Scrum vocabulary

Where work lives

Organization

The group that holds everything: people, roles, Scrum Teams, portfolios and projects. Every account starts in one. Its name sits in the top bar beside the wordmark. When you belong to two or more, the Organization select in the top bar moves between them. See Organizations.

Member

One person in the organization. The Members screen lists everybody, the roles they hold and the teams they are on. Every member can open it, and only a holder of Manage the organization can change a role there. See Members.

Portfolio

A group of projects inside an organization. Every project is in exactly one. A new organization starts with one portfolio named Unsorted. Each portfolio is a header on the organization overview, with its projects below it. See Portfolios.

Project

One Product Backlog with a key such as PROJ and a name. A project carries one Product Goal, one Product Owner, its phases, item types, epics, Definition of Done, settings and sprints. It has zero or more Scrum Teams. The project screen shows the key and the name as its heading. Below them, a row of links opens the Product Backlog, Sprint Planning, Board, Sprint Review and Retrospective. See Projects.

Product Goal

One sentence on the project: what the Product Backlog is for. A holder of Manage the project writes it in the project's Edit dialog, in the field Product Goal. It shows on the project screen, at the top of the Product Backlog and at the top of the Sprint Planning screen.

Product Owner

One person per project, named in the Product Owner section of the project screen. The section reads Nobody yet until a holder of Manage the project names one, and its controls are absent for everybody else. The Product Owner orders the Product Backlog, is the only person who can cancel a sprint, and receives every question asked on an item.

Scrum Team

A group of members of the organization, listed on the Teams screen. A team has a timezone that anchors its sprints, and at most one Scrum Master. Each membership has a slot: Developer by default, or Scrum Master. Beside the slot, the granted by role says what the person may do, and it can be any team role of the organization. A holder of Manage the project assigns a team in the project's Teams section. See Scrum Teams.

Who may do what

Role

A named set of capability bundles, listed on the Roles screen. A new organization starts with Owner, Admin, Member, Viewer, Stakeholder, SME and QA, which apply everywhere in the organization. The team roles Developer and Scrum Master apply only to that team's sprints, sessions and the items in them. A holder of Manage the organization can add more team roles, and the Product Owner role applies across the project that names its holder. Every role entry grants a bundle, and no role removes one. See Roles and permissions.

Capability bundle

One of the eight bundles the product knows. The Roles matrix lists them as rows. The rows are View, Comment, Write in Scrum Events, Write items, Refine the backlog, Run sprints, Manage the project and Manage the organization. There is nothing finer underneath. A screen your bundles do not cover has no link in the rail, and its address answers a not-found page. See Roles and permissions.

Override

Grants or removes one bundle for one person on one project, with an optional reason of up to 280 characters. It is the only place the product removes a bundle, and it wins over every role. The product refuses an override on Manage the organization and asks you to change the role instead. A holder of Manage the project sets one in the project's Overrides section, and the section is absent for everybody else. The Overrides screen lists them all, and its link is absent for people without Manage the organization. See Project overrides.

Invitation

How every person after the first joins an organization. A holder of Manage the organization sends one with Invite someone under Pending invitations on the Members screen, and can Resend or Revoke it there. The invitee follows the link in the email to the Accept invitation or the Decline invitation page. Neither page acts until the invitee clicks the button. See Invitations.

The Product Backlog

Backlog item

One card on the Product Backlog. The card shows the project key and a number the product never reuses, such as PROJ-12, or the external id when the project displays one. An item carries a name, summary, description, notes, external id, status, priority, size, phase and at most one epic. It also carries dependencies, impediments, questions, Definition of Done checks and a history. Click a card to open the item panel. See Backlog items.

External id

The identifier an item carried in the system it came from. A .csv import sets it through the External id column of the import mapping. No screen writes one afterwards, and the item panel has no box for it. While the project's Show an imported system’s ID setting is on, the cards show it in place of the key and the number. With that setting on, an item with no external id stays a Draft. See Importing a backlog.

Phase

An ordered part of the Product Backlog. Every item sits in exactly one, and new items land in the default phase, which is Phase 1 in a new project. The Product Backlog shows one phase at a time through the Phases tabs. A holder of Refine the backlog moves an item with the item panel's Phase select. A holder of Manage the project manages the phases themselves in the project's Phases section. See Project settings.

Epic

A tag that groups items across phases. An item has zero or one epic, chosen in the item panel's Epic select, where No epic clears it. The select is absent when the project's Epics setting is off or the project has no epics. A holder of Refine the backlog chooses an epic and manages epics in the project's Epics section.

Item type

A label and a color, chosen when you create an item. Every project starts with User Story and Task, and a holder of Manage the project adds more in the project's Item types section. The Product Backlog offers the Type of the new item select only when the project has more than one type. The type does not show on the card, and it cannot change after creation.

Status

Where an item is in its life: Draft, Final, In Progress or Done. A holder of Write items chooses it in the item panel's Status select, and the product allows every move, forwards and back. The product blocks a move out of Draft without a name, a summary and a description. A project can require a size and an external id as well. An unchecked Definition of Done line blocks a move to Done. The Product Backlog hides Done items, and the Show Done switch above the cards brings them back.

Definition of Done

The project's checklist. A holder of Manage the project edits it in the Definition of Done section of the project screen. In the item panel, each line is a checkbox that a holder of Write items ticks, and each tick names who made it. An unchecked line blocks a move to Done, with the message This project's Definition of Done is not met: … A project with no lines blocks nothing.

Size

An estimate on the item, in the unit the project's Size unit setting names: points or hours. A size is greater than zero, at most 9999.99, with at most two decimals. A holder of Refine the backlog sets it in the item panel's Size box, and it shows as a bare number on the card. While the project's Require a size to leave Draft setting is on, an unsized item stays a Draft.

Priority

Low, Medium, High or Critical. A holder of Refine the backlog chooses it in the item panel's Priority select. Every new item starts at Medium, and a priority is never blank. It shows as the card's left stripe and a pill. Priority is a judgment about importance, and backlog order is a decision about sequence. The two never change each other.

Backlog order

The sequence of the cards inside one phase. A holder of Refine the backlog drags a card by the grip at its left. The Alt key with the up and down arrow keys moves a card as well. A card stays in its phase, because each phase keeps its own order. The keyboard move announces where the card lands, and a drag announces nothing. See The Product Backlog.

Dependency

A link that says this item waits on another item in the same project. A holder of Refine the backlog adds it under Waiting on in the item panel. The product blocks a dependency that would make an item wait on itself, directly or through others.

Blocked

A flag the product derives and nobody sets by hand. An item is blocked while any item it waits on is not Done, or while any impediment against it is open. The card shows a pill that names the cause, such as Blocked · predecessor or Blocked · impediment.

Impediment

An obstruction that is not another item: an approval, an environment, a vendor. A holder of Write items raises and resolves it under Impediments in the item panel. An open impediment makes the item blocked. When there is none, the list reads None open.

Question

A question for the Product Owner. A holder of Comment asks it with Add a question in the item panel. The product appends it to the item's description with your name and the time, records it in the history, and emails the Product Owner. Until the project names a Product Owner, the email goes to the person who created the project. When the description is full, the product blocks the question. Somebody who can edit the item must shorten the description first.

Refinement

The work that puts items in order, sizes them, sets their priority, phase and epic, and adds dependencies. The Refine the backlog bundle covers it, on the Product Backlog and in the item panel.

Sprints

Sprint

A time box of one to four whole weeks, from a Monday to a Friday in the team's timezone. The product numbers sprints per project, as Sprint 3, and never reuses a number. Each sprint is a card on the Sprint Planning screen. The product picks the start Monday, so one sprint follows the one before it. Past the project setting Sprint plan soft cap, the card warns with Oversized: 52 against a cap of 40, and the product blocks nothing. A holder of Manage the project sets that cap in the project's Settings section, and it starts at 40. See Sprints.

Sprint Goal

One sentence on the sprint about why it is valuable, up to 2,000 characters. A holder of Run sprints writes it on the sprint card with Set the Sprint Goal or Edit the Sprint Goal. Without one, the card reads No Sprint Goal yet — the sprint cannot leave Scheduled without one. The board shows the goal at its top.

Scheduled

The state a new sprint starts in. A holder of Run sprints can plan items into it and write its goal. The Sprint Planning screen always shows Scheduled sprints. See Sprint planning.

Plan complete

A Scheduled sprint after a holder of Run sprints clicks Plan complete. The product blocks the step without a team and a Sprint Goal. The card then offers Reopen plan and Activate. Once its Monday starts in the team's timezone, the product activates the sprint on its own.

Active

The sprint in progress. A team has at most one. The board follows it, and the Daily Scrum runs beside it. A holder of Run sprints can still plan items into it.

Board

The screen that draws the team's Active sprint, behind the Board link on the project screen. It follows the active sprint and never names one of its own. It has three columns and no Draft column: To Do for Final items, In Progress and Done. A Draft item planned into a sprint shows on none of them. Move an item out of Draft before you plan it. A card you drag to another column changes its status. See The board and the Daily Scrum.

Ended

A sprint whose time is over. The product ends it once its final Friday is over, or a holder of Run sprints clicks End sprint. Items stay in it until it is Closed, and a Done item can no longer leave it. A drop onto an Ended sprint warns and proceeds.

Closed

A finished sprint. A holder of Run sprints clicks Close sprint… on an Ended sprint. The close sends every unfinished item to the next sprint or to the Product Backlog, and Done items stay with the sprint. When the team's next sprint activates, the product closes an Active or Ended sprint on its own, with no per-item choice. The Sprint Planning screen never shows a Closed sprint.

Cancelled

A sprint the Product Owner stopped with Cancel sprint. The button is absent for everybody else. Every unfinished item returns to the Product Backlog, and Done items stay with the sprint. Nobody can edit or reopen a Cancelled sprint.

Scrum Events

Scrum Event

A meeting the product records. On screen, the product calls one a session. A session is scheduled, open, closed or canceled. The kinds are Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Retrospective and Backlog Refinement, plus a Sprint Closing record. The Daily Scrum is the only kind a screen creates. See Scrum Events.

Daily Scrum

The session that runs on the board beside the columns. A holder of Run sprints starts it with Start Daily Scrum and ends it with Close session. The pane headed Daily Scrum holds Attendees, Captured this session and Notes. Its header shows 15 minutes and the name of the person who started the session, who facilitates it. The product starts no timer, and the facilitator holds no extra right. See The board and the Daily Scrum.

Sprint Review

The session that presents the Increment, on the Sprint Review screen. It lists Done this sprint and Carried over, and it holds Feedback cards. No screen starts or closes a Sprint Review, so the screen reads No Sprint Review has been held yet. until a session exists. See Sprint Review.

Retrospective

The session about how the team worked, on the Retrospective screen. It has four columns: Went Well, Didn't Go Well, Action Items and Lessons Learned. Every card belongs to one author. No screen starts or closes one, so the screen reads No Retrospective has been held yet. until a session exists. See Retrospective.

Attendee

A person invited to a session by name, listed under Attendees on the board and on the Sprint Review screen. Members of the team that owns the sprint are participants already, and they carry no row there. A holder of Run sprints keeps the list with Invite someone, and sets each capacity to Observer or Participant. The same holder records attendance as Present, Absent or Not recorded. An observer reads the artifact, and a participant can also write notes and entries. Observer is the default.

Increment

The items a sprint moved to Done. The product reads its contents live from the sprint's Done items. The section The Increment on the Sprint Review screen holds a written summary. It also holds two separate switches, Demoed and Released, for a holder of Run sprints.

Convert to item

The one-click route from a card to the Product Backlog. It turns an Action Item on the Retrospective, or a Feedback card on the Sprint Review, into a Draft item of the project's Task type. The button needs Write items, which is not the bundle that writes the card. It needs Write in Scrum Events as well, plus a place on the session's team or an invitation as a participant. A card converts only while the session is open, and it converts once. A second attempt reads This card has already been converted.

Session notes

Free text in a session, one block per author. You write your own in Your notes and save it with Save my notes. Everyone else's block shows above it, read-only, under their name. The editor needs Write in Scrum Events, plus a place on the session's team or an invitation as a participant. Notes are read-only once the session closes.

Change capture

The list under Captured this session. While a session is open, the product stamps every history line written to an item in its sprint with the session. The list shows the lines on six fields: notes, priority, blocked, dependencies, size and status. A Sprint Planning or a Sprint Closing artifact also lists the items that entered or left the sprint. Nobody types it, and nobody can edit it. When the list is empty, it reads Nothing yet. Moving a card on the board lands here.

Records

Item history

An item's own timeline, in the History section of the item panel: who changed which field, from what to what, and when. Nobody can edit or delete a line. Some lines name SimpleScrumTools as the actor, because the product made the change itself. It derives a blocked flag again, and it closes an earlier sprint when the team's next sprint activates. The end of a sprint writes no line here. When the history is empty, it reads Nothing has happened to this item yet. See Backlog items.

Activity feed

The organization's record of what happened to its portfolios, projects, roles, members, teams, invitations, sprints and sessions, on the Activity screen. The link is absent for people without Manage the organization. It shows the first 50 entries, newest first. A change to a field on an item belongs to the item history and is not in the feed. The feed does name an item when somebody plans it into a sprint or removes it from one. See The activity feed.

Version

A number on every item, sprint, project and block of notes. Each save adds one to it. The item panel shows it at the foot of the panel, as Version 7. Your save carries the version you loaded, which is how the product knows that somebody saved before you.

Conflict

The refusal you meet when somebody else saved the same record first. On an item, the panel opens a dialog headed PROJ-12 was changed by someone else. The dialog holds a Theirs and a Mine column for each field you changed. Take theirs keeps their version, and Save my choices writes the fields you kept on top of it. Other screens reload with the newest version and ask you to try again. See Editing conflicts.

Plans

Plan

Free, Pro or Enterprise, per organization, shown under Current planon the Billing screen. The link is absent for people without Manage the organization. Free allows 1 portfolio, 1 Scrum Team, 1 project and 5 members, and it carries the ad slot. Pro allows 5 portfolios and 10 projects in each, and Enterprise has no caps. Neither shows the ad slot. A cap refuses growth only, and an organization over a cap keeps everything it has. See Plans and billing.

Seat

One member of the organization, as Pro and Enterprise bill it. Below the upgrade buttons, the Billing screen says Every member counts as a seat; the invoice follows the member list. The seat count changes when a person accepts an invitation and when a holder of Manage the organization removes a member.

Ad slot

The panel at the foot of the organization overview and the project screen, on the Free plan only. Before you answer the cookie banner, and after you Decline it, the slot holds a panel of the product's own: Ads support the Free plan. After you Accept, it holds an advertisement. Cookie choices under the slot withdraws the answer you gave. An instance with no advertising configured shows no slot and no banner. See Ads and cookie choices.

Not in the product, on purpose

• No workflow schemes and no custom statuses. The four statuses above are all of them.
• No real-time collaboration. Reload the page to see other people's changes.
• No offline mode. The product needs a connection for every read and every save.
• No native app. The product runs in a web browser.
• No .xlsx import. Import takes a .csv file.
• No dependencies between items in different projects.
• No conditional permission rules. Bundles, roles and overrides are the whole model.
• No custom Retrospective templates. The four columns are fixed.
• No time tracking. A size is an estimate, and the product records no hours spent.
• No way to give an item to one person. The project setting Assign items to individuals adds a name to the card on the board, and no screen can set that name.
• No SAML connection to a company identity provider. Sign-in is by email and password, and by a Google or a Microsoft account when the instance offers them.
• No burndown or velocity chart, and no two-way calendar sync.
• No notification center and no reminders.
• No personal settings screen, so no way to set your own timezone. The product shows every time in UTC. See Time and timezones.