Team culture

Scrum is an empirical process, "the art of the possible," and places great emphasis on mind-set and cultural shift to achieve business and organizational Agility.

The Scrum Values

Scrum incorporates five core values that empower teams to work effectively:

1. Commitment - Team members individually commit to achieving team goals.

2. Courage - Everyone must have the courage to make tough decisions and take action.

3. Focus - All efforts should be directed toward the team's Sprint Goal.

4. Openness - Team members should be open about their work and any challenges they face.

5. Respect - Each person should respect their colleagues and their capabilities.

By embracing these values, teams create an environment of trust and efficiency that fosters success.

The Three Pillars of empiricism

Transparency

This means presenting the facts as is. All people involved are transparent in their day-to-day dealings with others. They all trust, respect, help each other. They also keep each other informed of good news as well as bad news. Observers should share a common understanding:

• All participants must share a common language referring to the process

• Those performing the work and those inspecting the resulting Increment must share a common definition of "Done."

Inspection

Scrum users must frequently inspect the work items and progress toward a Sprint Goal to detect undesirable variances. It is an action required by everyone on the Scrum team, not by an auditor or external party. Inspections are most beneficial when diligently performed by skilled people at the point of work but should not be so frequent that it gets in the way of the work.

Adaptation

Adaptation is about continuous improvement - the ability to adapt based on the results of the inspection. Everyone in the team must ask this question regularly: Are we better off than yesterday? If any member determines aspects of a process and progress deviates outside acceptable limits, the team should adjust their process or work as soon as possible to minimize further deviation.

When the Scrum values commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect are embodied and lived by the team, then transparency, inspection, and adaptation come to life and build trust for everyone. People becoming proficient in living up to those values leads to a higher personal commitment to achieving the goals of the team. The members have to have the courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems as well as respect each other to be capable, independent people. Everyone focuses on the work of the Sprint and the goals of the team.