Understanding Scrum Values

If you’ve ever ended up working on a Scrum team or happen to have an Agile Scrum Master Certification, you know how efficient it is at producing high-value products and delighting consumers. Only when teams comprehend and adhere to the five Scrum values can they reap the full advantages of Scrum. People may enjoy the full advantages of Scrum methodology if they are more deeply anchored in these core principles and learn to follow behaviors based on them.

What do these values stand for, and what do they represent? Continue reading to see why they’re so crucial, as well as how they vary from Scrum’s principles.

• Show empathy and respect for your teammates.
• Show courage while taking on challenging jobs.
• Focus on staying on track with your timetable.
• Be open and honest in your communication, criticism, and acknowledge your faults.
• Demonstrate your passion for your task by collaborating with the team.

Scrum success hinges on five values: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.

Scrum’s co-creators, Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland updated the Scrum handbook in 2016 with a simple tweak that increased Scrum’s capability by a factor of ten. In addition, they added five Scrum core principles, which they hoped would offer direction and discussion to the team’s dynamics and aid them in making ethical decisions. Courage, Commitment, Focus, Openness, and Respect were the five values that were identified.

The Scrum pillars of transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life and generate trust for everyone when the Scrum Team embodies and lives the values of commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.

As indicated in the Scrum handbook, as team members traverse through the numerous prescribed events, perform the roles, and create the artifacts, they absorb and explore the 5 key Scrum values. To achieve Scrum success, each team member must make and uphold a commitment to embracing these five ideals.

In the context of Scrum, here’s how each of these values might help direct activities:

• Commitment

Every team member must commit to each other and to reaching the end objectives that have been established, according to Scrum’s ethos. They should pledge to give it their all, cooperate, and work according to Scrum’s values. Throughout the Scrum journey, they must put up a concerted effort in each activity.

• Focus

The team should focus on what matters throughout the development process: the product vision and its value to the end-user. They should focus on what’s vital to roll out in each iteration rather than daydreaming about what could be significant at some unspecified point in the future. They keep their focus clear and plain, and they are aware of the labor required to complete tasks in the present.

• Openness

Transparency and agility are required for Scrum to function. Only total trust and transparency among team members can allow this to happen. When an issue arises, the team can come up with practical solutions and move ahead by being upfront about it. They should be willing to collaborate, share their experiences, and learn from one another’s errors. Above all, they should be willing to be flexible and adapt to change in the Agile spirit.

• Respect

Respect for others and oneself is a crucial characteristic that allows collaboration to go forward smoothly. The team should demonstrate respect for one another by listening to everyone’s ideas, no matter how different they are. They show management and stakeholders that they care by not spending time and money on things that aren’t essential. Above all, they appreciate and adhere to the Scrum structure.

• Courage

Scrum team members should be willing to take on even the most challenging issues. Change is never easy, and they must be bold enough to accept uncertainty and work in the face of changing directions and flawed needs. They must have the fortitude to stick with each other through dangers and difficulties, emerging stronger in the end.

Scrum values and principles are not interchangeable; they are incredibly distinct, even though they complement one another. While the five Scrum values listed above are abstract internal attributes that govern behavior and activities and serve as a moral compass for work, there are six Scrum principles that serve as external requirements to assist in implementing the technique.

The following are the six guiding principles:

• Development in stages

Short iterations, known as sprints, are used to develop software, allowing for adaptability and flexibility in the face of change.

• Time-boxing

Events and sprints are timed to ensure that tasks are done on time and timelines are not exceeded.

• Empirical process control

Project requirements and scope are likely to vary over time; therefore, teams must periodically assess and adjust.

• Self-organization

Scrum team members must be self-organized and responsible, and they must collaborate in an open and transparent manner.

• Collaboration

To accomplish timely delivery of high-quality releases, team members must work cooperatively and effectively communicate.

• Prioritization based on the value

Prioritize the backlog and user stories depending on how much value is delivered.

While these five principles are essential to Scrum’s heart and soul, they are not exclusive to Scrum. In reality, these values should be applied to every area of our everyday life!

We must have the confidence to be ourselves and live in the now without fear of the future or regrets for the past. We must strive diligently toward our objectives, never straying or losing sight of what is most essential to us. We must never lose respect for ourselves or others while doing so, and we must behave with honesty and transparency in whatever we do.

Scrum values are fantastic, and they’re even better to live by!

People will be more capable of attaining Scrum success if they adopt, cultivate, and live by these values. Teams that commit entirely to these Scrum values will be able to work efficiently and cooperatively on complicated projects even when needs are unpredictable and variable.