From the Scrum Guide: “The Scrum Guide contains the definition of Scrum”. (www.scrumguides.org).
From Cambridge Dictionary: “Definition: a statement that explains the meaning of”, and “a description of the features and limits of something”.
While there are a lot of references about Scrum, the ScrumGuide defines what the Scrum framework is. All other references (including these writings) are clarifications, interpretations, examples, implementations, or whatever else their purpose is. Some references are truly awesome (e.g. https://www.scrum.org/resource-center), others are completely misleading (I’ll not reference to not lead you that way - please contact me if you are unsure).
If a concept is not in the ScrumGuide, then it is not part of Scrum. It might be very helpful in your context; it might also be counter-productive. If you feel a practice doesn’t really work, and it’s not in the ScrumGuide, then change it for a practice that does work.
Examples?
Sure: user stories, a format to document a Product Backlog Item. For some teams this is a great practice, for other teams it is a pain. If this doesn’t work for you, drop it and shift to for example a hypothesis format.
And this is also what the Scrum Guide tells us: “... patterns, processes, and insights that fit the Scrum framework as described in this document, may be found, applied and devised. Their description is beyond the purpose of the Scrum Guide because they are context sensitive and differ widely between Scrum uses.”
Awesome right!
So, if you are unsure about something, if you feel you are missing the mark, if you feel the purpose of an element is not achieved, first go back to the ScrumGuide.
And reread it very attentively.
Pay attention to each word - I’ll be going over specific words throughout this series that sound like everyday language, but that are often surprising when put in context.
Then find clarifying references from professionals with a track record - I trust all my colleague trainers from Scrum.org, as well as the LeSS community. No doubt there are other great professionals - just verify.
Having said that, it might be a good moment to reread the ScrumGuide. Do you really need to do everything your team is currently doing…? Can you make better use of other practices?
A lot to think about…
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.
Have fun.
Scrum on!
