The Scrum Terms Need to Change

The standard set of Scrum terms like Product, Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Product Backlog don’t make any sense and should be dropped.

How did we end up in 2023 with a set of standard terms for agile ways of working that don’t really make any sense?

I’m talking about the language introduced in Scrum which has become the standard for most agile teams. Terms like Product, Product Owner, and Scrum Master. And backlogs.

Most of us have grown so familiar with these terms from Scrum that we don’t see the concern. However, when I am working with new agile teams, they always have questions about these odd-sounding terms. These terms mean other things to these people.

Could we please change to a more standard set of terms?

How The Scrum Terms Became Pervasive

Most people know that Scrum was created in 1995 by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber. Though not the first agile framework, today it is the most popular agile framework with roughly 80% of respondents claiming to use Scrum or a Scrum hybrid.

Since 2010, Sutherland and Schwaber have co-authored the Scrum Guide, which is considered the definitive guide to the Scrum Framework…