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What are the changes in Scrum Guide from 2017 to 2020?

Seven major changes from the 2017 edition to the 2020 edition

  1. Decrease the prescriptive description to a lower level and emphasize “not preaching”.
  • In recent years, the Scrum Guide has become more prescriptive. The 2020 version aims to bring Scrum back to its original minimal framework by deleting or downplaying the prescriptive terms.
  • For example, it deletes the three questions of Daily Scrum, downplays the description of PBI attributes, and downplays the description of improvements in the Sprint Backlog.
  • Simplify the “Cancel Sprint” paragraph and so on.

2. A team, focusing on one single product — The purpose is to eliminate the concept of other teams in the team, leading to “agents” or “us, you, them” behaviors between the PO and Dev teams. There is only one Scrum Team, focusing on the same goal, with three different responsibilities: PO, SM, and Developers.

3. Adding the Product Goal. In 2020 version introduces the concept of Product Goal, providing a more valuable focus for the Scrum Team. Each Sprint should bring the product under development closer to the overall Product Goal.

4. Sprint Goal, Definition of Done and Product Goal in place. The previous version of the Scrum Guide described Sprint Goal and Definition of Done, but did not really give them an identity. They are not artifacts in the full sense, but are attached to artifacts to some extent. With the introduction of Product Goal, the 2020 version provides a clearer description of this. Now each of the three artifacts contains a corresponding “commitment”, that is, for the Product Backlog, it corresponds to the Product Goal, for the Sprint Backlog, it corresponds to the Sprint Goal, and Increment corresponds to the Definition of Done. They exist to bring transparency and focus on the progress of each artifact.

5. Self-Managing goes beyond Self-Organizing. The previous version of the Scrum Guide called Development Teams self-organizing, and they can choose “who” and “how.” The 2020 version pays more attention to the Scrum Team, emphasizing a self-managed Scrum Team, where they can choose “who”, “how” and “what”.

6. Three Sprint Planning Themes. In addition to the “what” and “how” themes of Sprint Planning, the 2020 version also emphasizes the third theme “why”, that is, Sprint Goal.

7. For a wider audience, using the simplified language. version 2020 focuses on eliminating lengthy and complex statements and removing all inferences related to IT work (such as testing, systems, design, requirements, etc.). The Scrum Guide now has less than 13 pages.

Agile & Scrum Basics

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