Faishal Wahiduddin

Documentation — scrum — September 24, 2025

Complete Scrum Delivery Guide

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Introduction to Scrum

Scrum is a lightweight yet powerful agile framework designed to help teams deliver value in complex environments. It provides a structured approach to iterative and incremental development, making it one of the most popular frameworks for managing software projects and other complex work. At its core, Scrum is founded on empiricism—the idea that knowledge comes from experience and that decisions should be based on what is known.

Unlike traditional, linear project management methods like Waterfall, Scrum embraces uncertainty and change. It allows teams to adapt to evolving requirements, get feedback early and often, and deliver a potentially shippable product increment at the end of each cycle. This iterative nature not only improves the final product but also enhances team morale and stakeholder satisfaction.

This guide provides a complete overview of the Scrum framework as defined in the official Scrum Guide. Over the next 10 minutes, you will learn about the three pillars of Scrum, its core principles, the roles and responsibilities within a Scrum Team, the five key events that give the framework its rhythm, and the artifacts that make work visible.

The Three Pillars of Scrum

Scrum is built upon three pillars that uphold every implementation of empirical process control. These pillars are essential for the framework to function correctly.

  1. Transparency: All work and processes must be visible to everyone involved—the Scrum Team and the stakeholders. This transparency requires a common language and shared definitions (like the “Definition of Done”) so that everyone has the same understanding of the work being performed and the resulting increment.
  2. Inspection: Scrum artifacts and progress toward goals must be inspected frequently and diligently to detect undesirable variances. Inspection can happen at any time but is most effective during the formal Scrum events, which are designed as specific opportunities for inspection.
  3. Adaptation: If the inspection reveals that one or more aspects of the process are outside acceptable limits and that the resulting product will be unacceptable, the process or the material being processed must be adjusted. These adjustments must be made as quickly as possible to minimize further deviation.

The Scrum Team

The fundamental unit of Scrum is a small, cohesive team of people—a Scrum Team. The team is cross-functional, meaning it has all the skills necessary to create value each Sprint, and self-managing, meaning it internally decides who does what, when, and how. A typical Scrum Team has 10 or fewer members and consists of three specific accountabilities:

  1. The Product Owner (PO): The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the Scrum Team’s work. The PO is the sole person responsible for managing the Product Backlog, which includes clearly expressing Backlog items, ordering them to best achieve goals, and ensuring the Backlog is visible and understood.
  2. The Scrum Master: The Scrum Master is accountable for the Scrum Team’s effectiveness. They do this by enabling the Scrum Team to improve its practices, within the Scrum framework. The Scrum Master is a true leader who serves the Scrum Team and the larger organization by coaching, removing impediments, and facilitating events as needed.
  3. The Developers: Developers are the people in the Scrum Team that are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint. They are the experts who perform the work of designing, building, and testing the product. The specific skills needed by the Developers often vary and depend on the domain of work.

The Five Scrum Events

Scrum prescribes five formal events, which are contained within the Sprint itself. These events create regularity and provide opportunities for inspection and adaptation.

  1. The Sprint: The heart of Scrum is the Sprint, a time-box of one month or less during which a “Done,” usable, and potentially releasable product Increment is created. All other events happen within the Sprint. A new Sprint starts immediately after the conclusion of the previous Sprint.
  2. Sprint Planning: This event kicks off the Sprint. The entire Scrum Team collaborates to define a Sprint Goal—what can be delivered in the upcoming Sprint—and selects work from the Product Backlog to be included in the Sprint Backlog.
  3. Daily Scrum: The Daily Scrum is a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team. It is held every day of the Sprint to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog as necessary. It is an opportunity for the Developers to synchronize their activities and create a plan for the next 24 hours.
  4. Sprint Review: The Sprint Review is held at the end of the Sprint to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog if needed. During this event, the Scrum Team presents the results of their work to key stakeholders, and progress toward the Product Goal is discussed. It is a working session, not a status meeting.
  5. Sprint Retrospective: The Sprint Retrospective is the final event in the Sprint. It is an opportunity for the Scrum Team to inspect itself and create a plan for improvements to be enacted during the next Sprint. The goal is to identify what went well, what problems it ran into, and how those problems were (or were not) solved.

The Scrum Artifacts

Scrum’s artifacts represent work or value. They are designed to maximize the transparency of key information so that everyone has the same understanding.

  1. Product Backlog: This is an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product. It is the single source of work undertaken by the Scrum Team. The Product Goal is the long-term objective for the Scrum Team, and it is the commitment for the Product Backlog.
  2. Sprint Backlog: This is a plan by and for the Developers. It is composed of the Sprint Goal (why), the set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint (what), plus an actionable plan for delivering the Increment (how). The Sprint Goal is the single objective for the Sprint, and it is the commitment for the Sprint Backlog.
  3. Increment: An Increment is a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal. Each Increment is additive to all prior Increments and thoroughly verified, ensuring that all Increments work together. The Definition of Done is the commitment for the Increment, providing a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product.

The Scrum Values

Underpinning the entire framework are the five Scrum values. Living these values is critical for building trust and ensuring the pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation can hold up.

  • Commitment: Team members personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
  • Focus: The team concentrates on the work of the Sprint to make the best possible progress toward the Sprint Goal.
  • Openness: The Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
  • Respect: Scrum Team members respect each other to be capable, independent people.
  • Courage: The Scrum Team members have the courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems.

The Scrum Workflow in Action

While the roles, events, and artifacts are the building blocks, it’s their interaction that creates the rhythm of Scrum. The following diagram illustrates the continuous cycle of planning, executing, reviewing, and adapting.

graph TD
    subgraph Scrum Cycle
        A[Product Backlog] -- "Input for" --> B{Sprint Planning}
        B -- "Creates" --> C[Sprint Backlog]

        subgraph Sprint["Sprint (1-4 Weeks)"]
            direction TB
            C --> D(Daily Scrum)
            D --> E[Development Work]
            E --> D
            E -- "Results in" --> F(Potentially Shippable Increment)
        end

        F --> G{Sprint Review}
        G -- "Feedback leads to updates in" --> A
        G --> H{Sprint Retrospective}
        H -- "Process improvements for next" --> B
    end

The flow explained

  1. The Product Backlog: The cycle begins with the Product Backlog, which is a prioritized list of everything that might be needed in the product. The Product Owner is responsible for maintaining this list.
  2. Sprint Planning: At the start of a new Sprint, the Scrum Team holds a Sprint Planning meeting. They select a set of high-priority items from the Product Backlog and create a plan for how to deliver them. This becomes the Sprint Backlog.
  3. The Sprint: During the Sprint, the Developers work to turn the Sprint Backlog items into a finished Increment of the product. Each day, they hold a Daily Scrum to coordinate their work and track progress toward the Sprint Goal.
  4. Sprint Review: At the end of the Sprint, the team holds a Sprint Review to demonstrate the Increment to stakeholders and get feedback. This feedback is then used to update the Product Backlog.
  5. Sprint Retrospective: Following the Sprint Review, the team conducts a Sprint Retrospective to reflect on their process and identify opportunities for improvement in the next Sprint.

This loop of Plan -> Build -> Review -> Adapt repeats every Sprint, allowing the team to deliver value incrementally and respond to change effectively.

Conclusion

Scrum is more than just a process; it is a mindset shift toward agility, collaboration, and continuous improvement. By embracing the principles of transparency, inspection, and adaptation, Scrum teams can navigate complexity and deliver high-value products in an iterative fashion. Understanding the roles, events, and artifacts provides the foundational structure, but true success in Scrum comes from a team’s commitment to its values: Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage. Whether you are new to agile or looking to refine your practices, Scrum offers a proven path to better outcomes.