Scrum Artifacts and Commitments
Artifacts and Their Commitments
Three artifacts each carry a commitment that reinforces transparency and focus:
- Product Backlog → Product Goal: the long-term objective the backlog works toward.
- Sprint Backlog → Sprint Goal: the single objective for the Sprint, composed of selected items and a plan.
- Increment → Definition of Done: the shared standard that makes an increment usable and complete.
Reading the Artifacts
A Product Backlog is an emergent, ordered list of what improves the product; ordering is the Product Owner's accountability. The Sprint Backlog is a highly visible real-time picture of Developers' work, updated as learning occurs. The Increment is the sum of completed work; multiple increments may exist within a Sprint, and an increment is delivered only when it meets the Definition of Done.
Traps
Questions often swap commitments - for example, attaching the Definition of Done to the Product Backlog. Another trap asks whether an item not meeting the Definition of Done can be released: it cannot; it returns to the backlog for future consideration. A third trap treats the Sprint Goal as a list of tickets rather than a coherent objective that provides flexibility when work changes.
Worked rule of thumb
Use the "commitment chain": Product Goal guides backlog ordering → Sprint Goal guides Sprint Backlog selection → Definition of Done governs when the Increment exists. If a scenario's answer breaks this chain, reconsider.
Exam traps
- The Definition of Done is created by the organization if one exists; otherwise the team creates it, and it may be strengthened but not weakened.
- The Sprint Goal is not negotiable away mid-Sprint without Product Owner involvement.
- Transparency of artifacts depends on a shared Definition of Done.