However, it’s not enough to merely adapt them in your daily practice; one must also routinely analyze their fulfillment of these values and identify areas for potential improvement. In the context of the Advanced Certified ScrumMaster (A-CSM) exam, it is crucial for candidates to have a deep understanding and commitment to these values.
The Five Scrum Values are: Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect.
Let’s delve into each of these values and how they can be analyzed and improved.
1. Commitment: Dedication to achieving the goals and objectives of the sprint and the project as a whole.
Analysis: Evaluate your personal commitment and the team’s commitment towards project goals. Have you been fully engaged in Scrum meetings? Have you promptly addressed impediments that are hindering progress?
Improvement: To increase commitment, ensure that the goals set are realistic and achievable. Encourage your team to voice their concerns and discuss their capacity during sprint planning.
2. Courage: The ability to do what’s right, even when it’s difficult or unpopular.
Analysis: Reflect on situations where you’ve had to stand up for Scrum principles when they were in danger of being compromised. Have you had the courage to address issues that could deter the team from their goals?
Improvement: Improve courage by fostering an environment where team members feel safe speaking out and addressing problems, no matter how uncomfortable.
3. Focus: Concentrating on only a few things at a time.
Analysis: Consider how well you and your team were able to focus on the task at hand. Were there any distractions that affected productivity?
Improvement: A potential improvement strategy is to enforce work-in-progress (WIP) limits. This restricts the number of tasks in progress simultaneously and helps the team maintain their focus on key objectives.
4. Openness: Willingness to share information, knowledge, and experience with the team.
Analysis: Examine how well information and knowledge have been shared within the team. Have you been open about problems and challenges faced during the Sprint?
Improvement: Regularly conducted Retrospectives provide a platform for openness. Foster an atmosphere of trust where team members can openly discuss their issues, challenges, and solutions.
5. Respect: A Scrum team member demonstrates respect by valuing the skills and opinions of other team members.
Analysis: Review how well respect is embedded in your work culture. Do all voices feel heard when making collective decisions?
Improvement: Respect can be cultivated by promoting diversity of thought, encouraging open conversation, and recognizing the efforts and contributions of team members.
The following table summarizes the Scrum values, how to analyze their fulfillment, and potential improvement strategies:
| Scrum Values | Analysis | Improvement Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Evaluate personal and team commitment | Set achievable goals, encourage open communication |
| Courage | Reflect on situations where you stood up for Scrum principles | Encourage team members to voice out issues |
| Focus | Consider how well your team was able to focus | Enforce WIP limits |
| Openness | Examine how information is shared within the team | Regular Retrospectives to foster trust |
| Respect | Review how well respect is embedded in the work culture | Promote diversity, encourage open communication, and recognize efforts |
Regularly assessing your adherence to these values can lead to continuous improvement and elevated team performance. While this self-examination might seem daunting, as an aspiring A-CSM, it becomes your responsibility to facilitate this type of introspection in your team. As you nourish these values in your Scrum environment, you will see growth not only individually but also as a team.
Practice Test
The five Scrum values are transparency, inspection, adaptation, respect and courage.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The five Scrum values are Openness, Focus, Courage, Commitment and Respect.
As a ScrumMaster, you should comply with the team’s decisions even if you disagree.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: While it’s important to respect the team’s decisions, it’s the ScrumMaster’s role to guide the team towards effective decisions and processes, this sometimes involves challenging certain decisions.
A ScrumMaster should always be receptive to the team’s ideas without judgement.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: One of the Scrum values is ‘openness’, this means being receptive and open to the ideas and views of every team member.
One way of improving your adherence to the Scrum value of ‘commitment’ is by consistently meeting your Sprint commitments.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Consistent delivery on Sprint commitments helps to foster trust within the team and demonstrates a strong commitment to the project.
Ensuring clear communication is part of the Scrum value ‘openness’.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Openness in Scrum involves transparent and easy-to-understand communication. This ensures alignment and understanding within the team.
A strong ScrumMaster should always be able to handle all the project’s problems alone.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The role of a ScrumMaster is to coach the team. A ScrumMaster should guide the team to come up with their own solutions, rather than dealing with all the problems alone.
When conflicts arise, a ScrumMaster should let the team deal with them alone to build resilience.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: While team’s resilience is important, a ScrumMaster’s role is to help facilitate conflict resolution. Managing conflicts and ensuring a smooth resolution is part of ensuring respect and openness in the team.
Regularly seeking feedback from the team members will help in improving your performance as a ScrumMaster.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Seeking feedback is a good way to inspect your own performance and adapt as necessary. This is an application of the Scrum principle of ‘inspect and adapt’.
Scrum values are only beneficial for development teams.
- True
- False
Answer: False
Explanation: The Scrum values are universally applicable because they foster teamwork and collaboration. Not just developers, but every team member benefits from these values.
The primary role of a ScrumMaster is to ensure the Scrum Team adheres to the Scrum theory, practices, and rules.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: A ScrumMaster is a servant-leader for the Scrum Team. They help everyone understanding Scrum theory, practices, rules, and values.
An effective ScrumMaster never compromises the Scrum values for the sake of project deadlines.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Effective ScrumMasters understand that upholding the Scrum values leads to higher productivity and quality in the long run, even if it might cause short-term delays.
What values does ScrumMaster need to embody in order to be effective
- Adaptability
- Courage
- Patience
- Accountability
Answer: Courage
Explanation: As per Scrum Guide, Courage is one of the values a ScrumMaster should exhibit as they need to do the right thing and work on tough problems.
An effective ScrumMaster must respect the views and ideas of all team members.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Respect is one of the Scrum Values and a ScrumMaster should always respect the knowledge, skills, and abilities of each team member.
A ScrumMaster should always act with integrity and honesty.
- True
- False
Answer: True
Explanation: Honesty and integrity are crucial aspects of the ScrumMaster’s role. They foster trust and openness within the team.
What is the best way for a ScrumMaster to express the Scrum value ‘Focus’?
- By multi-tasking and handling multiple sprints simultaneously
- By focusing on the goals of the current sprint and doing whatever it takes to meet them.
Answer: By focusing on the goals of the current sprint and doing whatever it takes to meet them.
Explanation: The Scrum value of ‘Focus’ means focusing on the current work or the sprint’s goal. Multi-tasking and handling multiple sprints simultaneously can lead to a loss of this focus.
Interview Questions
What are the five values of Scrum?
The five Scrum values are courage, focus, commitment, respect, and openness.
How does practicing courage as a Scrum value benefit your team?
Practising courage as a Scrum value encourages teams to face tough problems, make difficult decisions, adapt to change, and express their opinions even when they might be unpopular. This contributes to a healthier work environment and more effective problem-solving.
What do you do to encourage the Scrum value of commitment within your team?
As a ScrumMaster, I facilitate the understanding of goals and the scope of work to be completed within the sprint so that the entire team assumes shared responsibility for its completion. I also promote a culture where it’s okay to express concerns about potential impediments to meeting the sprint goals.
How would you rate your fulfillment of the Scrum value of focus?
As an individual, I must rate myself quite high on focus as I am consistently dedicated to completing the tasks at hand and reaching our sprint goals. However, there is always room for improvement, especially in terms of helping my team to minimize distractions and stay focused throughout the sprint.
How does the Scrum value of respect contribute to a team’s success?
Respect in a Scrum context means acknowledging and valuing each other’s skills, knowledge, and perspectives. It fosters a safe and open environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their opinions and ideas, leading to more effective collaboration and better solutions.
How do you exemplify the Scrum value of openness in your role as a ScrumMaster?
As a ScrumMaster, I encourage openness by facilitating transparent communication about progress, obstacles, and improvements. I also support the team in being open to feedback, change, and new ideas.
In what ways can you improve your fulfillment of the Scrum values?
Although I uphold the Scrum values and encourage my team to do the same, there is always room for improvement. I can continue to find ways to promote courage, improve commitment towards a shared goal, help everyone stay focused on the task at hand, foster a climate of mutual respect, and nurture a culture that values openness.
Identify a situation where you had to use courage as a ScrumMaster and describe the outcome.
In a recent project, our team was struggling to meet the sprint goal. I had to muster the courage to bring this up with senior management, explaining possible reasons and suggesting changes to our current process. By doing this, we were able to adjust our approach and meet the sprint goal in the next iteration.
How could the Scrum value of commitment be better incorporated into your daily Scrum meetings?
One way to strengthen commitment during daily Scrum meetings is to ensure each team member understands precisely what they are responsible for and how it contributes to the sprint goal. This includes acknowledging any obstacles or issues openly that might stand in their way.
How does the Scrum value of focus impact the delivery of a product increment?
The Scrum value of focus has a direct impact on the delivery of the product increment. By staying focused on the sprint goal, the team can deliver features that are “Done” and bring value to the user, limiting the amount of work in progress. This fosters efficiency and quality in the delivered product increment.
What actions can be taken to improve the fulfillment of the Scrum value of respect within your team?
To improve the fulfillment of the value of respect, actions like actively promoting diversity and inclusivity, encouraging open-mindedness, and addressing inappropriate behavior swiftly can be taken. Additionally, we could organise team bonding exercises to promote mutual understanding and respect.
How does your team demonstrate the Scrum value of openness?
My team demonstrates openness by transparently communicating about their progress, obstacles, and any improvements that could be implemented. They are also receptive to feedback and open to changing how they work based on that feedback.
How do you, as a ScrumMaster, ensure the Scrum values are being upheld during the Scrum process?
As a ScrumMaster, I model the Scrum values myself and encourage their practice within the team. I also facilitate open communication, support team decisions, remove barriers to productivity, and foster an environment of mutual respect and openness. I am always vigilant for signs of these values being compromised, addressing any issues promptly.
Identify a situation where the Scrum value of commitment was exemplified by your team.
In a recent sprint, our team was running behind due to unforeseen challenges. Despite the setbacks, the team demonstrated the Scrum value of commitment by reallocating tasks, lending help to one another, and extending their work hours slightly to meet the sprint goal. It was a great testament to their commitment.
How would you address a team member who consistently exemplifies the opposite of Scrum values?
As a ScrumMaster, it is part of my responsibility to mentor and guide team members about Scrum values. I would first address the matter privately with the individual, discussing the observed behavior and its impact on the team. I would also underscore the importance of the Scrum values and offer assistance in understanding and applying them if needed.
extutorials.com