Prescription of “​usually 10% of time for product backlog refinement​” is  removed.    Attributes of Product Backlog Items​ has been removed and in fact, it is  made more generic by saying “Attributes often vary with the domain of  work”    Daily Scrum – the details around the 3 Questions have been removed.  Even though the three questions were made optional in the 2017 Scrum  guide, the three questions remained a major roadblock during  implementation of ​Scrum​. The three questions disturbed the flow of the  Daily Scrum from being an inspect and adapt forum to a status meeting. 

6. Conclusion  Friends, as the heading said – These are my views on what has changed  with the new scrum guide. It is equally important to ponder upon what has  not changed. While the lightweight framework has become more nimble,  the core of Scrum – Scrum Theory, principles of empiricism and the ​Scrum  values​ remain unchanged. Anytime you have a confusion while you are on  your journey to discover scrum, these are the beacons that will guide your  way forward.    For More Information, Follow the Links below-    Website - ​https://worldofagile.com/  Facebook - ​https://www.facebook.com/Fascinating.World.Of.Agile/  Twitter -​ https://twitter.com/WorldOfAgile  LinkedIn - ​https://www.linkedin.com/company/world-of-agile/  YouTube - ​https://www.youtube.com/c/WorldOfAgile