Scrum Guide revision, Section by Section update

Introduction

I bet, by now you know enough about the recent scum guide revision. It has taken us years to adopt to Scrum and some of us are still understanding the adoption process. The new scrum guide is more powerful and provides you more opportunity to derive value from it. Like SAFe, Scrum guide is relatively less perspective and focus is on whole team accountability.

The purpose of this article to highlight the changes on the scrum guide section by section, I'll leave with the readers to articulate the changes. I've attempted to make a section by section comparison on a high level. Please post a feed-back or highlight any changes which needs to be captured here.

Scrum Guides

You can download both versions of scrum from here https://www.scrumguides.org/download.html

How to read

Each Index item in this article is taken from 2017 guide and summary of changes are listed section by section in comparison in 2020 Scrum guide. Each section will have following three components:

What continues

What is dropped

New mention

Definition of Scrum

What continues
1. The focus on scrum being light weight and simple is continued in 2020 scrum guide.
2. The guide continues to state that it is purposefully in-complete and non-descriptive.
3. The focus on relative efficacy is continued for the continued improvement.


What is dropped
Scrum 2017 guide mentions scrum as Difficult to master but this is dropped out from the new scrum guide in 2020.


New mention
This section calls out the role of Scrum Master, Product owner, Scrum team and focus on inspect and adopt process.

Use of Scrum

What continues
This content and essence of this section are elaborated in other sections of 2020 guide like “Purpose of Scrum Guide” and “Scrum Team”.

What is dropped
Only the heading “Use of Scrum” is dropped but essence is maintained.

Scrum Theory

What continues
Empiricism, Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, adaptation and iterative approach

What is dropped
Only the heading “Use of Scrum” is dropped but essence is maintained.

New mention
Scrum foundation includes lean thinking along with empiricism.

Transparency

What continues
Focus on common understanding and visibility in the processes.

New mention
1. Emphasis is on increased value and reduced risk due to transparency. Decisions taken with low transparency result in lower value and increased risk.
2. Due to introduction of Lean in scrum theory, relationship between transparency waste is highlighted.

 Inspection

What continues
Continued the emphasis on frequent inspection.

What is dropped
The 2017 scrum guide focused on the (skilled inspector) actors who perform this activity.

New mention
Focus of execution of inspection process is left to the 5 Scrum events unlike an actor or skilled inspector unlike earlier guide.

Adaptation

What continues
The code of Adaption is continued and no major changes.

What is dropped
NA

New mention
Scrum guide focuses on Management 3.0 concepts like empowerment to team

Scrum Values

What continues
The core scrum values of commitment, courage, focus, openness and respect stay the same

What is dropped
The specific verbiage personal commitment is dropped, and team commitment is introduced.

New mention
Team commitment is emphasized to complete the sprint goal and team’s primary focus is highlighted which is to perform most progress towards sprint goal.

The Scrum Team

What continues
The structure of the scrum team and its’ attribute of self-organizing and cross functional continues.



New mention
The definition of scrum team is more specific, following details and attributes of scrum team is listed

1. Size of scrum team and recommended size
2. Scrum team responsibility for collaboration, verification, maintenance, operation, experimentation, research and development or anything else
3. Highlighted the accountability characteristic with respect to creating value and useful increment.

 The Product Owner

What continues
The overall attributes of the product owner continue and no major changes on the roles and responsibilities.

What is dropped
The word responsible is replaced with accountable

New mention
In new scrum guide the product owner become accountable rather than just be responsible. For example

1.  The Product Owner is now accountable for maximizing the value rather responsible.
2.  Similarly, product owner is accountable for the product backlog

The Development team

What continues
The focus on set of people who are committed to deliver values.

What is dropped
The term “The Development team” is replaced with “Developers”

New mention
Developers means the entire scrum team and not just people “who do the work of delivering a potentially releasable Increment of “Done””. The focus of the developers is not only responsible for work but being accountable as well.

Development team size

This section is dropped and moved to the Scrum team section of new guide

The Scrum Master

What continues
The scrum master continues to play role of coach to understand the scrum.

What is dropped
The team “Servant-leader” for the scrum team

New mention
1. Accountable for the outcomes rather than just responsible.
2. True leaders for the scrum team and organization

 

The Scrum Master service to the product Owner

What continues
Accountability and Responsibility to-wards goal, scope, product backlog and empirical product planning.

What is dropped
1. Facilitating Scrum events as requested or needed
2. Understanding and practicing agility

New mention
1. Facilitate stakeholder collaborations as requested or needed, rather facilitation of scrum events.

The Scrum Master service to the Development team

What continues
Coaching aspect to the team continues

What is dropped
1. Coaching the development team in organizational environments in which scrum is not yet fully adopted and Understood.
2. Facilitating scrum events.

New mention
1. Ensuring scrum events have positivity, productive and productive

Scrum Events

By and large details about Scrum Events continues with no noticeable changes other than verbiage and details.

 The Sprint and Cancelling a Sprint

What continues
1. Sprint duration, goals and details in the sprints follow the previous guide.


New mention
1. Specific mention of Product backlog being refined during the sprint.
2. Cancelling the sprint is included in the Sprint section itself, and not calling out separately.
3. Focus on use of various practices like burn-down and burn-ups.

Sprint Planning

What continues
1. Collaborative work continues to plan the sprint.
2. Sprint time-box is maximum eight hours.
3. What can be done this sprint?
4. How will the chosen work get done?

What is dropped
1. Scrum Master make sure that attendants understand the purpose.
2. Scrum Master teaches the scrum team to timebox the event.

New mention
1. Product Owner make sure attendants understand the purpose.
2. The Scrum team may invite other people to attend the Sprint Planning to provide advice.
3. Why is this sprint valuable?

Sprint Goal

This section is moved out and is embedded in product and sprint goal sections in new guide.

Daily Scrum

What continues

1. Cadence and time box of 15 mins.
2. Purpose and benefits of the Daily Scrum.

What is dropped

Specification on following

 a. Examples of the question’s development team may answer.
 b. Development team meetings post daily scrum.
 c. Ensure the development team participate on daily scrum
 d. Training development team on Daily scrum

New mention
1.  If the Product owner and Scrum master are actively working on items in the Sprint Backlog, they participate as Developers.

2.  Developers can select whatever structure and technique they want, as long as their Daily scrum focuses on progress towards the Sprint Goal and produces an actionable plan for the next day of work.

Sprint Review

What continues
1. Cadence and time box of maximum 4 hours for a one-month sprint.
2. Purpose and benefits of the Sprint Review.

What is dropped
1. Various low-level details around following topics are removed
a. Development team responsibilities during the Sprint Review
b. Product Owner and Scrum master responsibilities during the Review
c. Topics which needs to be discussed (like budge, plan, etc)

New mention

1. Purpose of the sprint review is called out specifically. “The purpose of the Sprint Review is to inspect the outcome of the Sprint and determine future adaptations.”

Sprint Retrospective

What continues
1. Cadence and time box of maximum 3 hours for a one-month sprint.
2. Purpose and benefits of the Sprint Review.

 
What is dropped
a. Scrum team responsibilities.
b. Scrum master responsibilities.
c. Topics which needs to be discussed

New mention
Specific purpose is added “Sprint Retrospective is to plan ways to increase quality and effectiveness” rather than just calling out “ Sprint Retrospective is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint.  

Sprint Artifacts

What continues
1. Product Backlog.
2. Sprint Backlog
3. Increment

New mention
1. Product Backlog, Commitment: Product goal
2. Sprint Backlog, Commitment: Sprint goal
3. Increment,  Commitment: Definition of Done

Artifact transparency

This section is dropped from new scrum guide.

Conclusion

There are quite a few changes on this guide, I will let you interpret the summary, by the way - if you google you will get to know various articles explaining these details.

Reference

Originally published at: https://pavasmalviya.blogspot.com/