Agile and Scrum flashcards
How modern teams plan, build and improve in short steps.
Beginner friendly, starts from zero
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Agile and ScrumStart from zero · 1 of 10
What is , in one plain sentence?
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is a way of working where a team builds something in small pieces, shows each piece to real people early, and changes the plan based on what it learns.
Small steps, quick looks, change course.
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What you will learn
Start from zero
- What agile is4 cards
- Key words4 cards
- Getting ready2 cards
Core basics
- The Agile Manifesto2 cards
- Scrum team and values4 cards
- Scrum events4 cards
- Scrum artifacts4 cards
- User stories3 cards
Next steps
- Estimation and planning5 cards
- Charts and metrics3 cards
- Kanban3 cards
- Running good events3 cards
- Tools and practices4 cards
Go deeper
- Scaling agile3 cards
- Anti-patterns3 cards
- Forecasting2 cards
- Product ownership3 cards
- Agile beyond software and careers4 cards
- Continuous improvement2 cards
Final test and certificate
10 questions drawn fresh from the whole topic, about 15 minutes. Sign in, score 80% or more and get a free certificate with your name and a public check link anyone can open, such as an employer or a teacher. Not signed in? Try a practice test from the cards.
Take the final testAbout these cards
- Reviewed 26 October 2026
- CoversScrum Guide 2020 (current)Agile Manifesto 2001Kanban Guide (May 2025)
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Agile and Scrum at a glance
Agile is a way of working where a team builds in small pieces, shows them often and changes plans as it learns; Scrum is the most popular recipe for doing that.
Planning a long road trip by checking the map at every town, instead of fixing the whole route on day one and ignoring road closures.
Words you will meet
- Agile
- Working in small steps, showing results often and adjusting plans
- Scrum
- A simple set of roles, meetings and lists for working in an agile way
- Sprint
- A fixed short period, often two weeks, in which the team finishes a useful piece
- Backlog
- The ordered list of everything the product might need
- User story
- A short description of a need from a user's point of view
- Stand-up
- A short daily meeting, the Daily Scrum, to plan the next day of work
- Kanban
- A way to see work on a board and limit how much is in progress
- Retrospective
- A meeting where the team looks back and picks what to improve
The steps
- 1. Start from zero (10 cards): What agile and Scrum are, why they exist and the words every team uses.
- 2. Core basics (17 cards): The Agile Manifesto, the Scrum team, events, artifacts and good user stories.
- 3. Next steps (18 cards): Estimating, charts and flow metrics, Kanban, running good events and daily practices.
- 4. Go deeper (17 cards): Scaling, anti-patterns, forecasting, product ownership, careers and continuous improvement.
All 10 cards in Start from zero
- What is agile, in one plain sentence?
- Agile is a way of working where a team builds something in small pieces, shows each piece to real people early, and changes the plan based on what it learns.
- What problem was agile created to solve?
- Big projects planned in full up front often took years and delivered the wrong thing because needs changed. Agile delivers useful parts early so mistakes show up fast.
- Explain agile with a picture from daily life.
- Cooking for guests by tasting as you go and adding salt, instead of following a recipe blindly and tasting only when the plates are on the table.
- Is Scrum the same as agile?
- No. Agile is the idea; Scrum is one popular recipe for it with set roles, meetings and lists. Kanban is another way to work in an agile style.
- What is a sprint?
- A sprint is a fixed short period, often two weeks and never more than a month, in which the team finishes a useful, working piece of the product.
- What is a backlog, and what is a user story?
- The backlog is the ordered list of everything the product may need. A user story is one item written from a user's view: 'As a shopper, I want to save my cart so I can buy later.'
- What happens in a stand-up and a retrospective?
- The stand-up (Daily Scrum) is a 15-minute daily check to plan the next day of work. The retrospective, at the end of each sprint, is where the team picks how to work better.
- What is a Kanban board?
- A board with columns like To do, Doing and Done, where each task is a card that moves right. Teams limit how many cards can sit in Doing at once.
- Who uses agile besides software teams?
- Marketing teams plan campaigns in sprints, schools use task boards, and even house renovations run on Kanban boards. Any work with changing needs can use it.
- What do you need before you start, and what will you be able to do after?
- Nothing but curiosity. After this topic you can work in any Scrum team, write good stories, run a board, read team charts and answer interview questions about it.
Agile and Scrum cheatsheet
Scrum at a glance
Product OwnerMaximises value, orders the backlogScrum MasterCoaches Scrum, removes blockersDevelopersBuild the Increment, plan their own workTeam sizeTypically 10 or fewerValuesCommitment, focus, openness, respect, courage
Events and time-boxes (1-month sprint)
SprintOne month or lessSprint PlanningUp to 8 hoursDaily Scrum15 minutesSprint ReviewUp to 4 hoursSprint RetrospectiveUp to 3 hours
Artifacts and commitments
Product BacklogProduct GoalSprint BacklogSprint GoalIncrementDefinition of Done
Kanban flow
WIPItems started, not finishedThroughputItems finished per weekCycle timeStart to finish for one itemWork item ageHow long an open item has runWIP limitMax cards per columnLittle's LawCycle time = WIP / throughput
Stories
As a <user>, I want <goal>, so that <reason>Story templateGiven / When / ThenAcceptance criteriaINVESTIndependent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13Common point scaleSplit > 8Break big stories down