Don't tell the gatekeepers, but Scrum is not a 'framework'🤦‍♀️

The ‘appeal to authority’ fallacy

For those who have built products with Scrum, it’s obvious that Scrum is best described as a process or a methodology.

Yet this five-word declaration never fails to rile-up the Scrum elite: Scrum is not a framework.

When confronted with this assertion, defenders of the Scrum Guide are quick to point out that Scrum must be a framework, owing to the fact that they think the Scrum Guide says so.

For these ardent champions of the text, the Scrum Guide must be taken literally. It’s disrespectful to challenge the word as it is written.

I can only assume that those same people believe Kim Il Jung’s Democratic Republic of North Korea is a thriving democracy simply because the Dear Leader says so.

The Scrum Guide is clear

Of course, the problem with this argument, other than the obvious ‘call to authority fallacy’ it is built upon, is that a nuanced reading shows that the Scrum Guide definitively states otherwise.

Early in its prose, the Scrum Guide states: The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete. 

Let that sink in.

An ‘incomplete thing’ is not the thing it aspires to be.

Aspiration only becomes incarnation upon completion.

• An incomplete PhD is not a PhD.
• An incomplete circuit is not a circuit.
• An incomplete insemination is not an insemination
• An incomplete increment is not an increment
• An incomplete framework is not a framework

If Scrum fails the completeness test when assessing its aptness as a framework, then by the very words of the authors of the Scrum Guide themselves, Scrum is not a framework.

Scrum’s a blueprint for a framework, at best.

Since an incomplete thing is not the thing it aspires to be, Scrum is not a framework.

What is Scrum?

So if the Scrum framework isn’t actually a framework, then what is it?

To answer that question, we must turn to the highly nuanced, 14-page Scrum Guide.

Scrum is all about team-based product development and how to find adaptive solutions to complex problems.

According to the Scrum Guide, every product development team requires:

• One Scrum master.
• One product owner.
• 10 or fewer Agile developers.

Scrum also describes an ordered set of timed steps that participants must perform, which includes:

• A planning event. (8-hour timebox)
• Daily Scrums. (15-minute timebox)
• A sprint review. (4-hour timebox)
• A retrospective. (3 hours)

These series of events all happen within the scope of what is called a sprint.

The goal of each sprint is to generate output that contributes to the product under development. Scrum calls the output of its sprint-based activities increments.

When one sprint ends, a new sprint immediately begins. It’s an iterative loop that continues ad infinitum until product development is finished.

A diagram of the Scrum Process. I mean methodology. I mean framework.

Framework, process or methodology?

Given this description of Scrum, which of the following three definitions fit best? Which one fits the least?

Framework

• A basic conceptional structure, as of ideas. (Merriam-Webster)
• A system of rules, ideas, or beliefs that is used to plan or decide something. (Cambridge Dictionary)
• A set of ideas or facts that provide support for something. (Britannica Dictionary)

Process

• A series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end. (Merriam-Webster)
• A series of actions or operations conducing to an end. (Cambridge Dictionary)
• A series of actions that produce something or that lead to a particular result (Merriam-Webster)

Methodology

• A set of methods, rules, or ideas that are important in a science or art : a particular procedure or set of procedures (Britannica Dictionary)
• A set of methods and principles used to perform a particular activity (Oxford Learner’s Dictionary)
• A system of methods and principles for doing something, for example for teaching or for carrying out research (Collins Dictionary)

It seems clear to me that Scrum is best described as either a process or a methodology. Framework is definitely the weakest fit of the three.

Yet to many, the fact that Scrum is a framework is an objective truth that should not be questioned nor even debated.

Mechanical vs. Professional Scrum

Those in the pro-framework camp will insist that since Scrum acts at a very high level, where users are encouraged to employ their own lower-level processes, techniques and methods, then Scrum can’t qualify as a process or a methodology. It has to be seen as a framework.

I call this the granularity fallacy.

Just because Scrum doesn’t specify who starts the Daily Scrum or provide teams a full-fledged Definition of Done, doesn’t negate the fact that Scrum defines a process.

That’s like saying soccer is a framework because it doesn’t tell players which set piece to run off a corner kick. Or that American football is a framework because it doesn’t tell players whether they should run or throw on the first down. It’s a specious argument at best.

Physical vs. philosophical frameworks

Some argue that Scrum is a framework because in order to get it to work you must add to it. This misunderstands the modern meaning of the word framework.

You see, you don’t add to or build on top of philosophical frameworks. Instead, you work within them.

• You work within a constitutional framework.
• You work within a judicial framework.
• You work within the Spring Boot framework.

Arguing that Scrum is not a framework triggers gatekeepers into calling for your silence.

Scrum is immutable

Furthermore, in terms of the word’s colloquial use, Scrum disqualifies itself as a framework by its requirement that practitioners use every single part of it. That’s not consistent with the modern usage of the word.

• You can settle a dispute within America’s judicial framework by only going to civil court. You don’t also have to go to family court and criminal court.
• The Supreme Court can settle a gun rights case within the constitutional framework by only referencing the 2nd amendment. They’re not required to reference the other 26.
• You can build an app with the Spring Boot framework that only uses REST APIs. You aren’t required to also use all of the other Spring Boot APIs.

In contrast, Scrum requires practitioners to use every single part of it.

Scrum insists that it is immutable, and if you leave any part out, what you are doing is not Scrum. That’s not consistent with how philosophical frameworks work.

Scrum’s immutability requirement brings it more in line with being a strict and rigid process than it does with being a lightweight and flexible framework

Linguistic gymnastics

When presented with all of these arguments, gatekeepers in the Scrum community typically relent a bit and accept that the Scrum Guide may contain a process or it may describe a methodology, but that doesn’t mean it is itself a process or a methodology. Instead, the argument shifts to examples such as these:

• Scrum is not a process, but is instead a framework that contains a process.
• Scrum is not a methodology, but is instead a framework that contains a methodology.

It all becomes exhausting linguistic gymnastics that is neither helpful nor productive.

What’s more, it alienates people, as outsiders just see practitioners partaking in endless word games to convince the world that Scrum is something that it’s not.

When is it OK to lie?

I do understand why the Scrum gatekeepers relentlessly demand that everyone call Scrum a framework and not a process or a methodology. It’s because Scrum won’t work if all you do is blindly follow the Scrum Guide.

You have to add to it.

You have to enhance it.

You have to experiment with it.

Unfortunately, the word framework doesn’t accurately express this concept either, not does the term framework accurately depict what the Scrum Guide describes.

It’s all a disingenuous wordplay.

So why do the Scrum gatekeepers bully the uninitiated so relentlessly over this ‘fact?’ It’s the same reason a parent tells their child a spoonful of broccoli will taste like ice cream. It’s an end-justifies-the-means mentality.

But if a team decides to adopt Scrum, why begin the product-building process by propagating a lie? And why put so much effort into forcing other people to believe that lie and recant what they know is the truth?

That hardly seems like an effective leadership strategy to me. Why not just be honest and call Scrum what it really is?

Embrace the Scrum values, not dogmatism

Now does it even matter whether Scrum is a framework, process or a methodology?

It actually doesn’t matter as much to me as it may seem. You can call Scrum a ‘pink and purple people eater’ for all I care, just so long as you implement Scrum according to the way it’s described in the Scrum Guide.

I love Scrum, and I strongly believe that it’s the best, all-around, product development strategy available.

However, what I don’t like is the vitriol, bullying, mockery, hatred, cancel culture and calls for censorship that happen when someone simply refers to Scrum as a process or methodology. It’s as if people have forgotten that when Scrum was first presented to the world, the founders themselves referred to Scrum as a methodology.

Unfortunately,  to be accepted into the Scrum tribe, you must unlearn the proper definition of common words and relearn new definitions you know are wrong.

It’s a strange, Orwellian initiation where you must not only demonstrate that you believe that a lie is the truth, but you must aggressively mock and shun others who don’t repeat the doublespeak you’ve been taught.

The Scrum Gatekeepers on LinkedIn are the only ones who know the ‘objective truth.’

Embrace Scrum values

I honestly don’t care what you call Scrum.

What I do care about is the manner in which people treat each other.

Openness, courage and respect are all Scrum values.

For a community to thrive, it must be open, respectful and have the courage to accept criticism and entertain new ideas.

Otherwise, we build silos, alienate newcomers and present an unwelcoming face to the world, all of which does a disservice to highly-motivated Agile teams that need an effective mechanism to help build products and generate value through adaptive solutions to complex problems.

That’s what Scrum is, and that’s why I advocate so enthusiastically in its favor.

Darcy DeClute is a Certified Cloud Practitioner and author of the Scrum Master Certification Guide. Popular both on Udemy and social media, Darcy’s @Scrumtuous account has well over 250K followers on Twitter/X. She’s also on YouTube, Bluesky and TikTok.