Discover 50 essential agile terms you must know to master scrum and agile methodology. Learn the language of successful project management and team collaboration.

1. Project Management
50 Agile Scrum Terms Everyone Must Know
Alma Reed Updated on April 7, 2025 Read Time: 3min
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Agile words aren’t just buzzwords—far from it. They are the building blocks of effective workflows, speedy
delivery, and successful product deployment. No matter what your role—team member, product owner,
scrum master, or executive—familiarity with these words helps ensure seamless collaboration, minimizes
miscommunications, and enhances productivity.
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2. This guide walks you through 50 essential agile and scrum terms to help you thrive in a high-speed,
collaborative work environment.
Attention Stage: The Need to Learn Agile
Terminology
Adopting agility isn’t just about having daily standups or working in sprints. It’s about using a common
vocabulary with your team, stakeholders, and customers. Agile terminology allows teams to communicate
better, collaborate more effectively, and deliver greater value.
Whether you’re exploring new project management tools or refining your agile process, understanding these
terms is critical to making informed choices.
Awareness Stage: Establishing a Firm Agile
Foundation
Let’s start by breaking down the fundamental agile terms you’ll hear daily in an agile or scrum-based
environment.
Agile
An iterative, collaborative approach to development that emphasizes customer feedback and
adaptability.
Scrum
A popular agile framework that divides work into sprints and defines roles like Scrum Master and
Product Owner.
Sprint
A time-boxed iteration (usually 1–4 weeks) in which teams deliver a potentially shippable product
increment.
Product Owner
The stakeholder responsible for maintaining the product backlog, setting priorities, and delivering
value.
Scrum Master
A facilitator who removes impediments and ensures the scrum process runs smoothly.
Development Team

3. A self-organized team tasked with delivering the product increment by the end of each sprint.
User Story
A short, simple description of a feature from the user’s perspective.
Epic
A large user story that can be broken down into smaller stories.
Product Backlog
A prioritized list of all work items maintained by the product owner.
Sprint Backlog
A selection of product backlog items chosen for implementation in the current sprint.
Consideration Stage: Intermediate Agile
Terminology
As your understanding deepens, you’ll encounter more terms that guide planning, doing, and measuring.
Burndown Chart
Visual representation of remaining work versus time.
Velocity
The amount of work a team can complete in a sprint, often measured in story points.
Daily Standup
A short, 15-minute daily meeting where team members share progress, blockers, and plans.
Definition of Done (DoD)
A shared agreement on what it means for work to be considered complete.
Increment
The sum of completed product backlog items during a sprint that meet the DoD.
Timeboxing
Allocating a fixed time period for an activity (e.g., sprint planning, retrospectives).
Retrospective (Retro)
A meeting held at the end of a sprint to reflect and identify improvement opportunities.
Sprint Planning

4. A meeting to decide what work will be completed in the upcoming sprint and how.
Sprint Review
A demo of completed work for stakeholders at the end of the sprint.
Task Board
A visual board (physical or digital) displaying tasks and their statuses (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Done).
Agile Terms Related to Planning &
Estimation
Planning is crucial in agile. These terms guide estimation and risk reduction:
Story Points
A unit for estimating the relative size or complexity of a user story.
Planning Poker
A gamified consensus technique used for estimating story points.
T-Shirt Size Estimation
High-level effort estimation using sizes like XS, S, M, L, XL.
Release Planning
A roadmap outlining which features will be released and when.
Roadmap
A visual timeline for the product’s direction and upcoming features.
Scrum Roles & Responsibilities
Understanding who does what is key in scrum environments:
Stakeholder
Anyone with an interest in the product—users, customers, leadership.
Servant Leader

5. A leadership style exemplified by Scrum Masters, focusing on serving the team.
Team Capacity
The available time or effort a team has for a given sprint.
Cross-functional Team
A team with all the skills needed to deliver a product increment.
Self-organizing Team
A team that determines how best to accomplish its work without being directed.
Collaboration & Continuous Improvement
Terms
These terms help teams enhance performance and adapt continuously:
Continuous Integration
Frequently merging code into a shared repository to catch issues early.
Continuous Delivery
Automatically preparing code for release after every change.
Feedback Loop
Using continuous feedback to improve product quality.
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
The smallest version of a product that delivers value and allows feedback.
Spike
A time-boxed research task used to investigate options and reduce uncertainty.
Specialized Agile Terms You’ll Encounter in
Practice
Less common but equally useful, these terms expand your agile fluency:
Obstacle
Anything that blocks team progress.
Technical Debt
The future cost of choosing a quick solution over a better, more time-consuming one.

6. Agile Coach
A mentor who helps teams adopt and optimize agile practices.
Kanban
A visual workflow system often used with or in place of Scrum.
Swimlane
Horizontal rows on a task board that organize tasks by user, team, or process stage.
Conversion Stage: Advanced Agile & Scrum
Expertise
Want to scale agile across your organization? These terms help optimize delivery:
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
A methodology for applying agile across large organizations.
Lean
A philosophy focused on minimizing waste and maximizing value.
Agile Manifesto
The founding document outlining agile values and principles.
Refactoring
Rewriting code to improve structure without changing functionality.
Agile Release Train (ART)
A set of agile teams working together to deliver value on a fixed schedule.
Program Increment (PI)
A timeboxed planning interval in SAFe that delivers incremental value.
Backlog Grooming (Refinement)
The ongoing process of refining backlog items for clarity and priority.
Pair Programming
Two developers working together at one workstation—one codes, the other reviews.
Test-Driven Development (TDD)
Writing tests before writing code to guide development.

7. Definition of Ready (DoR)
Criteria that user stories must meet before being picked for a sprint.
Bringing Agile Terminology into Your Work
Process
Knowing these 50 agile terms is just the beginning. Applying them effectively requires the right tools. Project
management software can help:
Visualize sprints and backlogs
Track velocity and burndown rates
Align your team around common goals
Minimize communication gaps and delays
If you’re struggling with late deliveries or scope creep, combining agile methods with the right tech can
significantly improve outcomes.
See Also: CRM and Project Management Software for Business Growth
Conclusion: The Significance of Agile
Terminology
In today’s fast-paced work environment, speaking the language of agility isn’t optional—it’s essential.
Whether you’re transitioning from traditional project management or expanding your agile initiatives, using
these terms strengthens your communication and boosts your delivery speed.
By mastering agile vocabulary, you’re empowering your team for smoother collaboration, faster results, and
continuous improvement. And when paired with the right project management tools, these agile practices
become a powerful driver for success.

8. Author: Alma Reed
Alma Reed is an author and researcher dedicated to enhancing productivity. She is deeply interested in
areas such as time management, increasing productivity, and fostering healthy routines. Through her
writing, she aims to assist people in boosting their job performance and attaining an ideal balance
between work and life.
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