Scrum values, Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, Openness, Dan mezick, agile boston

Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person or other person, and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Scrum absolutely supports and encourages respect. Without respect, there is no meaningful positive communication. Instead there is high potential for miscommunication, disrespect, low (or NO) communication frequency, and hurt feelings. Authentic Scrum requires respectful interactions.

Commitment

Commitment is the act of binding yourself to a course of action. Scrum encourages commitment. If you cannot commit, you cannot act. You are in a state of do-nothing limbo, a state of inaction. Scrum binds you to commitments. Genuine Scrum displays high levels of commitment. Authenic Scrum is not possible without everyone involved paying attention to and keeping commitments.

Focus

Focus is the concentration of attention. Scrum encourages focus. If you cannot focus, you are not paying attention in any meaningful way. If you cannot focus, you cannot learn to any meaningful level of depth. Authentic and genuine Scrum is always focused. Scrum encourages and requires focus to be effective.

Courage

Courage is a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear. Scrum supports courage. Often, truth about reality is obscured when no one has the courage to say it. Often, teams feel unsafe to describe realit honestly in the workplace. They are afraid to get fired or otherwise damaged for saying what everybody knows. Courage is necessary in Scrum. It takes courage to call out problems, identify impediments, ask for help, receive help, and offer help. In an authentic and genuine Scrum implementation, courage in evident in the way people behave. Courage is honored and encouraged in Scrum. Scrum without courage is Scrum that only goes so far. Authentic Scrum requires courage.

Openness

Openess is characterized by an attitude of ready accessibility (especially about one's actions or purposes); without concealment; not secretive. Scrum strongly encourages openness. instead of asking "why should I share this information?", ask: "why wouldn't I share this info?". Authentic Scrum generates a high level of 'transparency'. Everyone knows everything about the work in a genuine and authentic Scrum implementation. Real and genuine Scrum displays a huge level of openness on the part of everyone participating.

Organizational Culture regarding Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, and Openness.

You may find yourself in an organization or team that does not value Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, and Openness. If you honor these five values, and "they" don't, you are in conflict with the organization or team you are a member of.

A good policy for teams new to Scrum is to write the five Scrum values on a big poster and place it where everyone can always see it. After a while of attending to these values, things can start to get better with your team-wide interactions. If your company's culture does not already strongly support these values, you may start to notice the difference when you are 'inside' and 'outside' your Scrum team. The main difference is in what is valued. Genuine Scrum shows you, right away, what level of value your company places on Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, and Openness.

Summary

The Scrum values of Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, and Openness.are part of the heart of Scrum.

A personal decision to live out the Scrum goals of Respect, Commitment, Focus, Courage, and Openness.in all of work, play and interactions can greatly improve the quality of your life. It does not take long.

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About the Author

Dan Mezick: An expert on teams and a trusted adviser to CxO-level executives worldwide, Dan consults on enterprise-wide culture change, implementing Scrum, and the often difficult adoption of authentic Lean principles. Learn more about Dan Mezick here.

He creates and teaches specific, useful tools and techniques for facilitating successful enterprise-wide adoption of agile and Scrum. Dan’s articles on teams and organizational dynamics appear on InfoQ.com, ScrumAlliance.org, and AgileJournal.com. Learn more about Dan Mezick's agile writing here.

He's the organizer of the Agile Boston user group and a 3-time presenter at Agile2007, 2008 and 2009, an invited speaker to the Scrum Gathering (Orlando) in 2010 and a news reporter for InfoQ.com

Reach Dan at:

dan.mezick [at] newtechusa [dotcom]

You can learn much more detail about Dan via his Agile Coaching page here.

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