ICB® Individual Competence Baseline
How Do IPMA and Scrum Differ, and How Do They Work Together?
The difference between IPMA and Scrum is one of scope. IPMA's ICB4 is a competence baseline that describes what a project manager needs to be able to do across a whole project. Scrum is a lightweight framework for developing a product in sprints. Scrum can be used inside a project; it does not replace project management.
What is the IPMA ICB4 competence baseline?
The Individual Competence Baseline version 4 (ICB4) is the IPMA standard describing the competences an individual needs in project management. It is not a delivery method but a model of what a capable project manager knows and does, grouped into Perspective, People and Practice competences, covering projects in general rather than one way of working.
The numbers show how broad that scope is. For project management, ICB4 describes 28 competences: 5 Perspective competences, 10 People competences and 13 Practice competences. Together they cover the context a project operates in, the personal and social skills of the manager, and the technical side of running the work.
This is the framing used in the book Project Management by ICB4 – IPMA by Bert Hedeman and Roel Riepma. It treats ICB4 as the wider competence model, and specific ways of working, Scrum included, are placed inside it.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is a lightweight framework for developing products with self-managing teams working in sprints. The Scrum Guide (2020) by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland presents it as a way to help people, teams and organisations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. It describes how a team works, not how a project is governed.
The book quotes this definition: "In their latest Scrum Guide (2020), Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland define Scrum as a lightweight framework that helps people, teams, and organisations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems."
Team size is part of the design. As the book puts it, "A typical Scrum team comprises ten or fewer individuals to prevent sub-teams from emerging." Scrum is therefore a small-team way of working, whereas ICB4 describes the competences of whoever carries responsibility for the project as a whole.
Can Scrum manage a project on its own?
No. Scrum works well in a project context, but the book calls it unsuitable for managing a project in isolation. It does not cover how projects are initiated, how investment decisions are taken, how management takes responsibility for those investments, or how a project is closed when it is complete.
The book is explicit: "Scrum can be used effectively in a project context but is unsuitable for managing a project in isolation." The gap is not a flaw in Scrum. Scrum was designed to help a team develop a product, and the decisions around the project simply fall outside that purpose.
That is where a broader project management view, such as the competences in ICB4, comes in. Someone still has to initiate the project, keep management involved in the investment and bring the project to a proper close.
How do Scrum roles relate to project roles?
A project has a sponsor, a project manager and work package managers, whereas Scrum has a product owner and a Scrum master. Scrum itself does not recognise the project roles. When a Scrum team is responsible for a work package inside a project, the product owner usually also fulfils the work package manager role.
The book makes the same point: "Scrum also does not know project roles such as project sponsor, project manager and work package manager." The roles therefore have to be agreed when a Scrum team works inside a project.
The project manager does not disappear in an Agile setting. According to the book, "Even in an Agile approach, the project manager is responsible for initiating the project, preparing and monitoring the project plan/road map, and communicating between the delivery team and management. The role of the project manager can best be described as 'structuring and facilitating'."
When do you use IPMA and when Scrum?
You do not choose between them; you use ICB4 competences to run the project and Scrum, where it fits, to develop the product inside it. The book treats Scrum as one of several development frameworks that can be embedded in a project approach, so the question becomes where Scrum sits in your project lifecycle.
The comparison below summarises the differences described in the book.
| Aspect | IPMA ICB4 | Scrum |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Individual competence baseline | Lightweight framework |
| Focus | Project management in general | Developing products |
| Who does the work | Individuals with project management competences | Self-managing team, typically ten or fewer people |
| Roles | Project sponsor, project manager, work package manager | Product owner, Scrum master |
| Initiation, investment decisions, closure | Handled in the project around the work | Not described |
The book discusses this under the headings Scrum, Scrum team, Scrum in projects and Agile in a project lifecycle, all within its section on development frameworks.
Complementary, not competing
IPMA's ICB4 covers project management as a whole, while Scrum covers how a team develops a product. In a project, Scrum is applied inside the project structure, not instead of it.
Ways to learn this standard
Projectmanagement op basis van ICB versie 4 – 4de herziene druk – IPMA B, IPMA C, IPMA-D , IPMA PMO
Projectmanagement op basis van ICB4
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Frequently asked questions
Neither is simply worth more, because they cover different things: ICB4 concerns an individual's competence in project management, while Scrum certificates relate to the Scrum framework. The book does not rank them or compare certification routes. Choose by the role you want: broader project responsibility points towards ICB4, working in a Scrum team towards Scrum.
Anyone who works where agile teams and project governance meet benefits, such as project managers, sponsors and product owners. A product owner who also acts as work package manager, for example, must understand both Scrum and the project around it. Knowing both shows where the team's autonomy ends and management's responsibility for the investment begins.
Start with the sections on Scrum, Scrum team, Scrum in projects and Agile in a project lifecycle in Project Management by ICB4 – IPMA. The book by Bert Hedeman and Roel Riepma places Scrum within its section 9.05 on development frameworks. If the three competence groups are new to you, read the structure of ICB4 first.
