Empiricism, and the three pillars
Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking: knowledge comes from experience and decisions are made on what is observed. Its three pillars are transparency, inspection and adaptation — and they only work together.
Why it is like this
If a plan cannot be trusted beyond a short horizon, the only honest response is to shorten the horizon and look. The three pillars are the mechanics of looking: you cannot inspect what is not transparent, and inspecting without adapting is theatre.
Not to be confused with
A preference for less planning. Empiricism is more demanding than a plan, not less: it requires a visible artifact, a scheduled inspection and the authority to change course on what you find. Teams that keep the events and drop one of the three have kept the calendar and lost the method.
In practice
A Daily Scrum where nothing is ever re-planned has inspection without adaptation. A Sprint Review attended by no stakeholders has adaptation with nothing to inspect.
Source: The Scrum Guide, November 2020 (Schwaber & Sutherland) — Scrum Theory. 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
Name the three pillars of empirical process control, and say what each one is useless without.
Answer out loud or in writing first, then open the points below.
The points a good answer makes
- Transparency — the process and work must be visible to those performing and receiving it
- Inspection — artifacts and progress toward agreed goals must be inspected frequently
- Adaptation — adjust as soon as a deviation is detected
- Inspection is pointless without transparency; inspection without adaptation is theatre
People remember the three words and forget that the Guide states they only work when all three are present.