Difference between Scrum of Scrums and Scaling Scrum

A Scrum of Scrums is a specific practice in which the collaboration of multiple teams is promoted so a release can be made. Typically, multiple teams will draw work from the same Product Backlog, and their work will need to be integrated before the end-of-sprint increment can be delivered. A Scrum of Scrums can facilitate this delivery.

Scaling Scrum is a term used to describe the challenge of getting multiple Scrum Teams to work together effectively. It addresses practices including Scrum of Scrums, release planning, co-ordinated Scrum events, and a managed organizational agile transformation.

Scrum@Scale is a specific approach to scaling scrum by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland.

Thank you for your explanation! It helps me to put all the facts together.

I read a lot of Scrum with multiple teams yesterday. And I understand it in the same way as you explained.

Do you know some good lectures about Scrum@Scale?

Ian's answer was great, though I don't think Ken is a co-creator of Scrum@Scale.

Scrum.org has its own scaling solution. More here:
https://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/more-on-scaling-scrum/

More info on the Scrum of Scrums can be found here:
https://www.scrum.org/Blog/ArtMID/1765/ArticleID/12/Resurrecting-the-Mu…
http://less.works/less/framework/coordination-and-integration.html#Scru…

> I don't think Ken is a co-creator of Scrum@Scale

Correct, that was clarified today. Ken said "Jeff’s efforts are directed at the what should be done, my efforts are specifically directed at how to do it."

So I think this means Jeff is behind Scrum@Scale, while Ken is behind Scaling Professional Scrum (SPS).

I assume that Ken's previous initiatives of Agility Path and Evidence Based Management are now effectively subsumed into SPS, but that the guides for these remain relevant.

Then again I admit I may have completely lost the plot.

https://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2015/01/30/more-on-scaling-scrum/ explains it all. Thank you, Charles.

Is the "Scrum of Scrums" the same as the Nexus Daily Scrum?

Is the "Scrum of Scrums" the same as the Nexus Daily Scrum?

@Dibbha Iyer, If "Scrum of Scrums" is defined in the same manner as the Nexus Daily Scrum, then yes they are the same. However, in practice "Scrum of Scrums" is usually a status update meeting where it is asked of the Scrum Masters from each of the different Scrum Teams to be a representative at this event.

Therefore, if what is being practiced is not to inspect progress towards the Goal (in the context of scaling i.e. the Sprint Goals of all the Scrum Teams) then it is not the same.

Thanks Steve

Is the "Scrum of Scrums" the same as the Nexus Daily Scrum?

Trick question.

Historically Scrum of Scrums was the way to scale Scrum, thus build a product with multiple Scrum Teams. Something like Nexus is itself. Thus, in theory, the answer is no.

But today, as we have several formalised scaled Scrum frameworks, people tend to use "Scrum of Scrums" to mean events where the representatives of multiple Scrum Teams meet. E.g. in SAFe it is a weekly meeting. In LeSS it is a meeting taking place 3 times a week. Others may use it for daily meetings. Thus, in practice, at a particular organisation, the answer can be easily yes.

I'd argue that using any alternative name for an event is unnecessarily confusing and inhibits transparency.

Even if "Scrum of Scrums" is used as a synonym for "Nexus Daily Scrum", there's a risk of misunderstanding, as there are plenty of published ideas out there for how a Scrum of Scrums should take place, many of them unhelpful in a Scrum context; whereas the Nexus Daily Scrum is documented unambiguously in the Nexus Guide.