The official Scrum Guide: what it defines and how to use it
Quick summary: the source of truth for Scrum
The Scrum Guide, written and maintained by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland, is the document that formally defines Scrum — currently in its 2020 edition, freely available at scrumguides.org.
It defines the theory (empiricism and lean thinking), five values, three accountabilities, five events, three artifacts and their commitments — in about thirteen pages.
Its most practical use: verifying whether something is part of Scrum or a complementary technique, and catching where a team's process drifted from the framework.
Before diving into reading:
Most of what circulates as "Scrum" — story points, boards, velocity charts — is not in the guide at all. Knowing what the document actually says is the fastest way to separate the framework from folklore.
This article summarizes the guide's content; for the framework explained didactically, see the complete Scrum guide.
1) What the Scrum Guide is
The Scrum Guide is the official definition of Scrum, first published in 2010 and revised several times since — most recently in November 2020, when it became shorter, less prescriptive and explicitly open to work beyond software.
It is deliberately minimal: roughly thirteen pages defining a framework that is, in its authors' words, incomplete on purpose — a skeleton on which teams build their own process.
2) Theory and values
The guide grounds Scrum in empiricism — knowledge from experience, decisions from observation — and lean thinking — reducing waste, focusing on essentials. The empirical pillars are transparency, inspection and adaptation, each implemented by specific events and artifacts.
Five values make empiricism livable: commitment, focus, openness, respect and courage. The 2020 edition stresses that trust built on these values is what makes the pillars real.
3) Accountabilities as the guide defines them
The guide defines one Scrum Team of ten or fewer, self-managing and cross-functional, with three accountabilities: Developers, who create the Done increment and own the Sprint Backlog; the Product Owner, one person accountable for value and the Product Backlog; and the Scrum Master, accountable for Scrum's effectiveness, serving team, Product Owner and organization.
Notably, the 2020 text dropped "roles" for "accountabilities" and removed sub-teams and hierarchies: one team, one product, one goal.
4) Events as the guide defines them
Five events, each a formal opportunity to inspect and adapt: the Sprint (a month or less, the container of all work), Sprint Planning (why, what and how — producing the Sprint Goal), the Daily Scrum (15 minutes for Developers to adapt the day's plan), the Sprint Review (inspecting the increment with stakeholders) and the Sprint Retrospective (improving quality and effectiveness).
The guide fixes maximum durations and purposes but not formats — the three-questions Daily, for instance, was removed in 2020. Format is the team's choice.
5) Artifacts and their commitments
Three artifacts, each carrying a commitment that gives it transparency and focus: the Product Backlog with the Product Goal, the Sprint Backlog with the Sprint Goal, and the Increment with the Definition of Done. Work not meeting the Definition of Done does not become part of the increment.
The commitments were the major addition of 2020, tying each artifact to a measurable intention.
6) Using the guide to verify practice
The guide's sharpest practical use is as a boundary test. Story points, planning poker, burndown charts, Jira workflows, even the Sprint board — none are in the guide; all are complementary techniques, useful but optional and replaceable. When a practice hurts, check the guide: if it is not there, you are free to change it.
The reverse test matters too: the guide states that leaving out elements of Scrum "covers up problems". A team skipping Retrospectives or lacking a real Product Owner is not running a leaner Scrum — it is running something else. And since the guide does not prescribe work tracking, teams commonly add a visual board or Kanban practices as legitimate complements.
7) Conclusion
The Scrum Guide is short, free and definitive: theory, values, accountabilities, events, artifacts, commitments — nothing more. Read the original at scrumguides.org; it takes half an hour.
Then use it as intended: not as scripture to recite, but as the reference that tells you what is framework, what is technique and what is drift.