Agile Ceremonies vs Scrum Ceremonies: Are They the Same Thing?

Someone on Your Team Just Googled “Agile Ceremonies”

You’re setting up a new team. Someone says “we need to establish our agile ceremonies.” They list sprint planning, standups, retros, and a review. Everybody nods. The calendar invites go out.

But here’s the thing. What that person just described are Scrum ceremonies. Not Agile ceremonies. Agile itself has no prescribed meetings, no required cadence, and no defined roles. The meetings everyone associates with “Agile” actually come from Scrum, which is just one framework that operates under the Agile umbrella.

Does this distinction matter in practice? More than you might think.

Why the Terminology Gets Confused

Scrum is the most popular Agile framework by a wide margin. When most organisations “go Agile,” they actually implement Scrum. Over time, Scrum’s practices became synonymous with Agile in many people’s minds.

So when someone says “agile ceremonies,” they almost always mean the five Scrum events: Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and Backlog Refinement.

This conflation isn’t harmless. Teams that think Agile equals Scrum often don’t realise they have other options. They might be better suited to Kanban, or a hybrid approach, but they never explore alternatives because they assume the standups-and-sprints package is the only way to “do Agile.”

What Agile Actually Prescribes

Agile is a set of values and principles defined in the Agile Manifesto. It was written in 2001 by seventeen software developers who were frustrated with rigid, plan-heavy development processes.

The Manifesto has four values and twelve principles. None of them mention specific meetings, time-boxes, or roles. The closest it gets is the twelfth principle: “At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behaviour accordingly.”

That principle is the philosophical basis for the retrospective. But it doesn’t say you need a meeting called a retrospective, held every two weeks, lasting 90 minutes. Those specifics come from Scrum.

Agile gives you the “why.” Frameworks like Scrum and Kanban give you the “how.”

What Scrum Prescribes

Scrum defines five events (the term used in the current Scrum Guide), each with a specific purpose and time-box.

• Sprint Planning: The team selects work from the product backlog and creates a plan for the sprint. Time-box: up to 8 hours for a 4-week sprint.
• Daily Scrum: A 15-minute sync where developers inspect progress toward the sprint goal and plan the day ahead.
• Sprint Review: The team demonstrates what was built and gathers stakeholder feedback. Time-box: up to 4 hours for a 4-week sprint.
• Sprint Retrospective: The team reflects on how they worked and identifies improvements. Time-box: up to 3 hours for a 4-week sprint.
• Backlog Refinement: The team reviews and clarifies upcoming stories. Not formally time-boxed, but the Scrum Guide recommends no more than 10% of the team’s capacity.

These events create a structured inspect-and-adapt loop. Each one feeds into the next. Remove one and the loop breaks down.

What Kanban Prescribes

Kanban takes a fundamentally different approach. It doesn’t prescribe specific meetings. Instead, it defines cadences, regular opportunities for the team to review and improve their work.

The seven Kanban cadences are:

• Strategy Review: Aligns work with business strategy. Typically quarterly.
• Operations Review: Cross-team coordination and flow optimisation. Monthly.
• Risk Review: Examines blockers, dependencies, and delivery risks. Monthly.
• Service Delivery Review: Analyses metrics like cycle time and throughput. Bi-weekly.
• Replenishment Meeting: Prioritises and pulls new work into the system. As needed or weekly.
• Kanban Meeting (Standup): Daily check on flow and blockers.
• Delivery Planning: Coordinates releases and deployments. As needed.

Notice the difference. Scrum’s events are tied to the sprint cycle. Kanban’s cadences operate at different frequencies and focus on flow, not time-boxed iterations. A Kanban team might run a daily standup and a weekly replenishment meeting, but skip the others entirely if they don’t add value.

Side-by-Side: Scrum Events vs Kanban Cadences

Here’s how the practices compare across both frameworks.

Daily sync: Both Scrum and Kanban have one. Scrum calls it the Daily Scrum. Kanban calls it the Kanban Meeting. The format is similar, but Kanban teams tend to focus more on the board and flow, while Scrum teams focus on the sprint goal.

Planning: Scrum has Sprint Planning at the start of each sprint. Kanban has Replenishment Meetings when the team needs new work. Scrum plans in batches. Kanban replenishes continuously.

Review and feedback: Scrum has the Sprint Review for stakeholder feedback. Kanban doesn’t have a direct equivalent, but the Delivery Planning and Service Delivery Review cadences serve related purposes.

Improvement: Scrum has the Sprint Retrospective. Kanban distributes improvement across multiple cadences, particularly the Operations Review and Service Delivery Review.

Estimation and preparation: Scrum has Backlog Refinement. Kanban doesn’t prescribe a formal equivalent, though many Kanban teams refine work before pulling it into the system.

The Move from “Ceremonies” to “Events”

If you’ve read the 2020 Scrum Guide, you’ll notice it doesn’t use the word “ceremonies” anywhere. The official term is now “events.”

This wasn’t accidental. The word “ceremony” carries connotations of ritual, formality, and tradition. That’s the opposite of what these meetings should be. They should be practical, outcome-focused, and adapted to the team’s needs.

The shift also reflects a broader move in the Agile community away from treating frameworks as sacred texts. The Scrum Guide got shorter. The language got simpler. The intent was to make Scrum more accessible and less prescriptive about how teams run their events.

In practice, most people still say “ceremonies.” Both terms are widely understood. But if you’re working with a team that takes Scrum terminology seriously, or if you’re in a certification context, use “events.”

Why Getting the Words Right Matters

This might seem like a pedantic distinction, but using the right terminology signals understanding. When a Scrum Master says “agile ceremonies” when they mean Scrum events, it suggests a surface-level understanding of the frameworks. When a team lead talks about “our Scrum ceremonies” or “our Kanban cadences,” it shows they know what they’re doing and why.

More importantly, the terminology shapes how teams think about their practices. If you believe that standups and retros are “Agile ceremonies,” you might think you’re stuck with them even when they’re not working. If you understand that they’re Scrum events, you realise you can switch to Kanban cadences, create your own rituals, or design a hybrid that fits your team’s actual needs.

Language creates mental models. The right mental model gives your team more options.

Choosing the Right Ceremonies for Your Team

Start by asking what problems your meetings need to solve. Every Agile team needs some form of the following.

• Alignment: Making sure everyone knows what the team is working toward and why.
• Coordination: Keeping work flowing and surfacing blockers quickly.
• Feedback: Getting input from stakeholders so you build the right thing.
• Improvement: Regularly reflecting on how the team works and making it better.

If Scrum’s events cover those needs for your team, great. Use them. If Kanban’s cadences are a better fit, use those. If you need a mix, build one. The framework serves the team, not the other way around.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are agile ceremonies and Scrum ceremonies the same thing?

Not technically. Agile is a set of values and principles that doesn’t prescribe specific meetings. Scrum is an Agile framework that defines five events (ceremonies). When people say “agile ceremonies,” they almost always mean Scrum ceremonies. The distinction matters because other Agile frameworks like Kanban have different practices entirely.

What are the 5 Scrum ceremonies?

Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum (standup), Sprint Review, Sprint Retrospective, and Backlog Refinement. Each serves a specific purpose in the inspect-and-adapt cycle that makes Scrum work. The current Scrum Guide calls them “events” rather than “ceremonies.”

Does Kanban have ceremonies?

Kanban has cadences rather than ceremonies. These include the Kanban Meeting (daily), Replenishment Meeting, Service Delivery Review, Operations Review, Risk Review, Strategy Review, and Delivery Planning. Unlike Scrum events, Kanban cadences are not tied to a sprint cycle and operate at different frequencies.

Why did Scrum stop using the word “ceremonies”?

The 2020 Scrum Guide replaced “ceremonies” with “events” to move away from the ritualistic connotation. The intent was to emphasise that these meetings should be practical and outcome-focused, not formal rituals performed out of habit. The community still uses both terms, but “events” is the official language.

Can you do Agile without any ceremonies?

You can be Agile without Scrum ceremonies, yes. Agile is about values like responding to change and delivering working software frequently. How you achieve that is up to you. Some teams use Scrum events. Others use Kanban cadences. Some create their own lightweight practices. The meetings should serve the values, not the other way around.

What ceremonies should a new Agile team start with?

At minimum, start with three: a regular planning session (decide what to work on next), a daily sync (coordinate and surface blockers), and a retrospective (improve how you work). These cover the basics of alignment, coordination, and continuous improvement. Add more practices only when you identify a gap they would fill.

Is it wrong to call them “ceremonies”?

Not wrong, just outdated in official Scrum terminology. In everyday conversation, everyone understands what you mean. In a job interview, certification exam, or formal Scrum context, use “events.” The important thing is understanding the purpose of each meeting, not what you call it.

How do hybrid teams handle ceremonies?

Teams that blend Scrum and Kanban (sometimes called Scrumban) typically keep the ceremonies that add value and drop the ones that don’t. A common pattern is keeping sprint planning and retrospectives from Scrum while using a Kanban board and WIP limits for daily work management. The key is being intentional about which practices you adopt and why.