How has Scrum changed with the release of the new 2020 Scrum Guide?

Summary analysis from the official Hungarian translators:

The latest Scrum Guide was published in November 2020. As official Hungarian translators of the new Scrum Guide, we would like to share the main changes with you.

In short: the essence has not changed, Scrum is still Scrum and still a simple framework for cross-functional teams to solve complex tasks and deliver value. It has been simplified, restructured, generalised, and moved away from the software industry. Overall, from a professional perspective, we welcome the change, but there are some things we would not have done.

Let’s look at the main changes in more detail:

1. General changes:

• We -believe that the goal of making it easier to understand and more appealing to the world outside software development has only been partially achieved. The generalisation sometimes forced it to be worded in a more

• The simplification also meant that chapters and paragraphs were removed (e.g. Uses of Scrum) or rearranged (e.g. the Increment was merged with the Definition of Done, the Sprint Backlog with the Sprint Goal and the Product Backlog with the Product Goal).

• Definitions have changed, but only at the level of clarifications and redefinitions.

• It has become even less prescriptive. This can be good, because it gives more freedom, but it can also be bad, because this freedom can be abused.

• For the first time, the connection between Scrum and Lean thinking is explicit. This was much needed! :)

2. Only one kind of team is left: “Development Team” in Scrum Team is replaced by “Scrum Team”. The aim was to remove the confusion caused by the team phenomenon. So there is no longer any question that the Product Owner is part of the team. We are happy about this, as it really clarifies the wording. The danger, however, is that by renaming the Development team, the members (Developers) as individuals may come to the fore instead of the all-important, jointly responsible team.

3. The concept of Product Goal has been introduced, as opposed to the Vision used previously. This caused ambivalence, because although Product Goal is indeed more in harmony with Sprint Goal, Vision is more apt, e.g. it suggests that we don’t need to know everything exactly to get the work started.

4. Instead of self-organising teams, the Scrum Guide now talks about self-managing teams. Self-organisation used to refer to the now defunct Development Team. Since only the full team (Scrum Team) remains, it is now stated that they are now self-managing. It unofficially worked this way so far, the Product Owner was always part of the Scrum Team.

5. Removed the term “servant leader”. The Scrum Master is now declared a true leader in the Scrum Guide, serving the Scrum Team and the wider organisation. So the true leader is still a servant leader, but unfortunately this is only clear from the role description.

6. An important change is that during Sprint Planning, before “What?” and “How?”, the team also has to agree on “Why?” We find this very useful, because our experience is that teams have a tendency to leave out the definition of the Sprint’s purpose. Without this, it was also difficult to maintain focus.

7. The description of ceremonies has been simplified. We do not always consider this to be a good thing. For example, the three questions recommended in the Daily Standup are no longer included at all, although they were a great help for novice teams.

8. It has become clear that you don’t have to wait for the end of the Sprint to deliver (the product) at all, and the Sprint Review is not the delivery milestone. This is also a very useful clarification.

Our Hungarian translation is ready and is available for download from ScrumGuides.org. Thanks to the Sprint Consulting team (Andrea Török, Balázs Schaffhauser, János Megyeri, Gábor Erényi and Zsolt Árpád Bodó) and Gábor Péntek for their contribution to the translation of the very first Scrum Guide.

We want your opinions and questions, let us know!

By: Erényi Gábor és Bodó Árpád Zsolt (Sprint Consulting)