What is Scrum?

Question

What is Scrum?

IT Interview Practice · Accepted Answer

Scrum is a lightweight **framework for delivering complex products in short, fixed-length iterations called Sprints**. It implements Agile values through a small set of roles, events, and artifacts, all built on empirical process control — learning from what actually happens rather than from a fixed upfront plan.

## The three pillars

Scrum rests on **transparency, inspection, and adaptation**: make work visible, inspect it frequently, and adjust based on what you learn.

```text
ROLES        Product Owner, Scrum Master, Developers
EVENTS       Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum,
             Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective
ARTIFACTS    Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Increment
```

## How it flows

Each Sprint (commonly two weeks) starts with Planning, includes a Daily Scrum each day, and ends with a Review and a Retrospective. Every Sprint should produce a **usable Increment** — a working slice of product.

## Concrete example

A team picks the highest-priority backlog items into a two-week Sprint, builds them, demos a working login feature at the Review, and reflects on how to improve at the Retrospective.

## Common pitfalls

- Running Sprints with no shippable Increment at the end.
- Skipping the Retrospective, which removes the framework's improvement engine.

## Why it matters

Scrum gives teams a predictable rhythm and frequent checkpoints, which surfaces problems early instead of at the end of a long project.

Knowing the exact roles, events, and artifacts shows an interviewer you understand the framework precisely, not just by reputation.

The three pillars

How it flows

Concrete example

Common pitfalls

Why it matters

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