Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com.
The Guest Blogger this week is Michele Sliger, a fellow Certified Scrum Trainer and awesome person in general (smile).
A few weeks ago some of the Trainers got together in a super-secret-location-on-Earth for a couple of days.
We had a lot of fun, I learned a ton, and you can be sure I will write more about it in this blog in the future!
Michele posed the question to the Trainers, “What are the Scrum Values?”
And. Gulp. I could not name all of them.
Shame on me.
Or? Are they something I just *do* like a lot of people already?
Either way, I thought this would be a good platform for Michele to discuss the Scrum Values and give some great examples for you to use with your Scrum Teams.
Keep learning… I do daily….
Here is the write-up from Michele:
====================
Like Mike, I am a Certified Scrum Trainer and I make my living teaching Scrum and coaching Scrum teams.
One of the things I teach is the Scrum values. Do you know what they are? Take a second and see if you can name them all.
I will give you a hint: there are five, they are one word in length, and one of them is not Honesty. Now stop reading for a moment and when you think you have got them all, come on back.
Ready?
Okay, how did you do?
I am sure none of you cheated by going to the first Scrum book, “Agile Software Development with Scrum” and flipping to the last chapter.
(I can hear it now: “Heck, she said that Honesty wasn’t a value, so where’s the problem?”)
The five Scrum values are, in no particular order:
- 1. Commitment
2. Focus
3. Openness
4. Respect
5. Courage.
Now what do you suppose these mean?
Ask a roomful of people and you’ll get a roomful of answers.
- Openness means that we will tell the product owner “no” when we can’t do any more work in the Sprint.
- Openness means that we will tell management that we are doing Scrum even though we are afraid they will make us stop.
- Openness means that when my colleague takes a three-hour lunch break instead of finishing her tasks that I will have a difficult conversation with her.
- Openness means telling you that I did in fact cheat. I looked up the values in the back of the black book.
(I once had an argument with a co-worker on what “being truthful” meant.
He said that it wasn’t lying if he went to a topless bar and didn’t tell his wife. I said it was a lie, one of omission. We went back and forth, each sure of our morality. So I’m pleased that Ken was careful in his naming with the value of Openness, instead of something like Honesty or Truthfulness, so I don’t have to have arguments over what truth means!)
Because we each interpret the values differently as individuals and as teams, we really need to take a look at each value and decide as a team what that value means to us.
Here are a couple of ways you can do that:
If your group does regular brown-bag lunches, open spaces, or Scrum cocktail hours, pass out copies of that last chapter and say, “This is what we’ll be talking about at our next get-together.”
Then have that informal conversation and see what the team thinks about the values.
Are there any that surprised them?
Are there any that weren’t in line with their personal values?
Can they say that the team has been adhering to all the values?
Are there any values that they think should be listed that are not?
And are there any values that they would like to make a bigger, more overt, part of their daily activities?
When working on the facilitation of team working agreements, try this exercise.
List the values, and this simple template that can be used to turn each value into an actionable working agreement:
We believe in [value] therefore we will [do something].
For example, your team might come back with:
- We believe in respect, therefore we will show up on time for all meetings.
The point is to get those values on the wall somewhere, where they can serve as reminders to the team of the drivers behind the Scrum practices, and of how the team has chosen to work together.
Remember, Scrum is not only value-driven in how it provides the most important features first to the customer, it is also value-driven in how the people choose to work together to get the job done.
====================
Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
March 25, 2008
Hi all,
I am on a train right now writing this and my internet connection is somewhat spotty, and by the time I get to where I am headed… well… I will try to sleep (smile).
So, you will see the next cartoon tomorrow. With a new guest blogger!
It is a great one. Something that made me think.
And.
I hope it does that for you too!
Have a great day or evening.
- mike vizdos
PS –> Want to “follow me” on Twitter? I am trying it out to see if people really do read about the details of personal lives that people are willing to share. Let me know and see my stuff at twitter.com/mvizdos.
Welcome back to yet another week at www.implementingscrum.com. We made it another seven or eight days on this earth — congratulations (smile).
So last week the post was a little long, and I put out some real life information that hit home hard for me. I received a ton of great feedback and people offering a lot of great advice. One thing I do want to make clear is that client was not my only client — something I have learned to not do in the past (depend on 1 client 100% of the time). As a consultant, this is a position you want to get yourself into. Really. Look at me as an example!
This week.
Um.
Where is our “old” ScrumMaster?
I kinda liked him. He was a little “off” at times; however, he started to grow on me and help with a lot of examples.
He seems to have disappeared last week.
Seems to have gotten himself whacked by some shady characters.
Oh no.
What has Tony done. What have I done?
At this point, there is now a [hot] ScrumMaster who has no problem saying, “Yes” to anything and everything asked of her.
Um.
Is this dangerous?
One word.
YES.
Notice the usage of capital letters above.
YES I AM YELLING THIS TO YOU THIS IS DANGEROUS.
I am trying to make a point (smile).
And, you may be asking yourself, “Mike… What point are you trying to make this week?”
Really?
You do not see it?
Look hard.
Read the comic strip above again, and again, and again.
Then, send me an e-mail (or write a comment on this blog entry) about what you think it means.
Really.
C’mon.
Take action and do it.
It will take you less than three minutes.
Please.
Gotta run!.Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.
You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this entry and other Scrum topics. Thank you!
March 18, 2008
Hi all,
As you saw last week, our fearless ScrumMaster seems to have disappeared.
And.
Been replaced by some hot ScrumMaster who knows how to say yes.
What will happen next???!?!?!?!?
More tonight.
- mike vizdos
[uh.... could not post last night... four words... NYC - St. Patricks Day. Sorry 'bout that!]
Hi,
[Sales voice on.... sorry gotta make a living! But keep reading as you may actually be able to meet me in person without paying a dime (maybe a beer or two!)]
I will be up on the upper east side of Manhattan on Monday and Tuesday this coming week (St. Patty’s day!) teaching a CSM Workshop.
If you are interested, please contact me or visit www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll to sign-up.
If you know anyone who is interested in a fun workshop (and you cannot go) — please pass along this information to them… Actually, either way, please pass this on to people who may be interested [thank you]!
Oh, and if you are reading this from someone who passed this along TO you (or if you have not done so already)…
Please Subscribe to Implementing Scrum by Email and receive any new comics or other announcements we publish on a regular basis.
Now for some inside information…
I am in the process of booking an ADDITIONAL nine or ten public CSM Workshops around North America right now (that’s in addition to those already listed at www.michaelvizdos.com/enroll) ) — so if you do not see one near you yet check back often or let me know if you’d like to book a private class in your organization!
You can also keep your eye on the left sidebar of www.implementingscrum.com for a list of my upcoming public appearances and workshops.
[Sales voice off, thank you for reading this!]
Eek. I really do hate sales talk. Sorry about that.
Now… for the FREE stuff… See… Aren’t you glad you read this far??
Also, as usual, I’ll make the offer to meet anyone reading this outside the class if we can make the timing work.
If you are interested, please let me know.
Thank you.
- mike vizdos
www.michaelvizdos.com
www.implementingscrum.com
Older Articles »
