Scrum Theory and Principles
The empirical core
Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking. Empiricism says knowledge comes from experience and decisions are made on what is observed; the three pillars are transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Lean thinking reduces waste and focuses on essentials. Underlying both are the Scrum values: commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage. Values are not decoration - they are the behavioral conditions that make the pillars work.
The five events and the framework's intent
Scrum is intentionally lightweight, simple to understand, and difficult to master. It is a framework, not a methodology: it defines accountabilities, events, artifacts, and rules, leaving practices to the team. Iterative development refines work toward a goal; incremental delivery adds usable pieces. The Sprint is the container for the other events.
Traps in questions
- Confusing the pillars with the values, or listing values as pillars.
- Treating Scrum as prescriptive process with defined engineering practices.
- Assuming a fixed, complete requirements set at the start; Scrum expects emergence.
- Believing the framework guarantees quality - it exposes problems; people solve them.
- Mixing lean thinking with "do more in parallel." Lean removes waste, it does not add work.
Rule of thumb
When an answer choice removes inspection or hides information (skipping the Daily Scrum, cancelling Retrospectives to save time, reporting only good news), it violates empiricism. Ask: does this choice increase transparency and enable adaptation? If not, it is the wrong answer.
Worked example
A team wants to skip the Sprint Review because stakeholders are busy. Transparency into the Increment drops, so inspection and adaptation with stakeholders disappear. The correct reasoning: the event exists to inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog; skipping it weakens empiricism.