Too long, didn’t read?

The Scrum Guide is short, concise and informative. I encourge you to read it. But if it’s too long to you, or you need to onboard a busy team, follow me on my new blog series 2-Minute Scrum for Busy Teams — a bite-size, per-chapter, bullet-point summary of The Scrum Guide.

Sprint Backlog

Sprint Backlog is:

  • the set of Product Backlog items selected for the Sprint
  • and a plan for delivering the product Increment and realizing Sprint Goal
  • belongs solely to Development Team

Sprint Backlog provides:

  • a forecast by Development Team about:
    1. what functionality will be in the next Increment
    2. and the work needed to deliver that functionality into a “Done” Increment
  • a highly visible, real-time picture of the work that Development Team plans to accomplish

Sprint Backlog makes visible:

  • all the work that Development Team identifies as necessary to meet the Sprint Goal
  • at least one high-priority process improvement identified in previous Sprint Retrospective

Only Development Team can change Sprint Backlog:

  • modifies Sprint Backlog throughout the Sprint
  • works through the plan and learns more about the work needed to achieve Sprint Goal
  • adds new work, as required into Sprint Backlog
  • updates estimated remaining work, as it is performed or completed
  • removes unnecessary work

Monitoring Sprint Progress

Development Team:

  • can sum the total work remaining in Sprint Backlog at any time
  • tracks total work remaining every Daily Scrum to project likelihood of achieving Sprint Goal
  • self-manages its progress by tracking the remaining work


Read the full text in The Scrum Guide.

In 2-Minute Scrum for Busy Teams series