“The emergent process and work must be visible to those performing the work as well as those receiving the work.” (Scrum Guide)
Cambridge Dictionary: emergent = “starting to exist or to become known”.
In professional Scrum, “emergent” is not a cute Agile word. It’s a warning label.
If your process is “set” and your work is “known” up front, congrats: you’re in a simple world. Most product work isn’t.
The right way of working doesn’t arrive fully formed on Day 1. It develops like a photo in a darkroom: slowly, through exposure to reality.
Scrum doesn’t assume you’ll discover everything late. It assumes you’ll discover continuously: new work, better approaches, hidden risks, painful misunderstandings.
So yes: your plan will be wrong. Accept it. Your job is to notice what’s becoming true early enough to adapt cheaply.
Here’s the kicker: the Scrum Guide doesn’t say “make emergent work visible to the Scrum Team.” It says visible to the people doing the work AND the people receiving it. That’s the anti “we’re 80% done” clause.
If stakeholders can’t see what’s becoming true, they can’t inspect, and you can’t adapt. You’ll still “deliver”… mostly surprises.
Make emergent visible (without adding meetings):
1/ Track discovery, not just delivery.
Add a lane/tag for “newly discovered work” (integration, compliance, edge cases, data fixes, stakeholder decisions). If it keeps appearing but stays invisible, you’re paying for rework on subscription.
2/ Make process changes visible too.
When your way of working shifts (DoD check, pairing rule, refinement habit), capture it as a Working Agreement. If it’s not visible, it didn’t happen. It was a nice conversation.
3/ Ask one daily question:
“What emerged since yesterday that changes our best next move toward the Sprint Goal?”
If the answer is “nothing,” say it. Stability is a decision. Silence is denial.
4/ Stop calling it “best practice.”
In complex work, “best practice” usually means “best so far… until reality laughs.” Call them good practices in this context—and keep them on probation.
Now your turn:
- What’s your biggest emergent work category right now: hidden dependencies, late testing, stakeholder indecision, surprise compliance, or ...?
And what do you do with it: expose it, or absorb it?
I hope you find value in these short articles and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to make contact.
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Wishing you an inspiring read and a wonderful journey.
Scrum on!
