Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of Scrum?

The characteristic that is NOT associated with Scrum is that it is prescriptive. Scrum is fundamentally a framework that provides a structured way to address complex adaptive problems while promoting collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.

While Scrum does have some defined roles, events, and artifacts that guide teams, it does not prescribe how to carry out work or how to execute specific tasks. Instead, Scrum relies on empirical process control, which emphasizes the importance of transparency, inspection, and adaptation. This means teams are encouraged to discover what works best for them within the framework, allowing for flexibility and responsiveness to change.

Additionally, Scrum evolves based on feedback, which is crucial to its success. Through regular inspections and adaptations during events like the Sprint Review and Retrospective, teams gather feedback and use it to improve future processes and products. This iterative and incremental approach leads to regular delivery of valuable increments of work.

Overall, the non-prescriptive nature of Scrum empowers teams to self-organize and navigate their unique challenges while remaining within the Scrum framework, which is why the idea of Scrum being prescriptive does not align with its core principles.