Beyond Software

Ken and Jeff explicitly state in the release notes for the new Scrum Guide that the language of the guide has been simplified to support a wider audience beyond software. References to I.T. work (e.g. testing, system, design, requirement, etc) have been removed. This trend was started in the 2017 edition of the Scrum Guide and has been continued with the latest update.

The term Developer is explicitly mentioned to be considered inclusive rather than exclusive. Anyone using Scrum to develop something of value can consider themselves a Developer. The definition is stated as not the one linked to software development that people often expect when they hear the term. A Developer is a person inside the Scrum team who develops the product, whatever that product may be.

There is also a potentially significant change of language related to the Increment & the Definition of Done. The need for an Increment to be “potentially releasable” has been changed to state that “In order to provide value, the Increment must be “usable”. So in order to support the continued move away from a software focus, “releasable” has been replaced in favour of “usable”. Is “usable” really the same as “potentially releasable”? Time will tell, let’s see.