Agile guide · Agile foundations
Agile Glossary: 80+ Agile Terms Defined in Plain English
This Agile glossary defines the terms you will meet in Agile, Scrum, Kanban and scaled Agile, in plain English. Where a term has its own guide, follow the link for more detail. Official Scrum terms follow the 2020 Scrum Guide.
Key takeaways
- Agile vocabulary spans values, frameworks, roles, events, artifacts and metrics.
- Many common terms are practices, not official Scrum terms.
- Agree shared definitions within your team to avoid confusion.
- Follow the links to in-depth guides for any term you need to apply.
A to C
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Acceptance criteria | Conditions a backlog item must meet to be accepted; see user stories |
| Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) | Writing acceptance tests with the customer before building a feature |
| Agile | An approach to work based on short cycles, feedback and adaptation; see what is Agile |
| Agile coach | Someone who helps teams and leaders adopt Agile ways of working |
| Agile Manifesto | The 2001 statement of four values and twelve principles; see Agile Manifesto |
| Agile mindset | Attitudes that favour learning, collaboration and adaptability; see Agile mindset |
| Agile Release Train (ART) | In SAFe, a long-lived team of Agile teams; see Agile Release Train |
| Backlog | An ordered list of work; see product backlog |
| Backlog refinement | Ongoing work to clarify, split and estimate backlog items; see backlog refinement |
| Blocker | Anything stopping work from progressing; see blocker clustering |
| Burndown chart | A chart of work remaining over time |
| Burnup chart | A chart of work completed and total scope over time |
| Cadence | A regular rhythm of events, such as two-week sprints |
| Capacity | How much work a team can take on in a period; see Agile capacity planning |
| Ceremony | Informal name for a recurring Agile meeting; see Agile meetings |
| Continuous delivery | Keeping software always releasable; see continuous delivery |
| Continuous integration (CI) | Merging and testing code changes frequently, often several times a day |
| Cross-functional team | A team with all the skills needed to deliver finished work |
| Cumulative flow diagram | A chart showing items in each workflow stage over time; see CFD |
| Cycle time | Time from starting work on an item to finishing it; see cycle time |
D to I
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Daily Scrum | 15-minute daily event for Developers to inspect progress towards the Sprint Goal; see Daily Scrum |
| Daily stand-up | General name for a short daily team meeting |
| Definition of Done | Shared description of the quality required for work to be finished; see Definition of Done |
| Definition of Ready | Optional checklist for items before they enter a sprint |
| DevOps | Practices that join development and operations; see DevOps |
| Developers (Scrum) | Scrum Team members who create the Increment each Sprint |
| Empiricism | Making decisions based on observation and experience; see empiricism in Scrum |
| Epic | A large body of work split into stories; see Agile epics |
| Estimation | Forecasting the size or effort of work; see story points |
| Extreme Programming (XP) | An Agile method with engineering practices such as pair programming and test-driven development |
| Feature | A piece of functionality that delivers value; in SAFe, sits between epics and stories |
| Flow | The smooth movement of work through a process; see flow efficiency |
| Increment | A usable step towards the Product Goal; see increment |
| Information radiator | A visible display of team information, such as a board or chart |
| INVEST | Checklist for good stories: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable |
| Iteration | A fixed time-box in which a team delivers work; a sprint in Scrum |
| Iterative and incremental | Improving work through repeated cycles and delivering in pieces; see iterative and incremental development |
K to P
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Kanban | A method for managing flow with visual boards and WIP limits; see what is Kanban |
| Kanban board | A board with columns for workflow stages; see Kanban boards |
| Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) | A framework for many teams working on one product; see LeSS |
| Lead time | Time from a request being made to its delivery; see cycle time vs lead time |
| Lean | Thinking focused on value and removing waste; see Lean project management |
| Minimum viable product (MVP) | The smallest version of a product that lets you learn from real users |
| Mob programming | A whole team working on the same task at the same time |
| Pair programming | Two people working together at one workstation on the same code |
| Persona | A fictional profile representing a group of users |
| PI Planning | In SAFe, a regular planning event for an Agile Release Train; see PI Planning |
| Planning poker | A consensus-based estimation game using numbered cards |
| Product Goal | The long-term objective of the Scrum Team; the commitment for the Product Backlog |
| Product owner | Accountable for maximising product value; see Scrum Product Owner |
| Program Increment (PI) | In SAFe, a time-box of several iterations, commonly 8–12 weeks |
| Pull system | Work is started only when there is capacity; see pull vs push |
R to S
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Refactoring | Improving the internal structure of code without changing its behaviour |
| Release | Making increments available to users; see Agile release planning |
| Retrospective | A meeting to inspect and improve how the team works; see Sprint Retrospective |
| Roadmap | A high-level plan of goals over time; see Agile roadmap |
| Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) | A framework for Agile at enterprise scale; see SAFe |
| Scrum | A lightweight framework for complex work in Sprints; see what is Scrum |
| Scrum Master | Accountable for the Scrum Team's effectiveness; see Scrum Master role |
| Scrum of Scrums | Coordination meeting between Scrum Teams; see Scrum of Scrums |
| Scrumban | A blend of Scrum and Kanban; see Kanban vs Scrumban |
| Self-managing team | A team that decides who does what, when and how |
| Spike | A time-boxed piece of research to reduce uncertainty |
| Sprint | A fixed time-box of one month or less in Scrum; see what is a sprint |
| Sprint Backlog | The Sprint Goal, selected items and the plan; see Sprint Backlog |
| Sprint Goal | The single objective for a Sprint |
| Sprint Planning | The event that starts a Sprint; see Sprint Planning |
| Sprint Review | The event to inspect the outcome of a Sprint; see Sprint Review |
| Stakeholder | Anyone with an interest in the product or project |
| Story points | Relative units for estimating backlog items; see story points |
| Sustainable pace | A working rhythm a team can keep up indefinitely |
| Swarming | Several team members working together on one item; see Agile swarming |
T to Z
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| T-shaped skills | Deep skill in one area plus broad skills in others; see Agile team structures |
| Task | A technical step to complete a story; see epics vs stories vs tasks |
| Technical debt | The future cost of shortcuts; see technical debt |
| Test-driven development (TDD) | Writing an automated test before writing the code to pass it |
| Theme | A broad area of focus grouping several epics |
| Throughput | Number of items completed per period; see throughput |
| Time-box | A fixed maximum duration for an activity or event |
| User story | A short description of a user need; see user stories |
| Value stream | The steps that deliver value to a customer; see value stream mapping |
| Velocity | Amount of work a team completes per sprint; see velocity chart |
| WIP (work in progress) | Items started but not finished |
| WIP limit | A cap on work in progress; see WIP limits |
How to use this glossary
- Agree shared definitions within your team, especially for terms like "done" and "ready".
- Remember that many terms (story points, velocity, epics) are common practices, not part of the Scrum Guide; see the Scrum glossary for official Scrum terms.
- Use the linked guides to go deeper on any term.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most important Agile terms to know?
Start with sprint, backlog, user story, Definition of Done, velocity, retrospective, Kanban board and WIP limit.
What is the difference between Agile and Scrum?
Agile is a broad approach based on values and principles; Scrum is a specific framework that applies them. See Agile vs Scrum.
What does sprint mean in Agile terminology?
A fixed time-box, usually one to four weeks, in which a team delivers a usable increment.
What does WIP mean in Agile?
Work in progress: items that have been started but not finished.
What is velocity in Agile?
The amount of work, often in story points, a team completes per sprint, used for forecasting.
What is an epic in Agile?
A large body of work that is broken down into smaller user stories; see Agile epics.
What is a spike in Agile?
A short, time-boxed piece of research or experimentation to answer a question before committing to build something.
What does MVP mean in Agile?
Minimum viable product: the smallest version of a product that lets a team learn from real users.
What is the difference between a burndown and a burnup chart in Agile?
A burndown shows work remaining; a burnup shows work completed and total scope, so scope changes are visible.
Are Agile story points part of Scrum?
No. Story points are a common estimation practice, but the Scrum Guide does not prescribe them.
What is a time-box in Agile?
A fixed maximum duration for an event or activity, such as a 15-minute Daily Scrum.