This week’s blog post is an excerpt from our newly released book, Scrum 101:the most frequently asked questions about Agile with Scrum, which is available on LeanPub.
There are five Scrum values:
Commitment
The Scrum Guide™ requires that “People personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.”
This means that everyone in the Scrum team is committed to doing the very best they can to achieve the goals that the team has agreed to (based on what they knew at the time of commitment). But it also means a commitment to improving themselves, the team and the organisation.
Focus
The Scrum Guide requires that “Everyone focuses on the work of the Sprint and the goals of the Scrum Team.”
It’s easy to get side-tracked. This value refers to staying focused to complete what you have committed to in each Sprint.
Openness
The Scrum Guide requires that “The Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.”
To get where you need to go, everyone needs to have a voice and therefore you need transparency and openness from the start. But this value is also about communicating our progress honestly and clearly, and acknowledging any problems that we encounter on the way. Without openness, it is difficult to work as a team and even harder for us to improve.
Respect
The Scrum Guide requires that “Scrum Team members respect each other to be capable, independent people.”
When we start a relationship on the understanding that our team members are able, but also accept that they have weaknesses, we will work better as a team.
Courage
The Scrum Guide requires that “The Scrum Team members have courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems.”
None of the other values works without having courage: to stay focused and committed, to be open and respectful, all take strength and courage. This is not only applicable to the team, but to managers and the rest of the organisation.
Image courtesy of Scrum Inc®
The values were first mentioned in Ken Schwaber’s 2004 book, Agile Project Management with Scrum
, but were highlighted in the 2016 refresh of The Scrum Guide.
Schwaber has described the values as being like “the life blood of Scrum” because they are what makes Scrum alive. He went on to say that embracing the values helps people work together in teams: “With [the values], Scrum is a place you want to live; without them, it’s not necessarily a place you want to be”.