The original Scrum Guide was based on the three pillars of Scrum—Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation. These pillars ensured the team adapted to changes, and respected each other thereby creating a fun yet focussed work environment.
It wasn’t until the 23rd of October, 2014, that the five Scrum Values were added to the Guide, upon suggestion by Iain McKenna. Let’s delve a little deeper into what these Scrum Values, commonly called C FOR C, are.
1. Commitment
This value can be taken up in three aspects.
Sprint-based commitment: Sprint is designed to reflect realistic goals in a short duration of time. The team has to be committed to working towards meeting this goal.
Commitment as a team: As a team, you have to welcome changes and depict adaptability. You’ll also have to gain value while accomplishing small yet concrete goals in a step-by-step manner. Through a collective decision, the team has to work and achieve the predetermined goals. Also, if there is any urgency in accomplishing the task, the team can discuss and come up with an effective solution while also maintaining harmony.
Commitment as an individual: Being able to contribute as much as possible to your team and towards the sprint goal shows your commitment as an individual. Commitment towards learning, collaboration, scrum values, working software, and team requirements are some of the ways you can do your bit.
2. Focus
Once your goals are defined, the most basic way to achieve them is to be goal-oriented. This not only motivates you to be faster and better, but also helps in maintaining harmony in the team. By focussing on working towards the target, you tend to waste less resources and time.
With the help of the Scrum Master and Product Manager, you can evade external interferences to ensure there are no hindrances to your workflow.
In Scrum, you deal with several short-term goals to eventually provide product shipping. At the end of each sprint, you will be able to set new goals and provide more flexibility and adaptability to project needs. With Scrum, you have the benefit of a lower rate of risk and ample time to correct issues and complete targets.
3. Openness
As already mentioned, every individual in a team has to make a contribution towards achieving goals in a project. So you, as an individual, have the freedom to express your perspective and any contributions to the project.
This level of transparency gives a clear picture of the status of the project, any probable challenges the team has to gear up for, and the orientation of the project to not just the team members, but also to the ScrumMaster and the Product Owner.
The team is open to appreciation as well as criticism. You can discuss the possibilities of improving the project as well as share any information that you think is necessary to be put across to your team or managers. You never know when a brilliant idea might be pitched which could change the entire course of the project.
4. Respect
Any work environment where colleagues respect, care for, and appreciate each other provides a positive vibe and encourages individuals to be efficient. With this value, Scrum ensures that irrespective of your background and experiences, the team is always going to support you.
This quality is inter-related to openness, as people can express their thoughts and ideas only when they know that appreciation and encouragement is in store. With respect, the team has no room to blame or complain about each other, but in turn provide motivation amongst themselves.
5. Courage
Adaptability to change is the base of any Scrum project. To embrace change requires courage.
The team is allowed to experiment with different approaches to the situation and the issue to identify the best and most suitable solution. In order to provide unique and new solutions to the team, courage is essential to come out with your ideas in front of the team.
Scrum is all about taking risks and finding innovative solutions. It also takes courage to question conventional decision making methods.
With the adaptation of the five values in your projects, you also eventually tailor your team to follow the Scrum pillars. With the commitment to these values, there is harmony maintained in the team and they work together to create unique ideas for improved results.
With the Scum pillars as the base and Scrum Values adding to it, the team can provide exemplary results in minimal time while acknowledging the excellence of Scrum in their work.
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