In Scrum, an Increment is a concrete stepping stone toward the Product Goal, representing the sum of all the Product Backlog items completed during a Sprint and the value of the Increments of all prior Sprints. It is the demonstrable, usable product of a Sprint that brings the team closer to achieving the overarching Product Goal.
Understanding the Core of an Increment
The Increment serves as the primary artifact that enables inspection and adaptation at the Sprint Review. It is not merely a collection of features; rather, it is a unified whole that integrates seamlessly with all previously developed work. This holistic approach ensures that the product evolves coherently, providing tangible value at regular intervals.
Key Characteristics of a Scrum Increment
To fully grasp the essence of an Increment, it's crucial to understand its defining characteristics:
- Additive & Cumulative: Each Increment builds upon all prior Increments, meaning it includes all functionality from previous Sprints, plus the newly completed work. It's not a separate piece but an integrated enhancement to the existing product, ensuring continuous growth and an ever-expanding valuable solution.
- Thoroughly Verified: An Increment must meet the team's "Definition of Done" (DoD), which is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. This rigorous verification ensures quality, functionality, and that all Increments work together harmoniously and without regression.
- Usable & Valuable: For an Increment to truly provide value, it must be in a usable condition. This means it is potentially releasable, even if the Product Owner decides not to release it immediately. If an Increment isn't usable, it cannot be inspected effectively by stakeholders to gather meaningful feedback, thereby hindering the empirical process.
The Increment's Role in Value Delivery
The Increment is the embodiment of completed work that delivers value. It ensures transparency and provides stakeholders with a clear, tangible representation of progress toward the Product Goal. By having a usable Increment at the end of each Sprint, the Scrum Team enables:
- Frequent Feedback: Stakeholders can inspect the working software and provide immediate feedback, allowing the team to adapt quickly.
- Reduced Risk: By consistently producing a verified, usable Increment, potential issues are identified and addressed early, mitigating larger risks later in the development cycle.
- Continuous Improvement: The ability to release value frequently, or at least have a potentially releasable product, fosters a culture of continuous delivery and improvement.
Practical Implications
Consider an example from software development:
- Scenario: A development team is building an e-commerce website.
- Increment 1: Users can register an account and log in. This is a usable, verified piece of functionality.
- Increment 2 (Additive): Users can now browse products and add them to a cart. This Increment builds upon Increment 1, meaning users can still register and log in, and they can now use the new browsing and cart features. It's thoroughly tested to ensure the new features don't break existing ones.
- Increment 3 (Cumulative & Usable): Users can proceed to checkout and make a payment. This combines all prior functionality with the new payment system, creating an even more complete and valuable product that is ready for potential release.
Each of these Increments is a concrete step towards the Product Goal (a fully functional e-commerce website), is additive to prior work, thoroughly verified, and usable by end-users.
