Scrum is an agile framework that helps teams structure and manage their work through a set of values, principles, and practices. Inspired by the rugby play of the same name, it encourages teams to learn through experience, self-organize while working on a problem, and reflect on their wins and losses to continuously improve.
A Scrum team is a self-organizing unit with three specific roles designed to optimize flexibility and productivity. Each role has distinct responsibilities, but they all collaborate closely to deliver the product incrementally. This structure ensures clear accountability and focus.
Scrum artifacts are key pieces of information that help define the product and the work required to create it. They provide transparency and create opportunities for inspection and adaptation. These artifacts ensure the entire team and stakeholders are aligned on goals and progress.
While both are agile frameworks, Scrum and Kanban offer different approaches to managing work and delivering value.
Scrum excels at helping teams adapt to changing conditions and user needs. Its iterative approach uses short release cycles for constant learning and improvement. This incremental delivery ensures teams can quickly pivot and deliver higher value to customers.
The framework also promotes transparency, clear communication, and collective ownership. Empowering cross-functional teams to self-organize reduces bottlenecks and increases resilience. Regular feedback loops keep the team motivated and stakeholders aligned on progress.
Implementing Scrum is a significant undertaking that often requires a major cultural shift. Teams can struggle with the new ceremonies and the need for deep-seated trust and transparency. Navigating these issues involves understanding the inherent trade-offs.
How long is a typical sprint?
Sprints are typically two to four weeks long. This fixed duration allows the team to deliver a usable product increment consistently, providing a regular cadence for planning, execution, and review. The length is chosen to be short enough to adapt to changes quickly.
Can Scrum be used for non-software projects?
Absolutely. While it originated in software development, Scrum's principles of iterative progress and continuous improvement are effective for marketing, sales, and other complex projects. Its adaptability makes it a versatile framework for various industries.
What's the difference between a Scrum Master and a Project Manager?
A Scrum Master is a servant-leader who facilitates the Scrum process and removes impediments for the team. A traditional Project Manager focuses more on planning, resource allocation, and managing timelines, often with a more directive approach.
“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.
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Escalations are the process of moving a customer issue or sales opportunity to a more senior or specialized team member for resolution.
Forward revenue is the total value of all active, committed contracts that are expected to be recognized as revenue in the future.
A drip campaign is a series of automated messages sent to prospects or customers over time to nurture leads and drive engagement.
Demographic segmentation divides a market into groups based on traits like age, gender, and income, allowing for more targeted marketing efforts.
DevOps is a culture and set of practices that merges software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) to shorten development cycles.
A Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) is a prospect vetted by marketing and sales, deemed ready for a direct sales pitch after showing intent to buy.
Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.
Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.
A Value-Added Reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated solution.
A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.
A use case is a detailed description of how a user interacts with a system to achieve a specific goal, outlining the steps from start to finish.
Signaling is using credible actions to convey information about quality or intent to a less-informed party, effectively building trust.
Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.
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Segmentation analysis is the process of dividing a broad market into smaller, distinct groups of consumers with similar needs or characteristics.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is a cloud-based model where users subscribe to an application and access it over the internet.
OAuth is an open standard for access delegation. It lets you grant apps access to your data on other services without sharing your password.
A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.
End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.
Lead nurturing is the process of developing and reinforcing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel.
Product recommendations are a marketing strategy that uses customer data to suggest relevant products, boosting sales and customer engagement.
Direct mail is a marketing method where businesses send physical promotional materials directly to potential customers' mailboxes.
Opportunity management is the process of tracking potential sales from first contact to a closed deal, helping teams prioritize and win more.
Cohort analysis is a behavioral analytics tool that groups users with common traits to track their actions and engagement over time.
Real-time data is information processed and made available almost instantaneously, enabling immediate analysis and decision-making.
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A sales methodology is the framework that guides how your sales team approaches the entire sales process, from prospecting to closing deals.
A value gap is the difference between the value a customer expects from a product and the actual value they receive, often leading to churn.
A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a document declaring the preliminary commitment of one party to do business with another, outlining the chief terms.
CPM, or Cost Per Mille, is a key advertising metric. It's the cost an advertiser pays for one thousand views or impressions of a single ad.
A Sales Director leads a sales team, develops strategies, and is responsible for meeting a company's revenue targets.
Net 30 is a common payment term where a client has 30 calendar days from the invoice date to pay for goods or services in full.
GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.
The open rate is the percentage of recipients who opened an email. It's a primary indicator of a subject line's effectiveness.
Application Performance Management (APM) monitors and manages an application's performance, availability, and the experience of its end-users.
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Data privacy is an individual's right to control their personal information, including how it's collected, processed, stored, and shared.
An AI sales script generator is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to create personalized sales scripts for any outreach scenario.
Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.
Average Revenue per User (ARPU) is a key performance indicator that calculates the average revenue generated from each user or subscriber.
Triggers are predefined conditions that, when met, automatically launch a workflow or action, ensuring timely and relevant outreach.
Stress testing is a type of software testing that determines a system's robustness by pushing it beyond its normal operational capacity.
A sales pitch is a persuasive presentation of a product or service, aimed at convincing a potential customer to make a purchase.
Going dark is when a once-responsive prospect suddenly stops all communication, leaving you wondering what went wrong.
MOFU, or Middle of the Funnel, is the crucial evaluation stage in the buyer's journey where leads compare solutions to their known problem.
Customer retention refers to the strategies and activities a company uses to prevent customer churn and encourage them to continue buying.
Phishing attacks are fraudulent attempts to trick you into revealing sensitive data like passwords or financial info by posing as a trusted source.
The buyer journey maps the path a potential customer takes, from first learning about a product to the final decision to buy.
Demand forecasting is the process of predicting future customer demand for a product or service based on historical data and market trends.
A performance plan is a formal document outlining an employee's goals, expectations, and metrics for success over a specific period.
Touches are the individual interactions you have with a prospect throughout the sales process, from emails and calls to social media messages.
Dynamic data is information that updates in real-time. Unlike static data, it reflects the most current state of information automatically.
Data security protects digital information from unauthorized access, corruption, or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
Multi-channel marketing uses various platforms—like email, social media, and direct mail—to engage with customers wherever they are.
Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.
A marketing budget breakdown is a detailed plan that allocates your total marketing funds across various channels, campaigns, and activities.
Process automation uses technology to execute recurring tasks or processes, replacing manual effort to cut costs and boost efficiency.
Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors who complete a desired goal, like a purchase or sign-up, out of the total number of visitors.
A sales funnel is a model illustrating the customer's journey from initial awareness to the final purchase, narrowing down leads at each stage.
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is the code that styles a website. It controls the colors, fonts, layout, and overall look of a web page.
Load balancing is the practice of distributing incoming network traffic across a group of backend servers, ensuring no single server is overworked.
Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.
Inside sales metrics are quantifiable measures used to track the performance, activities, and effectiveness of an internal sales team.
Process Builder is a Salesforce automation tool that lets you create 'if/then' business processes with a user-friendly visual interface.
Overcoming objections is the process of addressing and resolving a prospect's concerns or hesitations to move a sale forward.
Google Analytics is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic, offering insights into user behavior and marketing effectiveness.
Lead scoring models rank prospects by assigning points for their behaviors and demographics, helping sales teams prioritize their outreach.
A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is software that gathers and organizes customer data from various touchpoints into a single, unified profile.
Customer Retention Cost (CRC) is the total amount a company spends to keep an existing customer over a certain period of time.
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Serverless computing is a cloud model where the provider manages servers, so developers can focus on code without worrying about infrastructure.
An Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is a detailed description of the perfect, hypothetical company that would get the most value from your product.
Data-driven marketing uses customer data to inform marketing decisions, optimize campaigns, and deliver personalized experiences to consumers.
Sales performance metrics are key data points that measure a sales team's effectiveness in achieving its goals and driving revenue.
A buying signal is any action from a prospect that indicates they are interested in making a purchase, helping sales teams prioritize leads.
Lead conversion is the process of turning a prospect into a customer by getting them to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.
MEDDICC is a sales qualification framework for complex B2B deals. It helps reps identify and validate key aspects of an opportunity to close more effectively.
Virtual selling is the process of selling to customers remotely using technology like video calls, rather than meeting them in person.
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Win/Loss Analysis is the process of systematically tracking and analyzing the reasons why you win or lose deals with prospective customers.
A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of something, like a webpage or email, to determine which one performs better with your audience.
A Marketing Qualified Account (MQA) is a target company that has shown significant engagement, indicating it's ready for the sales team to pursue.
Email personalization uses subscriber data—like their name, interests, or past behavior—to create highly relevant and targeted email campaigns.
Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless, unified customer experience by integrating a company's various communication and sales channels.
Smarketing is the process of aligning your sales and marketing teams. This integration focuses on shared goals to improve lead quality and drive revenue.
Regression testing ensures that new code changes don’t negatively impact existing features. It's a key step to maintain software quality after updates.
A talk track is a script that guides sales reps during calls. It ensures they cover key points and maintain a consistent message with prospects.
A persona is a semi-fictional profile of your ideal customer, based on market research and real data about your existing customers.
A Single Page Application (SPA) is a web app that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current page rather than loading new pages.
Programmatic advertising uses AI and real-time bidding to automate the buying and selling of digital ad space, targeting specific audiences.
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A firewall is a digital barrier that protects a network by monitoring and controlling traffic, blocking unauthorized access and malicious content.
Sales metrics are quantifiable data points that track and measure a sales team's performance against specific goals and objectives.
The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.
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Customer data analysis is the process of examining customer information to uncover insights that drive business decisions and improve experiences.
A RESTful API is a web service interface that uses HTTP requests to access and use data, adhering to the constraints of REST architecture.
Analytics platforms are tools that collect and analyze data from various sources, helping businesses track key metrics and make informed decisions.