Scrum Values Flashcards
Why is committment an important Scrum Value
The Scrum value of Commitment emphasizes the team’s dedication to achieving their goals, delivering value, being transparent about their work, continuously improving their processes, and empowering team members to take ownership of their work. These commitments are essential for the successful implementation of Scrum and for building a collaborative and effective Scrum team.
Commitment to the Sprint Goal: Scrum teams work in time-boxed iterations called Sprints, typically lasting two to four weeks. During each Sprint, the team commits to achieving a Sprint Goal, which is a specific objective or outcome that adds value to the product. The team’s commitment to the Sprint Goal means they will do everything within their power to meet that goal by the end of the Sprint.
Commitment to Delivering Value: Scrum teams are committed to delivering a potentially shippable product increment at the end of each Sprint. This means they aim to produce a high-quality, tested, and usable piece of the product that provides value to the customer or end-users. Their commitment extends beyond just completing tasks; it’s about delivering value that aligns with the product’s vision and customer needs.
Commitment to Transparency: Transparency is a core principle in Scrum. Team members are committed to being open and honest about their progress, challenges, and impediments. They share information about their work and make it visible through tools like task boards, burndown charts, and Sprint Reviews. This commitment to transparency helps the team and stakeholders make informed decisions.
**Commitment to Continuous Improvement: **Scrum teams are committed to inspecting and adapting their processes and work methods continuously. They engage in regular retrospectives to reflect on their performance and identify areas for improvement. This commitment to continuous improvement ensures that the team becomes more effective and efficient over time.
**Commitment to Empowerment: **Scrum values the self-organizing nature of teams. Team members are empowered to make decisions about how to accomplish their work and achieve the Sprint Goal. This commitment to empowerment fosters a sense of ownership and accountability among team members.
Why is courage an important Scrum Value?
The Scrum value of Courage emphasizes the importance of being open to change, speaking up, sharing information honestly, admitting mistakes, taking calculated risks, self-organizing, and honoring commitments. These courageous behaviors contribute to a culture of trust, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the Scrum team and are crucial for achieving success in complex and dynamic environments.
Courage to Embrace Change: Scrum recognizes that change is inevitable, and teams must be adaptable. Team members demonstrate courage by being open to change and willing to adjust their plans and strategies when necessary. They don’t resist change but instead see it as an opportunity for improvement.
Courage to Speak Up: Team members are encouraged to voice their opinions, concerns, and ideas, even if they are contrary to the prevailing view. Courageous communication is essential for healthy team dynamics and problem-solving. It fosters an environment where everyone’s input is valued.
Courage to Deliver Bad News: In Scrum, transparency is a key principle. Team members are encouraged to share bad news, setbacks, or obstacles as soon as they become aware of them. This allows the team to address issues promptly and find solutions rather than hiding problems that could hinder progress.
Courage to Admit Mistakes: Scrum teams understand that mistakes happen, and they view them as opportunities for learning and improvement. Team members have the courage to admit their mistakes, take responsibility, and work together to find solutions and prevent future errors.
**Courage to Take Risks: **Scrum encourages teams to experiment and take calculated risks to improve their processes and product. This might involve trying new approaches, technologies, or solutions, even if there’s a chance of failure. Courageous risk-taking can lead to innovation and breakthroughs.
Courage to Self-Organize: Scrum teams are self-organizing, meaning they have the autonomy to make decisions about how to accomplish their work. Team members must have the courage to take ownership of their tasks, collaborate effectively, and make decisions that contribute to the team’s success.
**Courage to Commit: **When a Scrum team commits to a Sprint Goal or a set of tasks for a Sprint, they have the courage to honor that commitment and do everything in their power to meet it. This commitment ensures that the team delivers value consistently.
Why is focus an important Scrum Value?
The Scrum value of Focus underscores the importance of concentrating efforts on achieving the Sprint Goal, delivering prioritized work, providing value, maintaining a daily focus on progress, minimizing distractions, continuously improving processes, and empowering team members to work effectively. This focus helps Scrum teams deliver valuable outcomes and adapt to changing requirements and challenges.
**Focus on the Sprint Goal: **In Scrum, work is organized into time-boxed iterations called Sprints, typically lasting two to four weeks. During each Sprint, the team commits to achieving a specific Sprint Goal. The team’s primary focus is on delivering the work necessary to meet that goal. This means that team members concentrate their efforts on completing the selected items from the Product Backlog that contribute to the Sprint Goal.
**Focus on Prioritized Work: **The Product Backlog contains a prioritized list of items, with the most valuable and important items at the top. The Scrum team maintains its focus on working on the highest-priority items first. This ensures that the team delivers the most valuable features and improvements as early as possible.
Focus on Delivering Value: Scrum teams prioritize delivering a potentially shippable product increment at the end of each Sprint. This means they focus on producing a high-quality, tested, and usable piece of the product that provides value to the customer or end-users. Their concentration is on value delivery, not just completing tasks.
Focus on Daily Scrum: The Daily Scrum or Daily Standup is a short daily meeting where team members share updates on their work. It serves as an opportunity for the team to focus on what they accomplished yesterday, what they plan to do today, and any impediments or challenges they’re facing. This daily ritual helps the team stay focused on their Sprint Goal and adapt their plan as needed.
Focus on Eliminating Distractions: Scrum teams aim to create a focused work environment by minimizing distractions and interruptions. This may involve setting dedicated work times, using collaboration tools effectively, and creating a culture of respect for individual and team concentration.
**Focus on Continuous Improvement: **Scrum encourages teams to inspect and adapt their processes continuously. This means that, even while focusing on their Sprint work, the team should also focus on finding ways to work more efficiently and effectively. Regular retrospectives are conducted to identify areas for improvement.
**Focus on Empowerment: **Scrum teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Team members are empowered to make decisions about how to accomplish their work, which allows them to focus on what they do best and contribute their expertise to the team’s goals.
Why is openness an important Scrum Value?
The Scrum value of Openness promotes transparency, adaptability, feedback, open communication, collaboration, and a willingness to learn and improve. It helps create an environment where information flows freely, problems are addressed openly, and everyone involved in the project works together to deliver value effectively.
Openness to Inspection: Scrum promotes regular inspection of the product, the process, and the team’s progress. Team members are encouraged to be open and honest when assessing the current state of the project. They inspect the product during Sprint Reviews, the process during Sprint Retrospectives, and the progress during Daily Scrums. Openness in inspection helps identify issues and areas for improvement.
**Openness to Adaptation: **Scrum recognizes that change is inevitable, and teams must be adaptable. Openness to adaptation means that team members are willing to make adjustments to the product, the Sprint backlog, or their processes based on feedback and changing circumstances. This willingness to change contributes to the agility of the Scrum team.
**Openness to Feedback: **Scrum teams actively seek and value feedback from stakeholders, customers, and team members. They are open to receiving constructive criticism and insights that can help improve the product or the way they work. Openness to feedback fosters a culture of continuous improvement.
**Openness in Daily Scrum: **During the Daily Scrum (Daily Standup), team members share updates on their work and any impediments they are facing. This daily ritual encourages openness and transparency among team members and helps them understand each other’s progress and challenges.
**Openness in Sprint Review: **During the Sprint Review, the Scrum team demonstrates the product increment to stakeholders, seeking their feedback and input. This open interaction with stakeholders helps ensure that the product aligns with their expectations and needs.
Openness in Sprint Retrospective: In the Sprint Retrospective, team members reflect on their performance and openly discuss what went well and what didn’t. They identify areas for improvement and collaboratively come up with action items to address those issues. Openness in retrospectives leads to process improvements.
Openness to New Ideas: Scrum teams are open to considering new ideas, approaches, and solutions to problems. They encourage creativity and innovation, recognizing that diverse perspectives can lead to better outcomes.
**Openness to Collaboration: **Collaboration is a fundamental aspect of Scrum. Team members are encouraged to work closely together, share knowledge, and collaborate across functions to achieve common goals. Openness to collaboration fosters a sense of unity and teamwork.
**Openness to Risk and Experimentation: **Scrum teams are open to taking calculated risks and experimenting with new practices or technologies to improve their processes or product. They learn from both successes and failures.
Why is respect an important Scrum value?
The Scrum value of Respect emphasizes treating individuals and their contributions with dignity, valuing different perspectives, honoring commitments and responsibilities, and maintaining a culture of mutual respect. This respectful environment is essential for building trust, collaboration, and effective teamwork within the Scrum framework.
**Respect for Individuals: **Scrum teams value each team member as a unique individual with their own skills, experiences, and perspectives. This respect includes recognizing and appreciating the contributions and expertise of all team members, regardless of their role or seniority.
**Respect for Roles and Responsibilities: **Scrum defines specific roles, such as Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team. Respect for roles and responsibilities means acknowledging and honoring the responsibilities and accountabilities associated with each role. It ensures that team members do not encroach on each other’s roles and responsibilities.
Respect for Stakeholders: Scrum teams maintain a respectful and collaborative relationship with stakeholders, including customers, users, and management. They engage with stakeholders to understand their needs and perspectives, value their feedback, and involve them in the development process.
Respect for Time: Scrum values time as a finite and valuable resource. Teams respect time by adhering to time-boxed events like Sprints, Daily Scrums, Sprint Reviews, and Sprint Retrospectives. This helps maintain a predictable and efficient work cadence.
**Respect for Commitments: **When a Scrum team commits to achieving a Sprint Goal or delivering specific product increments, they respect those commitments. This means they do everything within their power to honor their promises and meet their goals.
Respect for Diversity: Scrum teams often consist of individuals with diverse backgrounds, skills, and perspectives. Respecting diversity means valuing these differences and leveraging them to bring creativity and innovative solutions to the team’s work.
Respect for Feedback: Scrum encourages teams to actively seek feedback and listen to different viewpoints. Team members respect the feedback they receive, whether it’s from stakeholders, customers, or fellow team members, and use it to make informed decisions and improvements.
Respect for the Definition of Done: In Scrum, the Definition of Done is a shared understanding of what it means for a product increment to be complete. Team members respect the Definition of Done by ensuring that all work meets these criteria before declaring it as done.
Respect for Transparency: Transparency is a core principle in Scrum, and teams respect this by being open and honest about their work, progress, and challenges. They do not hide problems or manipulate information, which helps build trust within the team and with stakeholders.
