Commitment, and other Misused Agile Terms

Commonly misused terms in Agile

Agile Matrix, Matrices or Metrics?

While 'Agile Matrices' is a commonly used term, but is it the right term? Let’s take a closer look at the meaning of these similar sounding terms:

Matrix – a set of numbers arranged in rows and columns, so they form a grid-like rectangular structure.

Matrices – plural form of matrix.

Metrics – measures of quantitative assessment commonly used for tracking progress and performance.

It must be obvious now that the correct term is Agile metrics.

Source of Confusion: Both matrix and metrics sound very similar (though slightly different pronunciation). Plus, most engineers in the IT industry are familiar with matrix/ matrices as a mathematical concept since their school/college days. And, they continue to use the incorrect term without realizing it.

Scrum Ceremony, Ritual, Meeting, or…?

A Ceremony or Ritual is a formal act (or series of acts) followed per an ancient culture, often prescribed by a religion. Most ceremonies/rituals have been passed down generations and are followed without much reasoning. People who ask for a reason get the response, “Well, this is how it has always been done”.

There is an element of blind faith in following ceremonies/rituals – somewhat against the spirit of Agile where teams are encouraged to inspect/adapt regularly and choose what has meaning and value. That is the reason many agile experts dislike using the term Scrum Ceremony or Scrum Ritual. They don’t want to give teams the feeling that ‘this is how Scrum is done, and you better not question it’. Instead, good coaches actively entertain ‘Why’ questions around Agile/Scrum practices.

The official term is Scrum Event, and it has been there in Scrum Guide from the early days.

In case Scrum Event feels unnatural for some reason, it should be okay to use Scrum meetings – after all, Scrum Events are opportunities for the whole team to meet and make important decisions in a timely manner.

Source of Confusion: The exact origin of this misnomer is unclear, but it likely emerged from early interpretations of Scrum. Regardless, it’s important to use ‘Scrum Event’ to align with the Scrum Guide and encourage a value-driven mindset.

Backlog Grooming or Refinement?

Just like ceremony/ritual, 'Grooming' is an imperfect term. It means improving the appearance of something to make it look good – sort of a superficial act. Grooming suggests that while we could not improve the quality of something, we have improved the external appearance to make it look good.

The correct term is ‘Backlog Refinement’ – which means ‘actually’ improving the quality of backlog items to ensure they are ready to be picked.

Source of Confusion: Scrum Guide used the term ‘Backlog Grooming’ in earlier versions but replaced it with ‘Backlog Refinement’ way back in 2013, possibly due to the negative connotations (superficial nature) around the term ‘grooming’.

Sadly, people continue to use the term ‘grooming’, perhaps because of a feel-good factor associated with the term ‘grooming’.

Sprint Commitment, Release Commitment, or …?

‘Commitment’ is perhaps the most misused Agile term, and its incorrect usage can cause significant impact on team dynamics. Let’s take a closer look on why and how.

Commitment is an everyday term that means ‘a promise or pledge to do something in future’. The same term used in business/financial world usually comes with a formal agreement and a stronger obligation to fulfil the promise. And people not fulfilling their commitment might face financial and/or legal consequences.

In the informal world, while the commitments might not be legally binding, a person not fulfilling their commitments could be assessed as someone with poor integrity. Quite likely a cause of embarrassment or guilt.

In the IT world, during Waterfall days, commitments was used in its stricter form - usually referring to scope/schedule targets agreed between customers and service providers. In other words, commitment referred to a guarantee of results/outcomes within an agreed timeframe.

In the Agile world, Commitment has slightly different meaning.

Scrum introduced ‘Commitment’ as one of the five core values of the Scrum team in the 2016 version of Scrum Guide. And, just like any personal value, it is an internal thing to be felt, believed, and acted upon. In other words, commitment refers to intention and effort – the intention to do something and putting in one’s best efforts, in full earnest. But, without the absolute guarantee of exact results within predefined timelines (scope/schedule targets).

You might question why this detachment from guarantee of results. Well, there is a reason.

Agile approach has emerged as a solution for complex work that comes with high unpredictability and high variability. Imposing guarantee of results in a complex and uncertain world puts people on the defensive and often creates a psychological unsafe environment.

The thinking in Agile is that – to bring the best in people – we need to give them our trust and create a positive/cohesive environment that encourages them to focus on the right goals and put in their best efforts – without fearing failures. While the focus is there to create the best possible results (maximize business value), Agile embraces the uncertainty around results and strict timelines.

So, how does Agile address the scope/schedule targets that were common in waterfall days?

As an Agilist, we embrace the high variability associated with complex work, and understand that it is not impractical to freeze both scope and schedule. Well, that is what we have also learned from four decades of waterfall project execution where the final delivery was usually delayed, with too much stress and surprises in the end.

We either freeze scope and keep timelines flexible (new product development), or we freeze the release date and keep scope flexible (incremental product releases).

Yes, we still might do release planning, but we call the outcome of release planning as ‘Release Forecast’ instead of Release Commitment.

At the Sprint level, we often call it Sprint Goal, not Sprint Commitment.

To summarize… as an Agile team, we see Commitment as an internal thing - carrying the right intention, maintaining sharp focus on goals, and put in our best efforts. We understand the nature of complex work and know that it is impractical to make hard commitments on scope and schedule.

Thanks for reading my thoughts! Agile is all about continuous learning and adaptation, and that applies to our terminology as well. What are some Agile terms you’ve seen misused? Have you encountered misunderstandings around ‘commitment’ or ‘metrics’? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments!"