While reading the 2010 and 2011 Scrum Guides side-by-side, I got a deeper understanding of the update. While the Scrum Guide has been stripped of some best practices to contain only the core, the language and structure have improved a lot. The new guide ends with the clear rule, that you do Scrum if you implement at least the framework described in the guide, otherwise you do something, but not Scrum. To get the removed back practices back to the light, a Best Practice Compendium is planned by the authors.
Now let’s have a look at the changes in more depth.
Product Owner
The rules in Scrum have been defined more clearly and new responsibilities have been added. E.g. the Product Owner is not only responsible for the value of the Product Backlog Items, implemented in a Sprint. He is now also responsible for “ensuring the value of the work the Development Team performs” and that the Product Backlog is “visible, transparent, and clear to all”.
While adding slightly more responsibilities, that borders between Product Owner and Development Team have been blurred as the Product Owner can now have the Development Team do some of his tasks. He remains accountable for the delegated work in any case.
Development Team
Form my perspective, a major change is the reduction of the minimum recommended Development Team size from 5 to 3 team members. The old rule was “7 +/-2″, the new one is 3 up to 9 team members. If a small team is the right choice depends on the scope of a Sprint as the Development Team has to able to turn all Product Backlog Items into Done Increments without delying on dependencies.
Scrum Master
The role of the Scrum Master as servant-leader has been defined more precise based on his services to the other Scrum Team members. The following updates make the role a lot clearer:
- Service to the Product Owner
- “Finding techniques for effective Product Backlog management”
- “Clearly communicating vision, goals, and Product Backlog items to the Development Team”
In the past, this has been the responsibility of the Product Owner and I would prefer that there would be no change. Otherwise the Product Owner and the Scrum Master can debate whose fault it was, why communication did not work out. - “Teaching the Development Team to create clear and concise Product Backlog items”
This is new, as there are no Technical Tasks required anymore. The Development Team adds, updates and removes Product Backlog Item in/from the Sprint Backlog, containing all Product Backlog Items which are planned for implementation in a Sprint.
- Service to the Organization
- “Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption”
The scope has been extended and is no longer limited to the Scrum Team but encompasses all necessary organizational units. - “Working with other Scrum Masters to increase the effectiveness of the application of Scrum”
- “Leading and coaching the organization in its Scrum adoption”
New concepts
Besides Development Team and Forecast covered in my last post, the Scrum Meetings and the Sprints are now called Scrum Events. For the first time, the term “Project” can be found in the Scrum Guide, although the connection between a Sprint and a 1-month-project is questionable.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this posting tomorrow…
Dieser Artikel wurde von Andreas Heilwagen am 25.07.2011 um 05:30 gepostet und unter Best-of, Scrum, Standards eingeordnet. Sie können Kommentaren über den RSS 2.0-Feed folgen. Das Posting steht unter der Creative Commons-Lizenz wenn nicht anders vermerkt.
