Remembering Agile and Scrum Values

Experienced Agile practitioners and thought leaders are like Jedi, and have known for some time that agility is not merely a set of practices like Scrum but true agility is grounded in an agile mindset. I had the privilege to help institute a Learning Consortium that brought together a group of advanced agile practitioners at Magna International [MGA], Ericsson [ERIC], Solutions IQ, Microsoft [MSFT], Riot Games, CH Robninson [CHRW], agile42, Brillio, and Menlo Innovations. One of the key findings was that for an Agile culture and operations to truly flourish the members must incorporate a certain mindset and exhibit a set of supporting values.

Ron Jeffries, left and Steve Denning at Agile2016. Photo courtesy Steve Denning.

The Scrum Alliance suggests there are five foundational values and I find this list quite helpful. However, I have not found these five easy to remember or easy to teach others to remember. So when I teach Radical Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University or Managing the Radical Shift to Agile at University of Chicago I use the following mnemonic:

FROCC 

Since experienced Agile trainers and coaches are like Jedi, and Jedi wear a medieval looking robe, also known as a frock, I use this order of the five Scrum values to help remember them:

Focus

Respect

Openness

Courage

Commitment

Be a Jedi Scrum Master and Agile Practitioner and put on your Jedi frock! Exhibit and foster these five Scrum values. And I hope this mnemonic helps you remember the five core values of an agile mindset: Focus, Respect, Openness, Courage and Commitment or FROCC.

J. Stanton Goldstein, MBA, CSM, CSPO, CSP, is the founder and managing partner of Jabbok River Group, a Chicago-based Agile training and coaching consultancy. As a practicing Agile professional, Jay has held senior leadership positions in B2B and B2C tech companies in computer, commercial electronics and cloud software. Certified by Scrum Alliance, the International Consortium for Agile, and Large Scale Scrum (LeSS), Jay has operated, consulted, coached, facilitated and trained over a hundred Fortune and early stage tech companies and entrepreneurs. Jay holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and serves as Adjunct Faculty at McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern where he developed and taught the first course at a major university on Radical Management, Reinventing the Workplace for the 21st Century.  Contact Jay at jayg@jabbokriver.com.