Jordan Job

Professional Scrum Trainer at Scrum.org, software developer, guitarist, aerial RC pilot, photographer, constant learner, and more

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My Scrum Diagram

December 7, 2015 By Jordan Job 23 Comments

A full resolution copy is available at the bottom of this post

Background

Several months ago I was teaching Scrum to someone and tried finding a good, simple Scrum diagram to aid in the conversation. There were many diagrams available, but they all seemed to have at least one of these problems:

  • Over-complicated
  • Over-simplified
  • Couldn’t be easily reproduced on a whiteboard
  • Didn’t accurately represent Scrum’s three roles, five events, and three artifacts according to the latest version of the Scrum Guide
  • Ugly
  • Not free to use

So I sat down at my desk and thought through how I would explain Scrum to someone. As that conversation played itself out in my head, I drew out the parts of Scrum as they were discussed while trying to avoid the problems mentioned above. Then I drew it on a whiteboard and took some pictures:

Although it was still ugly, it represented just the basics of Scrum and helped out when I taught Scrum. I used that sequence of Scrum pictures a few times, but nothing else happened with it until Erik Weber asked if he could send it to a graphics designer. The result we got back from the designer was usable, but we wanted to make some more tweaks to it so I took the new graphic, redrew it from the ground up using Pixelmator, and made some modifications.

The Scrum Diagram

The diagram below is accurate according to the July 2017 version of the Scrum Guide and free to use distribute so long as it is attributed to my website and it is used in the context of accurately portraying Scrum as described in the Scrum Guide. If you publish the diagram on a public-facing website, you must have an active link to my website. This allows search engines to properly rank this page and allows more people to find the diagram! 

 Any uses without attribution must obtain permission from me before using.

Any changes that I make in the future will be indicated by an incremented version number.

A full resolution copy (3000x2250px) is available below (click it to view the full resolution). Please contact me if you would like the full sequence shown in the GIF or if you would like the original Pixelmator file to edit.

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Related

Filed Under: Scrum Tagged With: Scrum Diagram

Comments

  1. Chad Kanyer says

    August 4, 2017 at 3:54 pm

    Hey Jordan!

    I love your site, and would like to include your simple Scrum diagram in something I’m writing right now. It’s about applying scrum to our personal goal-setting/purpose pursuits. At a certain point, I give less experienced readers a simple breakdown of the Scrum process in layman’s terms. I’ll be sure to cite your page — hopefully it drives some traffic to it.

    I want to make sure you’re comfortable with that before I proceed, and also thought it’d be cool to connect with other people who are striving to create and share re. Agile/Scrum.

    Thanks!
    Chad

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      August 4, 2017 at 4:13 pm

      That sounds awesome! Please send me a link when you’re finished – I would love to read it!

      Reply
  2. Ken says

    May 10, 2018 at 9:21 am

    Do you have a favorite online poker site? We are having issues with Jira with offsite resources.

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      July 15, 2018 at 1:56 pm

      Hey, Ken. Several of the teams I’ve worked with recently have had some remote team members as well. They tried a few of the planning poker apps available, but ultimately they found it easier (and more reliable) to just use the tools they already had. When they played a round of planning poker, remote team members would send their estimates in an instant message to either the facilitator or whoever was sharing their screen with a group. When everyone (including people in the room) had their estimates ready, people in the room would reveal their cards while someone would bring up the messages from the remote team members. The facilitator would quickly go around the room and state the name of each person as well as their estimate.

      Reply
  3. Zsuzsa says

    May 17, 2018 at 5:57 am

    Dear Jordan,

    I used your Scrum diagram in one of my recent blog posts so I though I would send you the url so you are aware of this: https://autofactor.eu/2016/blog/being-agile-while-tasting-good-wines/

    We are a Dutch software company producing software for car traders from The Netherlands and this blog has no specific commercial scope whatsoever, just sharing inside stuff we do with our readers/visitors.

    Reply
  4. Kevin Pollard says

    January 10, 2019 at 3:04 am

    Good morning Jordan
    May I use your diagram in an article I write for our colleges news letter please?
    We have just started using Agile and scrum and your diagram helps to explain what this all means.
    Thank you in anticipation
    Kevin

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      January 14, 2019 at 6:40 am

      Hi, Kevin. Absolutely! Thanks for asking!

      Reply
  5. Jacqueline Glover says

    September 20, 2019 at 1:35 pm

    Hi Jordan – would it be possible to have a revised version of the “Diagram w/o Arrows of DoD” — with Product Owner label changed to Project Manager and Dev Team label changed to BI / DM

    We use sprints for customer implementation so those changes would really help build the picture for my team. If you are able to do this (mucho thanks) and please email the image to me directly — thank you.

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      September 21, 2019 at 5:19 pm

      Hi, Jacqueline. My diagram portrays Scrum. There is no role called project manager in Scrum, and the Development Team should include whatever skills are necessary to develop solutions for the problems the Scrum team is solving. Scrum intentionally distributes decision making responsibilities across the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team.

      Instead of seeking to rename the roles of Scrum, I would encourage you to have a conversation with your team about why the names of roles in Scrum are different than the positions currently on your team, and what that might mean for your team if you want to successfully apply Scrum.

      Reply
  6. Aju says

    April 20, 2020 at 6:44 am

    Good morning Jordan
    May I use your diagram in a PPT that is internal to my organisation?
    I saw your diagram while searching for Free SCRUM Diagrams, this really helps to explain what this all means.

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      April 20, 2020 at 9:46 pm

      Hi, Aju! Absolutely! Best wishes with teaching others Scrum in your organization!

      Reply
  7. Peter says

    September 23, 2020 at 7:16 am

    Hi Jordan, I just wanted to say thanks for creating and sharing this diagram. I think it’s the best diagram of Scrum I’ve seen.

    Reply
  8. Judy says

    September 23, 2020 at 10:40 am

    Really loved your diagram – the first one I have seen that highlights all the different feedback loops that exist!

    Reply
  9. Jeff Greenwood says

    September 30, 2020 at 6:30 am

    Hi Jordan,
    I’m providing an Agile 101 type overview for some of the newer members of our team. I’d like to use your scrum diagram. It nicely pulls together roles, artifacts, and events into a single, understandable visual. The overview will be for internal use only.

    Ok with you?

    Regards,
    Jeff

    PS Please pass along my best to Dan Sloan if you happen to see him. We met back in 2014 during my initial Agile training.

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      September 30, 2020 at 10:52 am

      Hi, Jeff. Absolutely! I created the diagram for myself for that exact purpose. Best wishes with onboarding your new team members!

      Reply
  10. Victor Loke says

    October 20, 2020 at 9:30 am

    Hi Jordan,

    I’d like to thank you for this amazing diagram. I use it regularly with my internal training when forming new Scrum teams. It is the most succinct and pleasant diagrams that is floating on the Internet today.

    I am looking to publish an article on the local news around coaching in Agile/Scrum, and it would be ideal to include your diagram for illustrative purposes. Would this be all right with you? In case you are agreeable, do let me know how I may credit you as well.

    Thanks ahead!

    Regards,
    Victor

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      October 20, 2020 at 11:59 am

      Thanks, Victor! Glad to hear it’s been useful for you. That’s awesome you’re looking to post an article in your local news. I’d love to check it out once you get it published!

      If your article will be publically posted online and you include my diagram, please include a link back to this page near the diagram (it lets search engines know where the diagram originally came from). Thanks!

      Reply
      • Victor Loke says

        October 20, 2020 at 9:15 pm

        Yes I can do that. Thank you! 🙏

        Reply
  11. Mary says

    December 16, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    Thank you so much for the awesome Scrum diagram. Will you be updating this to be in compliance with the 2020 Scrum Guide? The main changes I see is that “Development Team” needs to be changed to “Developers” and then if you want to add the the commitments to the artifacts (e.g. move Definition of Done to the Increment and add Sprint goal to Sprint Backlog add Product Goal to Product Backlog)?

    Reply
    • Jordan Job says

      December 16, 2020 at 7:55 pm

      Hi, Mary! I will definitely be updating my diagram to reflect the new language in the Scrum Guide! I’m hoping to get an updated version done during the holidays 🙂

      Reply

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