Living the Scrum Values

 LIVING THE SCRUM VALUES

The values set out in the Scrum framework are essential because they help us to navigate complex work environments as a team. At first glance, they appear straightforward but living the Scrum values each day is challenging whether this is your first or fiftieth Sprint together. If you’re a Scrum Master struggling with this issue, you are definitely not alone. 

 

How the Scrum values serve the team

Scrum’s minimalist framework encourages teams to apply it in a way that makes sense for the context. That kind of freedom can feel overwhelming. What helps is using the Scrum values of focus, openness, courage, commitment, and respect as a kind of compass for navigating the work you must do together.  

The Scrum accountabilities, events, and artifacts reflect the values in many ways. For example, The timebox on events creates a sense of urgency, which promotes focus.  

Being open to feedback and sharing progress with stakeholders are cornerstones of the Sprint Review. 

Being transparent about progress with stakeholders takes courage and fosters trust. The more trust people have, the more courage they find, resulting in a virtuous cycle.

The Scrum Master is committed to removing impediments rather than tolerating the status quo in the organization. 

Delivering value is at the heart of Scrum, which shows respect to the organization by not spending money on purposeless features or ones that people might never use. 

 

It might not be your first instinct to examine values alignment when experiencing challenges on the team. It should be. When teams embrace the Scrum values and use them as a guide, the path to getting work done becomes clearer and more enjoyable. The values are a perfect starting point for your empirical look at what’s not working.

Here are several signals (there are others) that indicate a possible values misalignment on your team:

  • There is an absence of lively discussion reflecting different perspectives and ideas.
  • When people share ideas, it results in a debate rather than seeking understanding and finding a way forward.
  • Rather than coming to a consensus on decisions, the team resorts to majority voting, which doesn’t honour openness to other outlying perspectives.
  • The team only brings forward problems and concerns about meeting the Sprint Goal and having a Done increment right before the Sprint ends.
  • The team relies heavily on the Scrum Master to facilitate.
  • We can sense tension between team members, but no one is talking about it.
  • Gossip.
  • Team members routinely make sarcastic or passive-aggressive statements.

 

Scrum is simple to understand yet difficult to implement.

That applies equally to the Scrum values.  There are many reasons teams can get off track.

Perhaps your team hasn’t spent much time discussing the values, assuming everyone has the same understanding of them. That’s rarely the case. Every team has to sort out what the values mean on their specific team and how they will enact them in their work.

Also, values aren’t static. They should not transcend into a rigid set of “rules,” which is antithetical to Scrum.  How you interpret the Scrum values and what they look like in action evolve as the team grows, adds new members, and faces new situations and challenges. When we neglect to revisit how the team understands and enacts the values, it’s easy for members to become unaligned over time.

Finally, something that’s true for all teams; we humans are messy and complicated. We don’t always adhere to our values when under stress or distracted.

 

Getting back on track with the Scrum values 

The path to Scrum values alignment mainly involves keeping them active and alive in your coaching and practice. Again, that sounds easy, but what does that look like, right? 

Here are four steps you can take right away:

1.    Talk about it

In the spirit of transparency, name what you see on the team regarding values. Have a conversation about how each person interprets the values and negotiate an understanding of what they mean for the team as a whole. Make it concrete by asking questions like, “What are some of the tough choices we make when we honour courage?” for example. 

2.    Use the values when facing challenges

When facing a new challenge or difficult decision, use the Scrum values to uncover the way forward for your team. Go through each value and ask, “What would (insert value) tell us about this situation?”

 

3.    Acknowledge and celebrate

By recognizing and celebrating actions on the part of the team that embody the Scrum values, you keep them alive and visible. You give them a position of importance in the life and work of the team.

 

4.    Make values part of your Sprint Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective shouldn’t be the only time to discuss values, but making them a part of how you reflect on the Sprint and what you accomplished together keeps them central to your practice. Remember to get everyone in on the discussion to include various perspectives.

 

The Scrum values are an integral part of the Scrum framework, but teams sometimes struggle to make them an active part of their work together. Because the Scrum values can act as a powerful compass to guide effective empiricism and teamwork, when the team falls out of alignment with them, it can seriously affect the ability to deliver value. We can get back on track by redirecting our attention to include values in our everyday accountabilities as a Scrum Master.

Reference: Agile Socks by Stephenie Ockerman



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Science of Influence

One of the traits that Project Managers or any Leader needs to develop is the ability to influence. Every project ecosystem consists of Stakeholders, internal and external. These include your own team members. The ability of a Project Manager to influence these Stakeholders will ensure that the project is in control. Dr. Robert Cialdini has developed 7 principles of influence which can be used by Leaders to influence others. 1.  Reciprocity :  When you do people a favour, they tend to respond in a manner you want them to. However, there are some points to note. - I t’s not about what is given, but HOW AND WHEN IT IS GIVEN . Be the first to give the favour. - Let it be personalized and unexpected. Tell them ‘ I am doing this only for you ’. Suppose, you have done a favour to a person and he/she says ‘Thank you’. What is your response? Many of us say, ‘Its okay’, ‘It was my duty’ etc. Some rare person may say ‘Now you also owe me a favour’.  Instead use this principle Respo...
Read more

CONFLICTS in Teams - How to address them?

Conflict on teams is inevitable. But here’s the real question: does it need to be resolved? Not always. In fact, the type of conflict matters just as much as how you address it. Some conflicts demand immediate resolution, while others can be channelled into creativity and progress. Knowing the difference is critical to leading a team effectively. At its core, conflict on teams falls into two categories: personal conflict and task-focused conflict. Personal conflict is what most of us think of first—tensions that get personal, unkind remarks, or behaviours that erode respect. Left unaddressed, this type of conflict undermines trust and productivity. Task-focused conflict, however, is entirely different. This is the natural tension that arises from diverse ideas and perspectives. It’s not a problem to be solved; it’s a tool to be harnessed. Handled well, task-focused conflict can propel a team forward. Let’s look at both in depth—how to resolve personal conflict and how to channel ...
Read more

Application of Scrum Values

The essence of Scrum are the 5 values. A Scrum-Agile project will not be successful unless these values are demonstrated in every event, while preparing every artefact and while performing any role. In fact, these values can be demonstrated in any environment to reap benefits. Here are 10 practical instances for each Scrum value that any team can demonstrate: COMMITMENT Team members dedicate themselves to achieving the team's goals and doing their best work. They commit to the sprint goals and support each other in meeting those commitments. Team commits to delivering specific user stories in the sprint backlog, even when facing technical challenges or scope creep requests from stakeholders. Team members commit to rotating on-call duties to ensure continuous support for critical production systems across different time zones. When a legacy system needs modernization, team members commit to learning new frameworks or cloud technologies requ...
Read more