Each artifact carries a commitment
Three artifacts, each with a commitment added in 2020: the Product Backlog commits to the Product Goal, the Sprint Backlog to the Sprint Goal, and the Increment to the Definition of Done. The commitment is what makes the artifact measurable against something.
Why it is like this
Each artifact was already visible; what was missing was a yardstick. The commitments reinforce empiricism by giving inspection a target — a backlog with no Product Goal can be inspected only for tidiness.
Not to be confused with
Three deliverables and three deadlines. A commitment here is an objective the artifact is measured against, not a promise to deliver a quantity of work by a date.
In practice
The Product Goal was new in 2020: a single long-term objective for the product that the Scrum Team works toward, and a Product Backlog can have only one at a time.
Source: The Scrum Guide, November 2020 (Schwaber & Sutherland) — Scrum Artifacts. Read on .
The Scrum Guide is published by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland under CC BY-SA 4.0. These cards are independent commentary written in our own words, not a derivative of the Guide's text. ytyk.org is not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by Scrum.org, Scrum Alliance or the Guide's authors.
Say it back Check yourself
Pair each of the three artifacts with its commitment.
Answer out loud or in writing first, then open the points below.
The points a good answer makes
- Product Backlog — the Product Goal
- Sprint Backlog — the Sprint Goal
- Increment — the Definition of Done
All three commitments were added in the 2020 edition. Anyone who learned Scrum before then learned three artifacts with nothing attached.