"Navigating the Confusion: How Organizations are Mixing the 2017 and 2020 Scrum Guide"

It's interesting to note that despite the release of the updated Scrum Guide from Scrum.org in 2020, many organizations are still using the 2017 version or a mixture of both. It seems that awareness of the newer guide is not as widespread as we might expect. As such, it's important to keep up-to-date with the latest practices and principles in the Scrum framework.

The Scrum Guide has evolved over the years, becoming increasingly prescriptive. However, the 2020 version aimed to bring it back to being a minimally sufficient framework. This was achieved by removing or softening prescriptive language, such as Daily Scrum questions, PBI attributes, retro items in Sprint Backlog, and the Sprint cancellation section.

The goal was to eliminate the concept of a separate team within a team, which often led to "proxy" or "us and them" behavior between the Product Owner and Development Team. Instead, there is now one Scrum Team focused on the same objective, with three different sets of accountabilities: PO, SM, and Developers.

To provide focus for the Scrum Team towards a larger valuable objective, the 2020 Scrum Guide introduces the concept of a Product Goal. Each Sprint should bring the product closer to the overall Product Goal.

Previous Scrum Guides did not clearly identify the Sprint Goal and Definition of Done. However, the 2020 version provides more clarity on this by adding the Product Goal. Each of the three artifacts now contains "commitments" to them: the Product Backlog has the Product Goal, the Sprint Backlog has the Sprint Goal, and the Increment has the Definition of Done.

The 2020 Scrum Guide emphasizes a self-managing Scrum Team, choosing who, how, and what to work on. This is a shift from the previous focus on self-organizing Development Teams.

In addition to the Sprint Planning topics of "What" and "How", the 2020 Scrum Guide places emphasis on a third topic: "Why", referring to the Sprint Goal.

Finally, the 2020 Scrum Guide has eliminated redundant and complex statements and removed any remaining inference to IT work, making it easier for a wider audience to understand. The Scrum Guide is now less than 13 pages.

Despite these changes, some organizations still mix and confuse the 2017 and 2020 Scrum Guides, leading to a lack of clarity and consistency in their Scrum implementation