UPDATED Scrum Guide: 10 Big Changes and What This Means for You

Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland – Agile leaders and the creators of the original Scrum Guide – celebrated 25 years of Scrum with the release of an updated guide. It’s been three years since the previous version and so like we’d expect from the co-creators of Scrum, they made changes with an Agile mindset.

In fact, the Scrum Guide was reduced by over 30% and added more clarity. More importantly, you’ll find that the Scrum Guide is now less prescriptive and more relatable across industries as an operating model versus a “how-to” manual.

After consulting with members of the Agile community and industry thought leaders, the duo kept the core pillars in place – Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation – but revised the guide to provide a leaner, more transparent understanding of the framework to allow new industries to explore Scrum.

What’s new in the guide?

We’ve broken down ten major changes to the Scrum Guide to help you stay up to date as a Scrum Master, Product Owner or member of a Scrum team.

1. Scrum is a framework and should not be a prescriptive method of working.

The essence of Scrum should be one that is flexible to learn, try new things, and evolve. A benefit of Scrum (and why it works so well for many industries) is that it encourages the review and adaptation of processes, the team and goals.

Schwaber and Sutherland removed the Daily Scrum questions, softened language around certain attributes and retro items, and more to simplify the framework and keep Scrum adaptive.

2. Emphasizes for flow and simplicity.

The 2020 guide places an emphasis on eliminating redundant and complex statements, and removing any inference to IT-specific work (ex: testing, system, design, requirement, etc). With Scrum being adopted across industries and work domains, the IT-specific terminology is antiquated and unnecessary.

3. One unified team focused on one product.

They have eliminated the concept of a team within a team between the Product Owner and Scrum Master with the Development Team (this was confusing to most new Agilists). Now, there is one unified Scrum Team focused on the same objective. The “entire Scrum Team (Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Developers) is accountable for creating a valuable, useful Increment every Sprint.”

4. Introduction of the Product Goal.

The 2020 Scrum Guide introduced the concept of a Product Goal – the future state of the product – to provide focus for the Scrum Team toward a larger valuable objective. Each Sprint should bring the product closer to the overall Product Goal.

Hence, “vision” is removed as it was perceived as being too nebulous. Using “goal”, there is clarity that enables us to integrate Strategy with Delivery while still ensuring that we can apply concepts like SMART goals or OKRs depending on the nature of the work.

5. Artifact “Commitments.”

The 2020 guide provides more clarity around the Sprint Goal and Definition of Done. With the addition of the Product Goal, each of the three artifacts now contain ‘commitments’ to them. For the Product Backlog it is the Product Goal, the Sprint Backlog has the Sprint Goal, and the Increment has the Definition of Done to bring transparency and focus toward the progress of each artifact.

6. Change from self-organized to self-managed.

Previous Scrum Guides referred to Development Teams as “self-organizing”, choosing who and how to do work. The Scrum Guide now uses the terms “self-managing” and “self-management” to emphasize that Scrum Teams choose “who, how and what to work on.”

7. Three Sprint Planning topics.

In addition to the Sprint Planning topics of “What” and “How,” the 2020 Scrum Guide emphasizes a third topic, “Why?” Every Sprint is an investment.

Asking “Why” allows teams to consider the value (money and time to market) of these investments. Why do we invest in this product/service? What outcome or impact are we looking to make?

8. From responsible to accountable.

The earlier guides originally stated that specific roles were “responsible” for certain work. It’s now been changed to “accountable.” The reason is that for the flow of work to occur and in conditions of achieving high-performance on teams - the actual responsibility can shift from one person to another.

This is the prerogative of being self-managed. Instead, the accountable role simply needs to be sure that the actions are being done and does not mandate that the role must be the one to specifically satisfy the action for the team.

9. No estimates.

The nature of understanding the “size” of the work is mentioned. However, the activity of estimating and re-estimating the work has been removed.

This is helpful as the team only needs to pull the work that they need to complete in the sprint. They should understand the size of the items as it relates to achieving their sprint goal. Therefore, while it’s necessary to size the work for planning, specific estimates for product backlog increments are no longer a focal point.

10. Sprint Review as a Working session.

In the past, the Sprint Review could be interpreted as a “show and tell” presentation to Stakeholders. Now it’s more clear that the Sprint Review is an opportunity for stakeholders to get involved in sharing feedback and information pertaining to the Product Goal.

Additionally, the focus is on the progress toward the Product Goal and to identify any shifts of the Product Goal. And surprisingly, the Sprint Goal is no longer mentioned.

We can assume the Scrum Team will review the Sprint Goal but that it’s NOT THE MAIN PURPOSE of the meeting. The purpose is to identify the adaptations needed to keep the team focused on achieving the appropriate Product Goal.

So, what does this mean for you?

Although the new guide was released in November 2020, all assessments and classes will be based on the previous version (2017) as of now. We will update our students as soon as we are notified of updates.

In the meantime, Hyperdrive Agile’s trainers are excited for the new changes and opportunities that these updates bring for new industries to explore. Our trainers and coaches are working to become familiar with the new wording and additional concepts to provide our students with the latest in Scrum knowledge.

As always, we are committed to providing accessible and professional training to help individuals and organizations improve their agility and success. Stay tuned for updates on when our classes will be updated with the 2020 Scrum Guide!

Overall, these changes in the new Scrum guide emphasize simplicity, adaptability, and a focus on value-driven goals. It also removes any IT-specific language to make it more inclusive for all industries.

As an individual or organization looking to adopt Scrum, these changes mean that you can expect a smoother and clearer process, with a stronger emphasis on collaboration and alignment towards a common goal. It also highlights the importance of constantly reassessing your product goal and making adaptations as needed.

Scrum is still Scrum at its core.

It was designed to serve as a flexible framework that provides teams with a common foundation to collaborate effectively. It’s not meant to be rigid or static; instead, Scrum practices are designed to evolve and adapt as teams and organizations grow and change.

The true power of Scrum lies in its ability to prioritize the needs of teams and offer a structure that supports creativity, problem-solving, and delivering value.

As we reflect on recent updates to the Scrum Guide and its practices, we encourage our community to revisit the fundamentals and ask themselves a few key questions:

1. Are we working effectively as a team, leveraging our strengths and improving where needed?
2. Can this process or change help us address a specific challenge or solve an ongoing problem?
3. Is our work delivering measurable value to our team, our customers, and the organization as a whole?

If you’ve implemented practices that work well for your team but are no longer part of the official Scrum Guide, don’t worry! Keep doing what works for your unique situation. That’s the beauty of Scrum—it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach but a framework that supports teams in tailoring it to meet their specific needs and challenges.

Scrum thrives on adaptability, putting teams first and empowering them to find solutions that drive results. If your team requires a more customized or specialized approach to Agile methodologies, Hyperdrive is here to help. Contact us to learn more about our Agile consulting services and how we can support your journey toward effective teamwork and continuous improvement.