Agile & Scrum glossary

A sequential delivery approach where each stage is generally finished before the next begins.

Example A payroll system built as Requirements → Design → Development → Testing → Deployment, with the customer seeing it near the end.

An approach to delivering value in small increments so the team can get feedback, learn and adapt.

Example Shipping search-and-order first, then prioritising delivery tracking after customers ask for it.

Combining traditional governance with iterative delivery so each part of the project uses the practice that fits it.

Example Executive budget approval and a formal security sign-off around a development team that works in Scrum sprints.

Planning treated as something that is revisited as the team learns, rather than fixed once at the start.

Example Re-ordering the next two sprints after user testing shows a feature nobody uses.

A usable slice of the product that can be shown, tested or released.

Example Version 1 of a shop: browse products and place an order — nothing else yet.

One short cycle of building, reviewing and improving the work before the next cycle starts.

Example A two-week cycle that ends with a demo and a decision about what to build next.

The gap between building something and learning whether it was right — shorter loops cost less to correct.

Example Showing a clickable prototype in week two instead of a finished system in month twelve.

An Agile method that visualises work on a board and limits how much is in progress at once.

Example A support team with a three-card limit in the 'In progress' column to stop everything stalling at 80% done.

An Agile framework with defined accountabilities, events and artifacts for delivering work in short cycles.

Example A team of seven planning a two-week sprint, meeting daily and reviewing the increment with stakeholders.

A fixed, short period in which a Scrum team produces a usable increment.

Example Two weeks ending with a sprint review demo and a retrospective.

The person accountable for maximising the value of the product by ordering the Product Backlog.

Example Deciding delivery tracking outranks a loyalty scheme because customers keep calling about parcels.

The person accountable for the team's effectiveness — coaching the practices and removing impediments.

Example Unblocking a team that has waited nine days for a test environment.

The single ordered list of everything that might be needed in the product.

Example Forty ordered items where the top five are refined enough to start next sprint.

A temporary effort with a defined objective that ends when the outcome is delivered.

Example Launching a customer-service platform by the end of Q3 — not running it forever.

The person accountable for delivering the project outcome by managing scope, stakeholders, risk and delivery.

Example Choosing a hybrid approach and explaining to the CEO why the security review stays formal.

The agreed boundary of what the project will and will not deliver.

Example In scope: web checkout. Out of scope: the mobile app until phase two.

A formal process for assessing and approving changes because they affect the existing plan.

Example A change request to add a new report, reviewed for cost and schedule impact before approval.

The decision rights, approvals and reporting that keep a project accountable to the organisation.

Example A monthly steering group that approves budget releases at each stage gate.

Anyone who affects, or is affected by, the project.

Example The CEO wanting demos, the security team owning the review and the agents using the platform daily.

How expensive it is to change a decision later — the main input when choosing a delivery approach.

Example Moving a bridge pillar after pouring concrete versus reordering a backlog item.

Rules from regulators, contracts or internal policy that the project must satisfy regardless of method.

Example A formal security review that must pass before the platform can go live.

A significant checkpoint in a project used to confirm progress or trigger a decision.

Example 'Security review passed' as the milestone that unlocks the launch.