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Monitoring the remaning work in Sprint Backlog and in Product Backlog

Last post 04:45 pm December 19, 2020 by Alfredo Alcantara
3 replies
05:24 pm December 17, 2020

Hi comrades, 

In previous version of the Scrum Guide there were points about Monitoring Progress Toward Goals and Monitoring Progress Toward Goals. So, are they still actually or the PO should not monitor the progress of the product each Sprint? Please clarify


05:50 pm December 17, 2020

I'm guessing one of the "Monitoring Progress Toward Goals" refers to "Monitoring Sprint Progress".

Between the 2017 and 2020 Scrum Guides, very little has changed about the fundamentals of Scrum. Most of the changes made were attempts to make the Scrum Guide more clear.

Looking back at the 2017 Scrum Guide's "Monitoring Sprint Progress" section, nothing in there stands out as being changed in the 2020 Scrum Guide. However, I'd point out that it is the Development Team that is doing the tracking and monitoring of the progress, not the Product Owner. The complete ownership of the Sprint Backlog still falls to the Development Team.

Much of the 2017 Scrum Guide's "Monitoring Progress Toward Goals" is also still applicable with the 2020 Scrum Guide. The addition and formalization of the Product Goal have some impact here. In 2020, the description of the Sprint Review is also more inclusive of the Scrum Team, which means that Developers and perhaps even the Scrum Master could be more involved in making sure that the current state of work and progress is transparent. The Product Owner remains accountable for the Product Backlog and its management.

Perhaps if you elaborate more on what the Product Owner is doing or what you think the Product Owner should be doing, it would be easier to talk in more concrete terms about how those behaviors do or don't align with how the accountabilities are laid out in the Scrum Guide.


06:23 pm December 17, 2020

Monitoring the remaning work in Sprint Backlog and in Product Backlog

Perhaps a team needs to establish transparency over work remaining, so progress can be inspected and adapted. I'd suggest that's what good monitoring involves -- it isn't a passive activity.


04:45 pm December 19, 2020

thanks a lot for your help. 


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