Glossary
Understand key Scrum terms.
Quick, clear explanations of Scrum concepts — with official terms clearly separated from common practice terms.
Sprint
A fixed-length event where a Scrum Team creates a usable Increment of value.
Scrum
A lightweight framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products.
Scrum Master
The person responsible for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide.
Product Owner
The person responsible for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.
Developers
The people in the Scrum Team who are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint.
User Story
A short, simple description of a feature from the user’s perspective.
Velocity
A measure of how much work a team completes in a Sprint.
Sprint Planning
An event where the Scrum Team plans the work to be performed in the Sprint.
Daily Scrum
A 15-minute event for Developers to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the plan.
Product Backlog
An ordered list of everything that is needed in the product.
Sprint Backlog
The set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint, plus a plan for delivering them.
Increment
A usable piece of the product created during a Sprint.
Sprint Review
An event where the Scrum Team and stakeholders inspect the Sprint outcome and decide what to do next.
Sprint Retrospective
An event where the Scrum Team inspects how the last Sprint went and plans improvements.
Sprint Goal
The single objective for the Sprint.
Product Goal
The long-term objective for the Scrum Team’s product.
Definition of Done
A shared description of what it means for work to be complete.
Scrum Team
A small, self-managing team consisting of a Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developers.
Stakeholders
People who have an interest in the product and its outcome.
Acceptance Criteria
Conditions that a Product Backlog item must satisfy to be accepted.
Estimation
The process of predicting how much effort is required to complete work.
Story Points
A unit used to estimate the relative effort of work.
Backlog Refinement
The activity of reviewing and improving Product Backlog items.
Definition of Ready
A checklist that defines when a backlog item is ready to be worked on.
Technical Debt
The cost of taking shortcuts in development that must be fixed later.
Refactoring
Improving code without changing its external behavior.
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The simplest version of a product that delivers value and can be tested with users.
Iterative Development
A way of building products through repeated cycles of improvement.
Incremental Delivery
Delivering work in small, usable pieces over time.
Empiricism
A way of making decisions based on what is known through observation and experience.
Transparency
The state of making work and progress visible to everyone involved.
Inspection
The act of checking progress and work regularly.
Adaptation
Adjusting based on what is learned through inspection.
Continuous Improvement
The ongoing effort to improve products, processes, and teamwork.
Feedback Loop
A cycle where output is used to improve future work.
Impediment
An impediment is anything that blocks or slows down the team’s progress.
Burndown Chart
A burndown chart shows how much work remains in a Sprint over time.
Planning Poker
Planning Poker is a technique used to estimate work collaboratively.
Spike
A spike is a short research task used to reduce uncertainty.
Kanban
Kanban is a visual workflow method focused on continuous delivery and limiting work in progress.
Work In Progress (WIP) Limit
A WIP limit restricts how many tasks can be worked on at the same time.
Burnup Chart
A burnup chart shows completed work against total scope.
Continuous Integration
Continuous Integration is the practice of merging code changes frequently and automatically testing them.
Release Planning
Release Planning is the process of planning when and how product increments will be delivered.
Agile
Agile is a mindset for delivering value through collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement.
Agile Manifesto
The Agile Manifesto defines the core values of Agile development.
Flow
Flow refers to the smooth movement of work through a system.
Definition of Workflow
Definition of Workflow describes how work moves through stages.
Scrum vs Kanban
Scrum and Kanban are different approaches to managing work.
Scrum vs Agile
Scrum is a framework within the broader Agile mindset.
Continuous Delivery
Continuous Delivery is the ability to release software at any time.