Scrum Values - Can we change our values?

The choices we make, the way we conduct ourselves, these show what we value. Each of us have values, those behaviors that we feel are of intrinsic value and benefit. They are the guiding light to how we lead our lives. We often don't think much about our values, never the less they are always there. Values are typically something that we learn to value over time, they are something parents and teachers try to instill in us, but in the end they are concepts that we either find value in or we don't.

In light of that I find it interesting that in Scrum we assign the Scrum team values. We tell you that to do well these are the things you need to value. In doing so what we are really saying is that to do Scrum well, these are the things you must value in your Scrum environment. To instill these values in a Scrum team the team and corporate environment must reward the team when they exhibit these values. If that does not happen, it is less likely that the team will exhibit these value. Some of us already believe these values to have intrinsic value outside of Scrum, others will need to be taught that they must value these things.

Scrum offers us five values (In blue below) that a Scrum Team must live by. Others such as Dan Rawsthorne from 3Back, suggest that we add a few more (in green) to the list to round it out. 

Scrum Values - Crossword Style

Before anyone can exhibit these values the team must understand them. The goal is that the team exhibits these values in their interactions with each team member and with the stakeholders. Many of the values are inter-related which is why I like the crossword puzzle style for displaying them.

You can find a great deal written about the five core Scrum values, such as Core Scrum Values and Five Scrum Values Take Center Stage so I wont rehash those five here. I wanted to touch on the 3 additional ones. 

Visibility - This is very related to openness. Openness is generally understood to mean that team members are open to suggestions, comments, and criticisms from their teammates. That last one is often not easy. Visibility is more related to the product and not only not hiding that from the outside, but making it very easy for anyone, in or out of the team, to see what features are in production, what features are in development, and what features are coming up for development next.

Accountability - I mentioned above that it is often hard to accept critical feedback from anyone (see Brian Harry's blog post on taking feedback). We need to have a solid foundation of trust built between the members of a team so that they can all hold each other accountable to the team's standards. If a team doesn't hold itself accountable to standards, then the standards are not very real. 

Humor - Humor is often useful to diffuse tense situations. Whether it is a bad "Dad Joke", just ask my kids, they will tell you how bad those can be, or something with a bit more taste. Light humor can often help in a team environment. This is true of any working group, not just a Scrum team.

Building a solid Scrum team is not a simple task. Getting a team to work together focusing on getting the current story to Done as a single entity is hard but I have found that getting the team to share the same values is a key ingredient of success. In short, yes, I believe we can change our values and assign them to the Scrum team members, but to make this work we need to ensure that the team has both external support in terms of the team's management to the extent that the management will reward the team, and its members, when the values are exhibited.

Please share your experiences.

Stay Agile.