Skip to main content

Scrum vs XP

Last post 08:22 pm July 2, 2022 by Thomas Chavez
7 replies
05:18 am June 26, 2022

Few question WRT introducing Agile - specifically\TBD, either Scrum or XP - to a new organization:

  1. Both Scrum and XP are Agile frameworks. what are the key differences between the two?
  2. When introducing either of them to an organization, which is more suitable and why?
  3. What would be different in how to introduce either of them?

 

Thanks!


08:37 am June 26, 2022

The answer depends upon the products being delivered, their complexity, the faith you have in best practices, and the extent to which programming is involved at all.

Why not sponsor teams to experiment for themselves, advocating empirical value delivery at all times, and vowing to remove those organizational constraints which impede their success?


09:52 am June 26, 2022

It's not an either/or choice between Scrum and XP. A lot of the components are in Scrum, while the practices in XP that aren't in Scrum don't contradict anything within Scrum, allowing teams to use them.

There are some minor differences. An iteration in XP is between 1 and 3 weeks, while a Sprint in Scrum is up to a month. XP has an added layer of release planning, while Scrum only has Sprint Planning (which corresponds to XP's iteration planning). Practices like User Stories and Spikes are part of XP, while Scrum only talks about Product Backlog Items in a more general sense. XP tends to be more prescriptive on a set of practices and how to implement those practices than Scrum.

Since there are more practices, the description of XP is much longer than the Scrum Guide. I'd recommend checking out Extreme Programming: A Gentle Introduction (free website) or Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained (book for sale).

There's not a significant difference in how you would introduce Scrum or XP to a team. If you are already working, it would be small steps from where you are now to your desired state. Otherwise, the team can begin using the practices and artifacts from either framework. Retrospectives are part of both Scrum and XP, and give the team the opportunity to inspect and change their way of working.


04:45 pm June 26, 2022

Just FYI, I interviewed Ken Schwaber in 2014, and he mentioned that Scrum started before XP.  https://www.agileconnection.com/interview/origins-and-future-scrum-interview-ken-schwaber


11:48 am June 29, 2022

BOTH!



Start with the Scrum framework and add the best practices for the Developers (http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules.html).

 


05:13 pm June 29, 2022

Does anyone know of any good resources that provide an insightful comparison between Scrum versus XP?



04:58 pm July 2, 2022

both


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.