Comparisons
Waves doesn't compete with Scrum or LangChain. It creates a new category: Product Consciousness Framework. Here's how it compares to what exists.
Waves vs. Scrum
Scrum was designed for human-speed development. Waves is designed for teams working with AI agents.
Concept
Scrum
Waves
Delivery cycle
Sprint (fixed 2-4 weeks)
Wave (variable, organic)
Product backlog
Backlog items
blueprint.json
Sprint backlog
Sprint items
waves/wN/roadmap.json
Task tracking
Tickets on board
waves/wN/logbooks/*.json
Roles
PO, Scrum Master, Developers
PO, Coordinator, Tech Manager (each + AI)
Planning
Fixed ceremony
CM (on-demand, with stated objective)
Daily standup
Daily, 15 min
CM (on-demand, as needed)
Review
End of sprint
QA & Demo (per roadmap/phase)
Retrospective
End of sprint
Wave Celebration + Health Check
Backlog refinement
Regular ceremony
Blueprint Refinement (on-demand)
Velocity metric
Story points per sprint
Capabilities delivered per wave
Progress tracking
Burndown charts
Milestones achieved / total
Rule enforcement
Social agreement (degrades)
Executable hooks (can't be ignored)
Decision classification
None — all decisions treated equally
5 levels with graduated autonomy
AI agent awareness
None — agents start blind
Full product state injected at session start
Context survival
N/A
Auto re-injection after compaction
Strategic metacognition
Retrospective (end of sprint)
Real-time: on objective, blueprint change, phase completion
Waves vs. Shape Up
Shape Up (Basecamp) is philosophically the closest to Waves: 6-week cycles with appetite-based scoping. But it still assumes human-only teams and has no structured memory.
Dimension
Shape Up
Waves
Cadence
6 weeks fixed
Organic — lasts as long as needed
Who executes
Humans
Human + AI agent as a team
Memory between sessions
Basecamp (external tool)
JSON artifacts the agent reads directly
Rule enforcement
Social (the manager decides)
Mechanical (hooks, non-bypassable)
Strategic vision
Shaping table
Agent has it at all times (blueprint injected)
Decision governance
Betting table
5 levels classified with trust contract
Waves vs. AI Agent Frameworks
AI agent frameworks build more capable agents. Waves builds more conscious agents. An agent with LangChain can do more things. An agent with Waves knows when NOT to do things.
Dimension
LangChain / CrewAI / AutoGen
Waves
Focus
Agent orchestration
Product methodology with agents
Persistence
Ad-hoc or vector DB
Schema-validated artifacts with hierarchy
Governance
None or basic permissions
5 levels + mechanical enforcement
Business awareness
None
Blueprint as source of truth, injected every session
Metacognition
None
3 triggers: objective, blueprint, phase
Trust delegation
All or nothing
Graduated by decision level
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Social Rules vs. Mechanical Rails
Every framework — Scrum, Kanban, SAFe, Shape Up, and even Waves 1.x — depends on social rules that degrade over time. Waves 2.0 replaces them with mechanical rails.
The hooks don't suggest, remind, or encourage. They execute. The gate doesn't ask if you have a logbook — it checks. If you don't, you're blocked.