TEAM VALUES

A great exercise to do with your team, as copied from https://scrum-agile.nl/?page_id=256

Start by individually answering the following questions:

  • At work, I get inspired by…
  • I’m proud to be part of a team that…
  • What I can offer my colleagues is…

Shared the outcome with each other and talk about the outcomes.

Then answer the following questions:

  • My Personal top 5 values are…

For inspiration you can use a list of values from https://scottjeffrey.com/core-values-list/

After writing down 5 values, you challenge them by asking the following questions for each value:

  • If you were to start a new organization, would you build it around this core value regardless of the industry?
  • Would you want your organization to continue to stand for this core value 100 years into the future, no matter what changes occur in the outside world?
  • Would you want your organization to hold this core value, even if at some point in time it became a competitive disadvantage—even if in some instances the environment penalized the organization for living this core value?
  • Do you believe that those who do not share this core value—those who breach it consistently—simply do not belong in your organization?
  • Would you personally continue to hold this core value even if you were not rewarded for holding it?
  • Would you change jobs before giving up this core value?
  • If you awoke tomorrow with more than enough money to retire comfortably for the rest of your life, would you continue to apply this core value to your productive activities?

(source: https://www.jimcollins.com/tools/vision-framework.pdf )

If you can answer a values with “yes” on all questions, you got a winner.

Collect all values that were answered with a yes on all questions, and from those values look for similar personal values within the team.

5 Values of Scrum and how can Scrum Masters work with them!!

1. Courage – What can you do as a Scrum Master

  1. Help the team out– If you see one of the members picking up new work, guide them if they need help then ask for it. Encourage the team to become a safe space so that there are no hitches in asking for help.
  2. Have the courage yourself– Lead by example. Stand up if you feel the team is being pressured or you feel the team spirit is not good.

2. Focus – What can you do as a Scrum Master

  1. Facilitate– Coach the team to limit the number of tasks and priorities per person per Sprint to ensure everyone remains focused.
  2. Reiterate the focus in the Daily Scrum– Discuss with the team how aligned are we towards the goal?

3. Commitment – What can you do as a Scrum Master

  1. Facilitate the Sprint Planning– Make sure that the team is comfortable with the planning and there is scope for issue fixes along the way.
  2. Protect the team against scope creeps/changes– As a Scrum Master protect your team from unwanted changes in the Sprint, change to the Sprint Goals, and also undue pressure from the Product Owners.

4. Respect – What can you do as a Scrum Master

  1. Celebrate Accomplishments– As a team, celebrate the achievements of each other.
  2. Respect to individuals– Give the team members their space and respect their contributions to the team.

5. Openness – What can you do as a Scrum Master

  1. Be Honest– This one has to start with you, have honest conversations with the team.
  2. Be the Safety Net– As a Scrum Master, observe things that are not going right. For example- If you see issues not being highlighted in the stand-ups ask the team members if they are on track once in a while.

Read the full article here: https://medium.com/serious-scrum/5-values-of-scrum-and-how-can-scrum-masters-work-with-them-f3b2ff01ec2e

What are the Values Anyway? The Mark Manson-Inspired Version.

Ask any Agile practitioner these days what Agile values are and he, most likely, will recite you some lines from the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. As him the final line of the said Manifesto and the result might be quite different, but I digress right in the first paragraph.

Ask a Scrum practitioner and he’ll give you 3-4, maybe 5, if he’s real good, values Scrum holds dear.

Next ask a different question, “What ARE the values? What are we talking about here?” And you’ll be lucky if you hear a half-baked off-the-cuff answer. Sometimes it’s just like, “well, values are values, those are what’s valuable.” Duh…

A quite interesting viewpoint and a crisp definition comes from Mark Manson’s “Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck”. Yeah, ain’t gonna “star” the “u” there.

Read the complete blog post here: https://scrum.courses/2019/04/02/values-giving-f/

Road to PSMIII

Sjoerd Nijland has written a nice series of blogposts about his road to PSMIII:

Definition of Scrum
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/definition-of-scrum-2d1f224256c

Empiricism: Transparency
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/empiricism-transparency-33adad8fbba2

Empiricism: Inspection, Part One
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/empiricism-inspection-part-one-cc4cd8bf98a8

Empiricism: Inspection, Part Two
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/empiricism-inspection-part-two-fafb785bd0c0

Empiricism: Adaptation
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/empiricism-adaptation-975f044a09b2

Scrum Values
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/scrum-values-1203813e0220

The Scrum Team
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-scrum-team-75b8004a4bc2

The Scrum Master
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-scrum-master-729e223f4b64

The Scrum Master’s responsibilities
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-scrum-masters-responsibilities-7ee05cae707e

The Product Owner
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-product-owner-6b7a63fef8fe

The Development Team
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-development-team-575d69054a9b

The Sprint
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-sprint-40d0ccc895f9

Sprint Cancellation
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/sprint-cancellation-c9a9c66e8c99

Scrum’s Artifacts
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/scrums-artifacts-6f07abfab11

The Product Backlog
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/the-product-backlog-7aec7daf844f

Estimation
https://medium.com/serious-scrum/estimation-103de626551e

Scrum Foundations Videos

This video series is the perfect introduction to Scrum as Mike Cohn explains the fundamentals of this framework starting with the five values. It covers the different roles as well as the different ceremonies that are crucial to making Scrum work like the Daily Scrum and Sprint Planning. You’ll also learn about artifacts such as the product backlog. Finally, you’ll understand how Scrum helps you improve efficiency & quality with timeboxing, definition of done, and backlog refinement.

You'll need to sign up to get access to the videos here:
https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/exclusive/scrum-foundations-available-now

What is a Professional Scrum Master?

In this Scrum Tapas video, Professional Scrum Trainers Todd Miller and Ryan Ripley discuss what it means to be a Professional Scrum Master.  They look at behaviors, qualities and a big focus on the Scrum Values.

Quick takeaway tips:

  • Take 10 minutes each day and write about how you use the values in your work each day. If you are not, make a plan for tomorrow how you are modeling and behaving in line with these values.
  • Think about how the value and pillars are in play for each scrum event and each role, to improve your understanding of Scrum.