5 exercises on stress and pronunciation in agile methodology vocabulary.
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How is "Scrum" (the agile framework) pronounced?
Scrum is pronounced "SCRUHM" /skrʌm/ — one syllable, rhyming with "drum," "bum," and "hum." The vowel is the short /ʌ/ (as in "cup"). So "a Scrum team", "run Scrum", "the Scrum Master." The word comes from rugby, where a "scrum" is a formation of players. Do not say "SCRUME" (wrong vowel) or spell it out. In meetings: "we use SCRUHM for our sprint process." The consonant cluster "scr-" at the start is the same as in "screen," "script," and "scram" — a common cluster in English.
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How is "Kanban" (the visual workflow system) pronounced?
Kanban is pronounced "KAN-ban" /ˈkænbæn/ in most English-speaking engineering teams (stress on first syllable, short /æ/ vowels). The Japanese origin is "看板" /ˈkɑːmbɑːn/ ("KAHn-bahn" with long vowels), and some use this pronunciation to acknowledge the origin. In practice, English engineering teams say "KAN-ban" with short vowels and first-syllable stress. So "a KAN-ban board", "KAN-ban methodology." Both pronunciations are understood and professional — "KAN-ban" dominates in English-language agile contexts.
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How is "velocity" (the sprint metric) pronounced?
Velocity is pronounced "ve-LOC-ity" /vɪˈlɒsɪti/ — four syllables, stress on the second syllable "LOC." So "the team's ve-LOC-ity is 34 points this sprint", "track ve-LOC-ity over time", "our ve-LOC-ity is increasing." The stress pattern follows words ending in "-ity": ve-LOC-ity, e-LEC-tricity, pro-DUC-tivity — the suffix "-ity" causes stress to fall on the preceding syllable. Do not stress the first syllable ("VEL-oh-city") — that is the most common non-native stress error with this word.
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How is "JIRA" (the project-tracking tool) pronounced?
JIRA is pronounced "JI-rah" /ˈdʒɪrə/ (or "JEE-rah" /ˈdʒɪərə/ with a slightly longer vowel) — two syllables, stress on the first. The name is derived from "Gojira" (Godzilla in Japanese), abbreviated by Atlassian. In practice, both "JI-rah" and "JEE-rah" are used interchangeably by professionals worldwide. So "create a JI-rah ticket", "the JI-rah board", "log it in JI-rah." The "J" is the English /dʒ/ sound (as in "jar"), not the Spanish /x/ or German /j/. Never say "YEE-rah."
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How is "backlog" (the prioritised list of work items) pronounced?
Backlog is pronounced "BACK-log" /ˈbæklɒɡ/ — two syllables, stress on "BACK." As a compound noun (back + log), it follows the standard first-element stress rule. So "the product BACK-log", "groom the BACK-log", "BACK-log refinement." The short /æ/ vowel in "back" is the same as in "stack," "rack," and "black." Do not stress the second syllable ("back-LOG") — that sounds unnatural. This follows the same first-element stress pattern as "DATA-base," "FRAME-work," and "BACK-end."