Scrum is Open for Modification and Extension

Today, Scrum.org and Scrum Inc. are announcing a formal model for modifying and extending Scrum. Scrum's creators, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, are inviting practitioners from around the world to contribute to Scrum's future.

Scrum was first developed 15+ years ago, and it has been evolving and adapting ever since. Informed by their experiences and those of the Scrum community, Jeff and Ken have carefully codified the framework in the Scrum Guide, which documents the basic rules, artifacts, and events of Scrum.

Today's announcement marks a new era in Scrum's evolution by making available a public mechanism for providing feedback on the Scrum Guide and a model for proposing extensions to the basic framework.

The formal process for proposing and integrating changes into Scrum is available online at Scrum.org. To learn more about Scrum, or proposing your own contribution to Scrum, you can use the following links:

Read It
Change It
Extend It

We look forward to hearing from you.

Scrum Guide Explanation #4: Gone are Release Planning and Burndowns

Any Product Manager that has successfully delivered a product to a customer knows how incredibly important Release Planning is. Despite its importance, the 2011 Scrum Guide, published in July by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, removes any discussion about Release Planning and the related Release burndown chart. For an explanation of why this was done, you can read more here.

Scrum Guide Explanation #3: The New, New Sprint Backlog

The 2011 Scrum Guide, published earlier this month by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, makes some bold changes regarding the definition and structure of a Sprint Backlog. Clarity about Sprint Backlogs is long overdue, and these changes should help many who struggle with the concept. Read more here.

Scrum Guide Explanation #2: Hey, where did all the chickens go?

As you're probably aware, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber recently published an update to The Scrum Guide, the definitive guide to Scrum. Many of the changes they made aimed to better define the rules of the game, and remove situational tactics. Some changes were large in scope, while others were less apparent.

One particular change was arguably small and cosmetic, but it really has significance in Steve Porter's opinion. So much so, that he offered to write a brief article to explain why the change was made and how you can interpret these changes as you go about implementing them in your projects. Read more here.

Scrum Guide Explanation #1: 'Ordered' Not 'Prioritized'

Over the coming weeks, Scrum.org will be releasing explanations of the various updates that have been made to the Scrum Guide. The first of these explanations relates to the term used for product backlog organization.

In the past, the Scrum Guide consistently used the word "priority" for the Product Backlog or noted that the Product Backlog was “prioritized.” While the Product Backlog must be ordered, ordering by prioritiy is only one of many techniques — and can lead to sub-optimal ordering if used exclusively. The new Scrum Guide has migrated to using the term ordered for the Product Backlog. This reflects a long-held understanding by many leaders in the Scrum community. The reasons for the change are clarified here.