Scrum Cheat Sheet – a Quick Review of Terms & Practices

Scrum is one of the most popular Agile frameworks. Most of this is due to its ability to provide clear guidance and rules for teams that use it. However, remembering all of these rules is not easy. And sometimes you just need a quick reminder to get back on track. So grab this Scrum cheat sheet and stay sure of what you are doing!

In the Scrum cheat sheet, you will find all of the most important terms and practices explained in a simple and efficient manner. Making it easy to check something and get back to work immediately.

Here is the full Scrum cheat sheet. Use the Download button at the bottom for your copy.

Scrum

Scrum has been the most popular Agile framework for quite some time now and this is not going to change any time soon. The framework is easy to understand and covers various business management aspects, making it easy to pick up and keep up. Compared to Kanban board which provides only vague guidance for its practitioners, Scrum rules are more extensive. However, this is just what most new Agile practitioners are after and they pick Scrum in order to have a good start with Agile.

If you want to learn more about the framework read – What is Scrum? Here are the most important Scrum terms and practices and below you will find the Scrum cheat sheet.

Main Components

Empirical Scrum pillars: 

• Transparency – The emergent process and work must be visible to those performing and receiving the work. 
• Inspection – Scrum artifacts progress toward agreed goals must be inspected frequently and diligently (to detect potentially undesirable variances or problems). 
• Adaptation – If any aspects of a process deviate outside acceptable limits or if the resulting product is unacceptable, the process or the materials must be adjusted. 

Scrum values 

1. Commitment 
2. Focus 
3. Openness 
4. Respect 
5. Courage 

Task assignment

Team members self-assign tasks by choosing them from the Sprint backlog. This is usually done before the Sprint begins, but the assignments can change during the iteration.

Scrum Team

Scrum Team – a cohesive unit of self-managing professionals focused on one objective at a time, the Product Goal. 

Composed of 1 Scrum Master, 1 Product Owner, and Developers. Typically, 10 people or less.  

The Developers

Developers – the people in the Scrum Team that are committed to creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint.  

Deliver a Product increment. 

The Product Owner

Product Owner – accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Scrum Team.  

Delivers value and manages the Product Backlog. 

The Scrum Master

Scrum Master – accountable for establishing Scrum as defined in the Scrum Guide within the team and the organization.  

Facilitates Scrum implementation. 

Scrum events   

The Sprint – fixed-length event of one month or less where work is performed to achieve the Sprint Goal which is a concrete step toward the Product Goal. Includes 4 formal events – Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.  

All Scrum events are time-boxed, values written below are recommended for a 4-week Sprint.

Scrum Artifacts

Product Backlog – is an emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product. 

Commitment – Product Goal 

Product Goal – describes the future state of the product which can serve as a target for the Scrum Team to plan against. 

Sprint Backlog – is a plan by and for the Developers on what work they plan to accomplish during the Sprint to achieve the Sprint Goal. 

Commitment – Sprint Goal 

Sprint Goal – is the single objective for the Sprint. 

Product Increment – is a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal. It is not just what you did last Sprint. It is the WHOLE product. 

Commitment – Definition of Done 

Definition of Done – is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. 

Using Teamhood for Scrum

Teamhood is a visual project management tool optimized for Agile project management. Thus, it is a great tool to visualize and track your Scrum projects. Simply choose a Scrum template and you will get a workspace ready for your project. In this predesigned workspace, you will find:

1 – Product Roadmap. To easily plan out where you plan to take the product in the next year. The roadmap is divided into quarters, making it easy to note down important steps in product development and draw dependencies to see what should come first.

2 – Product Backlog. To identify how the Roadmap will be implemented and prepare tasks for the Sprint Backlog. The Product Backlog in Teamhood is divided into three sections – Features/User Stories, Bugs, and Tasks. Thus allowing you to categorize items according to their type. Additionally, each item can be assigned different statuses to see what is ready to be pulled in the Sprint Backlog. The predefined statuses are – New items, For grooming, Priority 2, and Priority 1, you can also always add or delete any status in this view.

3 – Sprint Backlog and task board. Once the tasks are ready for the Sprint, they can be moved to the Sprint board in Teamhood. They should be added first to the Sprint Backlog column, evaluated and then the team can start working. All the sub-items are tracked in the secondary process steps for more clarity. The board is also divided into several rows, making it easy to see past Sprints and plan the ones ahead.

4 – Releases and Retrospectives views. The last two boards in the Teamhood Scrum workspace are dedicated to tracking releases and reflecting on the process. The release board helps you track what features or improvements have been made during each Sprint. While the Retrospective board helps review the process, identify what should be improved, and commit to actions for the next Sprint.

Teamhood is equipped with various project management tools and features that make Scrum easy. Try it out now for comprehensive task details, actionable Agile metrics, easy task estimation, scope limits, and task assignments. Complete with automated time tracking and a Portfolio view, Teamhood is a Scrum powerhouse.

Summary

Scrum is a great choice for teams that want to move fast and react to the changing environment. Planning, completing, and reviewing the work in short iterations allows to quickly test out new ideas and deliver a final result that is done in accordance with the customer feedback. Scrum was created for small collocated teams but has since proven to be a great candidate for scaling. Great for Agile beginners it may very well be your intro into Agile and with this Scrum master cheat sheet you are sure to do great!