In earlier musings, I discussed the Increment from the perspectives of it being “additive” and “valuable.” This time, let’s explore the adjectives “useful” and “usable.”
From the Scrum Guide:
- “The entire Scrum Team is accountable for creating a valuable, useful Increment every Sprint.”
- “Developers are the people in the Scrum Team that are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint.”
- “In order to provide value, the Increment must be usable.”
These statements highlight the importance of an Increment being both useful and usable. But what do these terms really mean?
From Cambridge Dictionary:
- Useful: “Effective; helping you to do, achieve, or obtain something.”
A useful Increment should solve a problem, fulfill a need, or achieve a specific outcome for the user or stakeholder. In other words, it answers the why behind the work.
- Usable: “That can be used.”
A usable Increment ensures the functionality it provides can be practically applied or accessed by the intended users.
Together, These Definitions Reveal a Critical Distinction:
- A useful Increment provides meaningful functionality, solving real problems.
- A usable Increment ensures that functionality is accessible and ready to be leveraged by users.
The user needs both!
It’s not enough for an Increment to be either useful or usable—it must be both. Let’s break this down:
- Only useful, not usable: a feature that solves a critical problem but is hard to access, poorly designed, or not ready for deployment fails to deliver value.
- Only usable, not useful: a well-designed and accessible feature that solves no real problem or addresses no user need is just waste.
For the Scrum Team, the goal is to create Increments that encompass both qualities, ensuring they solve real problems and can be practically used by the intended audience.
Delivery is crucial!
A key message from the Scrum Guide is this: if it’s not delivered, it cannot be used, and therefore, it provides no value. An Increment that isn’t released to users provides zero value, no matter how much effort went into creating it. Delivery to users is essential to ensure the Increment is both usable and valuable.
So, how does your Scrum Team ensure the Increment is both useful and usable—every single Sprint? How do you validate usefulness with real users? How do you ensure usability through deployment?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!
I hope you find value in these short articles and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to take contact.
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Wishing you an inspiring read and a wonderful journey.
Scrum on!
