Scrum.org's 8-Step Plan for AI-Native Teams

WHY IT MATTERS: For engineering teams using Scrum, this 8-step framework provides a structured roadmap for integrating AI beyond simple tool usage. It reframes AI adoption as a fundamental process shift, moving the team's focus from production tasks to the evaluation of AI-generated work, and from a 'Definition of Done' to a 'Definition of Value'. This can help teams navigate the mandate to 'use AI' more deliberately.

WHAT CHANGED: Scrum.org proposes an 8-step transformation journey. The steps are: first, establish the foundation; second, give the team AI basic literacy; third, start using AI as a personal assistant; fourth, incorporate AI into Scrum; fifth, use AI in building your product; sixth, delegate repetitive tasks to AI; seventh, add value to your product with AI features; and eighth, measure progress. An 'AI-native' team is characterized by having AI embedded in all work, a focus on evaluation over production, strong AI literacy, and strategic delegation of tasks to AI while retaining accountability.

WHAT TO WATCH: This article is the first in an 8-part series. The immediate next step is to watch for the follow-up posts that will detail each of the 8 steps, starting with how to 'Establish the foundation'. For now, engineering leads can use this framework to start a conversation about what a deliberate, step-by-step AI integration could look like for their own team's workflow.