Also called a “sprint board” or “Scrum task board,” a Scrum board is either a digital or physical representation of the progress and ownership of various tasks within the Agile sprint. Typically, the board is divided into four columns, each representing aspects of the sprint and where they are in terms of progress towards completion.

Scrum boards generally follow this structure:

User stories

A “user story” is a feature that must be implemented. Every story included in the Scrum board is assigned a “story point,” detailing how difficult the feature may be to implement, alongside other relevant information about the targeted user. User stories help define the tasks that must be completed during the sprint. 

To-do 

With the necessary tasks identified and defined, the “to-do” column can now be populated with essential assignments that have not yet been started. Each task should include a due date and be attached to a specific team member (or owner) responsible for the work. 

In-progress 

As work begins on specific to-do items, they are moved to the “in-progress” column. This column visually represents the work that is currently being performed but has not yet been completed. 

Done

Finally, when tasks are completed, they are moved to the “done” column. As the sprint progresses, team members can easily see how much progress has been made by watching the number of items increase in the done column. 

Just as the Agile methodology exists to improve adaptability within the development process, Scrum boards allow for increased flexibility to match existing processes. Columns may be added or further divided into sub-columns for improved functionality. For example, some organizations include “review” before or as part of the “done” column or may add an “on hold” column for tasks that cannot move forward at the current time. 

At its heart, a Scrum board is a map. It gives Scrum team leaders and individual members a visual depiction of their destination and how far along the path they currently are. This allows for certain key advantages within Agile development:  

Improved team efficiency

Agile sprints are only effective when teams collaborate properly. The Scrum board creates a place where everyone involved can see where the project stands, who is assigned to what, and where help may be required. This promotes better communication within projects and helps streamline and optimize work efforts for improved efficiency. 

Easy deployment

Digital Scrum board tools are designed for ease of use and typically include intuitive drag-and-drop interfaces. They allow users to add and move tasks between columns at the push of a button and take advantage of built-in tutorials and guides to ensure that inexperienced users get up to speed quickly. At the same time, physical Scrum boards can likewise be deployed quickly, often using sticky notes or a whiteboard and placed within a communal area in the office. 

Insight into potential problem areas

A key aspect of the Scrum board is its comprehensiveness. Every feature is accounted for, as are all the tasks necessary to guide it to completion. Also, when tasks are progressing more slowly than anticipated, the Scrum board clearly highlights where these bottlenecks are so that they may be addressed and alleviated before they can negatively impact the project.

Flexibility in Agile projects

Scrum boards are designed to be highly adaptable. For Agile projects that often require dynamic adjustments, this makes Scrum a natural choice. The Scrum board can be easily updated to reflect updated Agile workflows as priorities shift, or new tasks emerge. This flexibility supports the Agile philosophy of continuous improvement, ensuring that the team can respond quickly to changes in requirements, market conditions, or resource availability.

Better prioritization

Scrum boards help teams prioritize tasks more effectively by breaking down the project into manageable components. With clear visibility into backlogs and individual sprint goals, teams can focus on the most critical tasks first—ensuring that high-value items are addressed before less important ones. Limiting the number of tasks in progress at any given time also reduces context switching and enables team members to stay focused. 

While Scrum boards provide numerous benefits for Agile teams, they are not without their challenges. When implementing a Scrum board within a Scrum framework, teams may encounter specific limitations. By understanding these challenges and proactively addressing them, organizations can optimize their Scrum board experience. 

Difficult learning curve

For teams new to the Scrum framework, the concepts, terminology, and workflows involved—such as sprints, backlogs, and user stories—can be overwhelming. This may be especially true for teams not accustomed to Agile methodologies. Misunderstanding these core elements can hinder effective implementation.

Invest in proper training for key team members, particularly Scrum masters and product owners. Providing access to Scrum certification courses or workshops can help teams get up to speed. Regular knowledge-sharing sessions within the team can also foster understanding of the framework and smooth the transition.

High initial costs

Although Scrum boards are cost-effective overall, there can be upfront expenses when implementing them. Physical Scrum boards may require materials, while digital Scrum tools often come with subscription fees or require the integration of additional software. 

Counter these expenses by starting with basic tools and scaling up as needed. Many teams begin with simple physical boards or low-cost digital solutions. Once the team is comfortable with Scrum processes and the value of the board is established, investing in more advanced Scrum tools or platforms can be justified.

Possibility of scope creep

Because Scrum focuses on continuous development and improvement, it sometimes leads to ‘scope creep’ where the boundaries of the project expand without proper control. As sprints progress, new tasks and features may emerge, which can extend the original project timeline. 

Prevent scope creep by setting clear sprint goals and sticking to them. Encourage product owners to maintain a well-organized backlog and prioritize tasks rigorously. Frequent sprint reviews and retrospectives can help ensure that new requests are handled efficiently without derailing the overall project.

Need for full commitment from every team member

Scrum's success relies heavily on the commitment of all team members. If even one individual is disengaged or not fully cooperative, it can disrupt the entire process, resulting in delays or incomplete tasks.

An effective approach to this issue is to promote a collaborative team culture where every member understands their role and responsibilities. Regular check-ins by the Scrum master, along with offering recognition for individual and team achievements during sprint reviews, can help boost morale and foster commitment.

Requires daily meetings

Daily Scrum meetings, while crucial for keeping projects on track, can sometimes frustrate team members, especially in larger teams or those with tight schedules. The meetings may feel redundant if not managed properly, leading to wasted time.

Keep daily Scrum meetings brief and focused. Limit each meeting to 15 minutes and ensure that only essential updates are covered. To save time, encourage team members to prepare their updates in advance and to stay on-topic during discussions.

A Scrum board can take the form of either a physical board to which tasks are manually attached and updated, or a digital variation maintained virtually.

• Physical Scrum board
  A physical Scrum board consists of a tangible board, typically a whiteboard or corkboard, located in a shared workspace. Tasks are represented by sticky notes or cards that are manually moved across columns ("to-do," "in-progress," and "done"). 

Physical boards offer a hands-on, visual method of tracking progress, which can be ideal for teams that are co-located and prefer face-to-face collaboration. Because it is visible to everyone in the workspace, the board fosters real-time accountability and encourages team discussions during daily stand-ups.

• Virtual Scrum board
  A virtual Scrum board is a digital tool hosted either on local servers or accessed via the cloud. It is accessible by team members regardless of their physical location, making it a preferred option for remote or distributed teams. Virtual boards offer additional functionality such as automated workflows, real-time updates, and integrations with other project management tools.

Digital Scrum boards also allow for easier long-term planning and data tracking, with built-in features like historical task tracking, reporting, and metrics. These can help teams analyze past performance and optimize future sprints.

Scrum boards rely on certain key factors to function properly. These include the following:

Sprints

Every Scrum board details a single, specific sprint, which is the time frame in which the team has to accomplish a predetermined goal (such as completing a specific element of the development project). The sprint can be any length of time but should be limited to a defined amount of work.  Sprints are better suited to do as much as possible; they are better suited to accomplishing specific, pre-identified tasks. Sprints typically consist of four types of events:

• A planning phase in which the Scrum team defines the sprint goal and addresses any other issues or concerns in preparation for the sprint.
• Daily 15-minute planning sessions (also called “daily Scrum”) where dev teams review the work from the previous day and plan out what needs to be done for the current day. Daily Scrums also identify any changes that must be made to the Scrum board and document the total sprint progress towards the goal.
• A review held at the conclusion of the sprint to identify strengths and weaknesses and analyze all aspects of the current project (such as budgets, timelines, productivity, etc.). 
• A retrospective held separately from the review in preparation for the next sprint planning session to apply learnings from the previous sprint to improve effectiveness moving forward. 

Scrum artifacts

Scrum artifacts are essential elements that make up and support the Scrum board. They serve as key inputs and outputs of the Scrum process and ensure that teams remain aligned with project goals. Scrum artifacts include the following: 

Sprint backlogs

The sprint backlog is a dynamic list of tasks that need to be completed during a specific sprint. It is derived from the product backlog and focuses on the highest-priority items. During sprint planning, the team collaborates to decide which tasks can realistically be completed in the upcoming sprint, ensuring that the most critical work is addressed first. As the sprint progresses, the sprint backlog helps the team remain focused on what needs to be accomplished within the available time frame.

Product backlogs

The product backlog is a comprehensive list of all tasks, features, and improvements needed to complete the project. Unlike the sprint backlog, which is short-term and tied to a specific sprint, the product backlog takes a long-term view, encompassing every item required to guide the product to completion. Items in the product backlog are prioritized based on their value to the business and the user. The product owner is responsible for maintaining and prioritizing this list to ensure that development work is aligned with overarching business objectives.

Increments

An increment is the sum of all completed tasks from the sprint backlog; it represents the tangible progress made during the sprint. Each increment must produce a usable and potentially shippable product, even if it only includes a portion of the overall features. These increments build on each other throughout the project, with each iteration bringing the product closer to its final form. Teams review increments during sprint reviews to ensure they meet the predefined "definition of done" and are ready to be delivered to the stakeholders or customers.

Scrum team members

The effectiveness of a Scrum board depends largely on the roles and responsibilities of the team members who operate it. Scrum teams need to be small, self-organizing, and cross-functional, with each member playing a distinct role in ensuring that the sprint progresses smoothly.

Product owners

The product owner is the primary decision-maker responsible for maximizing the value of the product, guiding the overall vision, and making real-time decisions about the scope and direction of the sprint to keep the work progressing on track. They make sure that the backlog is properly prioritized, with tasks clearly defined and relevant to business objectives. The product owner also communicates with stakeholders to gather feedback and align the team’s efforts with customer needs.

Scrum masters

The Scrum master acts as a facilitator for the Scrum process, keeping the team firmly grounded in Agile principles and Scrum practices. They are responsible for organizing Scrum events, such as sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and sprint reviews. Additionally, Scrum masters work closely with the product owner and development team to remove impediments that might block progress.

Development teams

Development teams are responsible for executing the work outlined in the sprint backlog and delivering increments at the end of each sprint. These teams typically consist of three to nine members, each with the necessary skills to complete their work. Developers collaborate closely, drawing on their collective expertise in areas such as coding, testing, and design. A key aspect of Agile development is that these teams are self-organizing, meaning they decide how to approach their work and solve problems, without relying on top-down direction.

Scrum boards

A Scrum board is a tool specifically designed to support the Scrum framework, which is organized around time-boxed sprints. Scrum boards are used by a single team to track tasks over the course of a sprint. The board is populated with user stories and backlog tasks that must be completed during the current sprint, and team members move tasks from one column to the next as they progress. Scrum boards are designed to help development teams focus on delivering specific increments of work within each sprint, and they are ideal for projects with well-defined goals, deadlines, and deliverables.

Kanban boards

Kanban boards, on the other hand, offer a more flexible and continuous workflow system. Unlike Scrum boards, Kanban boards are not tied to a specific team or sprint. Instead, they visualize the flow of tasks across multiple teams or even throughout the entire organization. Kanban boards limit the number of tasks in the “in-progress” column to prevent overload and ensure that work progresses smoothly through each stage. Because they are not bound by sprints or specific time limits, Kanban boards are well-suited for ongoing projects or workflows that require continuous delivery and frequent updates. Kanban also tends to be easier for non-technical teams to use.

While Scrum boards were originally developed for software development teams to streamline and visualize their work, many other departments have also adopted them. In fact, any team that values agile practices, clear project management, and efficient task tracking can benefit from using a Scrum board.

Here are some of the various kinds of teams that may integrate Scrum boards into their project-management strategies:

• Software development
  Scrum boards primarily exist to help software development teams track the progress of development tasks, bugs, and feature updates within a sprint. By visualizing the work, teams can collaborate more effectively, identify bottlenecks early, and ensure focused completion of sprint goals.
• IT and operations
  IT teams responsible for infrastructure management, system maintenance, incident resolution, and more can use Scrum boards to organize and prioritize their tasks.
• Human resources
  Managing recruitment processes, employee onboarding, and performance reviews is simplified by using a Scrum board. By providing a clear overview of tasks, these boards help HR departments stay on track with hiring timelines, ensure smooth onboarding experiences, and maintain efficient documentation practices.
• Sales
  With a visual representation of the sales pipeline, sales teams can easily prioritize outreach efforts, follow up with prospects, and align their activities to meet revenue targets.
• Marketing
  Marketing teams use Scrum boards to manage campaigns, content creation workflows, and promotional activities. These boards provide a clear view of task dependencies to help teams plan effectively and deliver marketing assets and initiatives on time.
• Design
  Scrum boards enable better alignment between designers and developers, facilitate quick identification of bottlenecks, and allow teams to adapt to feedback throughout the project lifecycle. 
• Product management
  Product management teams use Scrum boards to track product roadmaps, prioritize features, and respond to user feedback. These boards offer a unified view of the entire product development progress and allow teams to adjust their priorities to meet changing circumstances.

For those organizations that embrace an Agile methodology, the breakneck speed of deployment coupled with an ongoing need for adaptability can make visualizing and tracking project progress extremely difficult. Scrum boards within the Scrum framework provide a possible solution. But with so many Scrum tools currently available, how can businesses determine which one is the correct choice for their needs? Agile Development offers the answer. 

A capability of ServiceNow Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) and built on the industry defining Now Platform®, Agile Development brings Scrum planning, documentation, reporting, and project management to a single, centralized location. Coordinate multiple teams across multiple projects. Enjoy real-time visibility into project development. Integrate with a range of tools to ensure productivity and accuracy. Apply advanced automation to keep workflows moving quickly. And through it all, maintain comprehensive, easy-to-follow boards to help do more with less.

See how ServiceNow can bring the advantages of Agile planning, scrum board, and agility to your agile development teams development teams. Demo SPM today!