DZone Scrum Refcard Update

Posted on 9 February 2016

I was recently asked by Moe Long, the DZone editor, to update the DZone Scrum reference card. The original represented an earlier version and understanding of Scrum and the edits I have made bring it rather closer to the latest (2013) version of the Scrum Guide. You can download the updated version of the card here: https://dzone.com/refcardz/scrumI say "rather closer" because there was one item which I refrained from updating. In the latest version of Scrum, Sprint Planning is divided into two "themes". The first theme involves selecting the work from the Product Backlog that is to be completed, and agreeing a Sprint Goal. The second theme involves planning how that work will be implemented, such as by identifying tasks. In the prior version of the Scrum Guide these "themes" were treated as discrete and sequential steps (i.e. Sprint Planning Parts 1 and 2). There has been some controversy over this change, especially from the Large Scale Scrum community, and the Scrum Primer has not been updated to reflect "theme based" planning. Moreover, it should be observed that conducting Sprint Planning in sequential parts is a valid prescription for implementing the themes referred to in the Guide. I have therefore elected to retain the original advice of conducting planning in two parts*.

The changes I made to the DZone reference card are summarised below.

*Note: neither this reference card nor the Primer represent the official definition of Scrum, no matter how terse and concise they might be. The Scrum Framework is defined by the Scrum Guide itself. The DZone reference card, and the Scrum Primer for that matter, ought to be viewed as interpretive expressions of that canonical definition.