The Scrum Team Scorecard

Transitioning toward Scrum practices isn't easy for every team. I've used a visual image that I call the Scrum team scorecard to help. It's a one-page "snapshot" of the level of transformation of a project team into a Scrum team. An independent observer, preferably an Agile coach or someone highly familiar with good Agile practices, should score the team undergoing the transformation. In addition, the scorecard should be geared to match existing reporting mechanisms already used by the organization; this will maximize everyone's comfort level during the transition.

Here is an example of a Scrum team scorecard, filled in for a fictitious team.

(Click here for a larger version of this image)

The scorecard is divided into the following sections:

Team Name — The first line provides the name of the Scrum team and any reference number or other identifying information.

Color Key — The next lines provide a stoplight-like scale of color codes representing the level of achievement. Again, these should match the normal scale that may already be used in the organization.

Score Grid — The grid provides a place to score Scrum and Agile practices deployed by the team.

The example has two subsections:

Scrum Basics — This subsection focuses on the nominal 3 x 3 Scrum practices.

Agile Core — This subsection focuses on common Agile practices chosen by the particular organization.

The last line of the grid tracks the Achievement Statistics by color. The overall score may show a combination of multiple colors (for example, blue plus green).

The History Grid on the left allows for easier tracking of previous scores to enable trending, etc.

The scorecard is divided into the following columns:

Agile Practice — This column identifies the specific Agile practices getting deployed and scored.

Start — This column identifies the specific start date when the practice was deployed or redeployed. Note: Redeployment is initiated if the original deployment falters or the practice is tailored.

Status — This column identifies the specific color-coded score of the practice.

Comments — This column provides a textual explanation of the team's status.

It's always possible to revise, add other sections and columns, or cut, as needed by the organization. My hope is that other teams will find this as useful as I have in terms of helping project teams understand how far they've progressed toward Scrum practices, and where they still need a little more help.