A Scrum Checklist

Considering Scrum for your team &/or Org? Here are the must-haves for Scrum To Work:

• A Scrum Checklist
• Theory Agreement
  • Empiricism
  • Minimizing Waste
  • Integrate Incremental Releases
  • Transparency
  • Inspection
  • Adaptation
• Value Adoption
  • Commitment
  • Focus
  • Openness
  • Respect
  • Courage
  • Role Presence
    • Product Owner
    • Scrum Master
    • Developers
• Event Hosting
  • Sprint
  • Sprint Planning
  • Sprint Review
  • Sprint Retrospective
  • Daily Scrum
• Artifact Presence
  • Product Backlog
  • Product Goal
  • Sprint Backlog
  • Sprint Goal
  • The Increment
  • Definition of Done

Theory Agreement

Scrum works when all folks involved are ready to regularly interact with some theories:

Empiricism

We "Know" about our work by what we do and what we experience, rather than by our intuition or by rationalism.

Minimizing Waste

Scrum has events that can help identify waste, and removing this waste keeps the team and the work lean.

Integrate Incremental Releases

Small iterations of value take priority over quarterly goals, annual themes, and longer-term guessing.

Transparency

gives insight for important decisions.
The "Product Backlog" and the current work being done are visible to all.

Inspection

Allow for output, particularly an increment (see below), to be looked at by stakeholders outside of the details of the work implementation.
Inspection enables regular adaptation when inspection happens on a regular cadence.
Scrum artifacts (see below) present the work to be done, as well as the current work.

Adaptation

allows for handling complex problems while the team learns
The Short-Term Sprint allows for new knowledge to make impacts on the details of the work being done

Value Adoption

Effective Scrum depends on participants developing competency in five values:

Commitment

The team is committed to accomplishing the Sprint Goal together

Focus

The team's primary focus is on the work of the Sprint

Openness

The nature of the work and the challenges of the work are known to the Scrum Team and the Stakeholders

Respect

Members of the Scrum Team respect each other to be "capable, independent people"

Courage

The team and the members do the right thing and work on difficult problems in order to accomplish the goals of the sprint

Role Presence

There are only a few roles required to make Scrum work:

Product Owner

Maximizes the value that the Scrum Team produces

Scrum Master

Helps the Scrum Team and the Organization understand Scrum theory, practice, events, roles, and artifacts

Developers

The folks commited to creating content for the product

Event Hosting

There are only a few events that make up Scrum:

Sprint

The Scrum Team lifecycle is broken down into a 1-month-max duration

Sprint Planning

Where the Product Owner and Developers decide on what work to do during the Sprint

Sprint Review

Where the team shows off what Incremental value is releasable to others

Sprint Retrospective

Where the Scrum Team plan how they can increase their effectiveness with regards to interactions, prcesses, and tooling

Daily Scrum

Where the developers inspect their progress toward the Sprint Goal

Artifact Presence

Six artifacts represent work & value, designed to maximize transparency of particular details.

Product Backlog

An Ordered list of items to be done

Product Goal

Describes a future state of the product which can serve as a target for the Scrum Team to plan against.

Sprint Backlog

Where the team shows off what Incremental value is releasable to others

Sprint Goal

The Single objective of a Sprint: a rallying point, a commitment.

The Increment

The Usable “stepping stones” of functionality toward the Product Goal, created within a Sprint.

Definition of Done

The Formal description of quality required for the product.