A Scrum Book

Patterns of Scrum

We describe elements of the Scrum framework using a form called patterns. What is a pattern? One simple definition is that a pattern is a repeatably applicable solution to a problem that arises in a specific context. Christopher Alexander, a building architect, popularized the modern notion of patterns as a way for communities to celebrate, socialize, and refine the design norms of their built world, in The Timeless Way of Building [Ale79]. The pattern-writing form (see Pattern Form later in this chapter) structures the written insights that describe how people build things—things that aspire to a quality of Wholeness which pattern folks call “the Quality without a name.” You might have experienced the feeling of this Quality ...