Glossary

Scrum & Agile,
In Plain English.

Every term that matters, defined without jargon. Use it as a reference, share it with new hires, or paste a link in a meeting when someone says "what's the definition of done?"

Term Velocity How much work a team finishes per sprint, in story points. Term Story Points A relative-sizing unit for work that captures complexity, effort, and uncertainty. Term Sprint A fixed-length timebox (usually 1-4 weeks) where a team commits to and ships a defined slice of work. Term Sprint Goal A single sentence that explains why the sprint matters and what the team is committing to deliver. Term Retrospective The meeting at the end of a sprint where the team inspects how the sprint went and decides what to change next. Term Burndown Chart A line chart that shows remaining work over time during a sprint, ideally trending toward zero by the end. Term Planning Poker A collaborative estimation technique where each team member privately picks a story-point value, then reveals together. Term Kanban A flow-based workflow where work moves through columns (To Do → In Progress → Done) without fixed sprints. Term Backlog The ordered list of all work the team could do in the future. The top is groomed and ready; the bottom is rough ideas. Term Epic A large body of work that spans multiple sprints and is broken down into smaller user stories. Term User Story A short description of a feature from the user’s perspective. Format: "As a [role], I want [goal] so that [reason]". Term Definition of Done The shared checklist that says when a ticket is genuinely finished — tested, reviewed, deployed, documented. Term Definition of Ready The checklist a backlog item must satisfy before the team will pull it into a sprint — usually scoped, sized, and clear. Term Sprint Capacity The realistic amount of work the team can complete in the next sprint, given PTO, holidays, and focus factor. Term Focus Factor The percentage of working hours that actually go to sprint work, after meetings, code review, and interrupts.