SMP key terms

The belief that knowledge comes from experience and from decisions based on what is observed. Scrum relies on short cycles of doing and checking so teams learn and adjust instead of predicting everything up front.

A state in which the process, its work, and the results are visible to the people who manage and inspect them. It requires an honest shared view of reality and a common understanding of what done means.

The frequent, careful examination of Scrum artifacts and progress toward agreed goals. It is done by skilled people against a clear standard so problems and deviations are detected early enough to be useful.

Adjusting the process, product, or plan based on what inspection reveals. Without adaptation inspection has no value, so Scrum builds opportunities to correct course into every event.

A way of working that maximizes customer value while minimizing waste. It favors small batches, flow, continuous improvement, and respect for people, and underpins Scrum's emphasis on removing unnecessary work.

Five qualities, namely commitment, focus, openness, respect, and courage, that guide behavior in Scrum. When lived consistently they build the trust that transparency and self-management depend on.

The Scrum Team's authority to decide internally how to do its work and who does what. Rather than a manager assigning tasks, the team organizes itself around the goal within agreed boundaries.

An accountability for establishing Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide and for the team's effectiveness. The Scrum Master serves the team, the Product Owner, and the organization through coaching, teaching, and removing impediments.

An accountability for maximizing product value by managing the Product Backlog. The Product Owner clarifies items, orders them, and keeps the team's work aligned with the Product Goal and stakeholder needs.

The people in the Scrum Team accountable for creating any aspect of a usable Increment each Sprint. They self-manage, own the Sprint Backlog, and hold the technical and quality standards of the work.

An emergent, ordered list of what is needed to improve the product and the single source of work for the Scrum Team. It is never complete, and its ordering reflects value, risk, and dependency.

The set of Product Backlog items selected for a Sprint together with the plan for delivering them. It is a living, team-owned view of the work that is updated as the team learns.

A concrete, usable step toward the Product Goal produced during a Sprint. Each Increment adds to all previous ones, is verified against the Definition of Done, and must be usable even before the Sprint ends.

A long-term, measurable objective describing the future state of the product that the Scrum Team is working toward. It gives the Product Backlog its direction and is the commitment attached to that artifact.

A single coherent objective for the Sprint that gives the team both focus and flexibility. It is agreed during Sprint Planning and is the commitment attached to the Sprint Backlog.

A shared, explicit checklist of quality standards that an Increment must meet to be considered complete. It creates transparency, prevents partial work from being called done, and is the commitment for the Increment.

A fixed-length period of one month or less in which the Scrum Team turns backlog items into a usable Increment. Every other Scrum event happens inside it, and a new Sprint starts immediately after.

The event that opens a Sprint, where the team agrees why the Sprint is valuable, what can be done, and how. It produces the Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog and is timeboxed to eight hours or less.

A fifteen-minute event each working day where the Developers inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt their plan. It improves communication and removes the need for other status meetings.

The second-to-last event of a Sprint, where the team and stakeholders inspect the Increment and adapt the Product Backlog. It is a working session rather than a formal presentation and is timeboxed to four hours.

The closing event of a Sprint, where the team inspects how it worked together and identifies the most useful improvements. Chosen actions may be added to the next Sprint Backlog, and the timebox is three hours.

A maximum amount of time allotted to a Scrum event or activity. Rather than stretching the event to fit the work, the team adjusts the scope of its discussion so the event stays focused.

Ending a Sprint before its timebox expires because the Sprint Goal has become obsolete. Only the Product Owner can cancel, and the team then reviews and adapts whatever work was completed.

The ongoing activity of breaking down and clarifying Product Backlog items so they are small and understood well enough for a future Sprint. It is a continuous conversation rather than a formal event.

Partnering with people so they find their own answers, build capability, and reach goals they define themselves. A coach asks more than tells, holds the client's agenda, and supports lasting behavior change.

Open, short questions that invite reflection and new thinking rather than justify an existing position. They are a core coaching and facilitation tool for raising awareness and prompting the speaker's own insight.

Fully attending to a speaker in order to understand both content and feeling, then confirming that understanding through paraphrasing and open questions. It builds trust and surfaces information a distracted listener would miss.

Designing and guiding a group process so participants can reach their own outcomes efficiently. The facilitator manages the how, such as agenda, format, and participation, while leaving content and decisions to the group.

A shared belief that people can speak up, admit mistakes, ask questions, and disagree without punishment. It is a precondition for transparency, learning, and the honest retrospectives Scrum depends on.

Leading by focusing on the needs and growth of others rather than on status or control. The leader removes obstacles, shares power, and creates conditions in which the team can succeed on its own.

A blocker or obstacle outside the team's ability to resolve that slows progress toward its goals. The Scrum Master helps the team identify, escalate, and eliminate such impediments.

The forming, storming, norming, and performing sequence first described by Tuckman. Knowing these stages helps a Scrum Master choose the right support, from direction early on to coaching and delegation later.

Helping people address disagreement directly and constructively instead of avoiding or escalating it. The aim is a workable decision and a preserved working relationship, not a winner and a loser.

The worth a product delivers to customers and to the organization, judged by outcomes rather than by output. Scrum orders work by value and inspects it so the most valuable things are done first.

An approach to steering toward goals using four key value areas: current value, unrealized value, time to market, and ability to innovate. It keeps decisions grounded in evidence rather than opinion.

The future cost of shortcuts taken in design or code that make later change harder. Making it visible helps the team and Product Owner trade short-term speed against long-term value delivery.

An organization's capacity to sense change and respond by adjusting strategy, structure, and work. Scrum teams contribute by delivering value iteratively and by surfacing system-level impediments for leadership to remove.

Applying Scrum across several teams working on one product, adding coordination while keeping each team's Scrum intact. Frameworks such as Nexus or LeSS differ mainly in how much extra coordinating structure they introduce.