Deep insights - Scrum Values

According to Scrum.Org: (link: https://scrumorg-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/drupal/2018-05/ScrumValues-Tabloid.pdf)

Courage: Scrum Team members have courage to do the right things and work on tough problems.

Focus: Everyone focuses on the work of the sprint and the goals of the Scrum Team.

Commitment: People personally commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.

Respect: Scrum Team members respect each other to be capable, independent people.

Openness: Scrum Team and its stakeholders agree to be open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.

The above definitions is from Scrum.org. Thanks to Scrum guide and Scrum.org for defining the Scrum Values. 

Let us hear what Rob and Steve are talking on the same lines. Rob is an experienced Scrum Master and Steve is just getting into the Scrum Master role. He has his own understanding and curious questions about the Scrum Values.

Steve: Hey Rob, thanks for taking your time and coming over for a coffee time chat. My first question is how I can help my team to adapt to the Scum Values so they can be highly productive?

Rob: Happy to answer that, Steve. First, Scrum Values are not meant for charging your team to Super-Productivity. Scrum values are important for a team to work together. All your expectations from that can be the positive side effects. “Collaboration” is the key to any team's success. Scrum values help as a catalyst to bind the team and achieving the results.

Let me go by each Scrum Value that may help you get some more clarity.

Many a time, they require the development teams to pick the ad-hoc tasks. As a scrum master, you need to protect your team. The distracted team loses the “focus”. The frequent work switching is as inefficient as multi-tasking. A scrum team’s focus is on the sprint goal.

A team has to be part of the game. The team needs “what” to do from the Product Owner, Scrum Master, and the other stakeholders in the form of requirements (user story). But the team decides on “how” they should do their work. This gives them a sense of ownership. They commit to their work. The team provides the estimates, justify them, they may fail at times, this discipline helps them to mature as a team. This responsibility lets them grow as individuals and capable team players. As a Scrum Master, you should help the team by removing any blockers on their way in achieving their Sprint goal. The team has to be “Committed” for demonstrating their true potential. Do you agree?

Steve: Yes, Rob. I got that. Then what do you mean by “courage”, “openness”. Aren’t these terms the same in one way?

Rob: You are right. They may look alike to a certain degree. But my answer is “No” and they are different. A team should be able to speak up and do the right things courageously. There shouldn’t be fear of failure. If you don’t see this behavior in your teams, then it is high time you pitch in and start a conversation with them if required you may have a one-on-one discussion to understand their blockers and remove them.

They should be able to decide, fail fast and learn with the same courage. Daily Scrum Meeting, Sprint Retrospective meetings should help the team share their views. This cultural shift helps the team in better engagement.

 “Openness” is a fairly open culture and precisely it is about ensuring that everybody stays on the same page. This gets the transparency of work at all levels. That is where the Product Goal, Product backlog, Sprint Goal, Sprint backlog, Daily standup, Sprint retrospective, Iteration–all these artifacts and events help the team to sync up with what and why it is happening within their Project.

The Product Owner and Scrum master helps the team by giving them fair opportunity to get engaged, know each other views, and kept reminded of what the end goal is and what they are achieving in each stage of the Project. They make these artifacts visible to all. This awareness is “openness”.

Let me add the last one, but not the least one-“Respect”. Respect is very important to bind all these values. With respect if team members are treated fairly, and if a most junior member of the team can share his/her views irrespective of experience, knowledge factors the team is said to be working in a highly collaborative environment. As there is a saying, there is no such thing as a dumb question. When people can talk about their ideas, share their opinions without the fear of being judged and dismissal, team engagement happens naturally and effectively thus helping to deliver a great product for the customers.

Remember, I don’t want to discuss here the pessimistic points around these. When you practice, you will find difficulties. You will not find a unicorn. But with a little imagination and consistent efforts, you can see it. Be creative in solving your problems.

Steve: It was nice to learn from you, Rob. I’m sure your explanation will help me a lot.

Rob: That’s great, Steve. I’m sure you will be a great facilitator and build an effective team in the future. Talk to you soon!

I hope the conversation between Rob and Steve has clarified some of our common questions around the Scrum Values. What do you think about their conversation?

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