👉 The more people become proficient in living the Scrum Values, the more successful the use of Scrum will be.
When the Scrum values are embodied by the Scrum Team and the people they work with, the empirical Scrum pillars come to life, building trust.
Reminder: the Scrum Values are Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, and Courage.
Is there any impact of living (or not) the Scrum Values on the Artifacts...? And if so what would this impact possibly be...?
The Scrum Guide states that each artifact contains a commitment to ensure it provides information that enhances transparency and focus against which progress can be measured.
- For the Product Backlog this commitment is the Product Goal. This implies that the Scrum Team Commits to put their efforts in the Product Backlog so that all stakeholders share the same understanding when looking at the Product Backlog, and that this transparency allows them to measure progress toward the Product Goal.
- Openness and Respect will support bringing this transparency. Being open to understand the users and respecting their points of views allows the team to build what is really needed.
- Yet also having the Courage to say "no" might prove important. Especially when a request does not seem to align with the Product Goal. This will also support the value of Focus. A razor-sharp focus to work towards this Product Goal.
These are only one example of how each Scrum Value is supported through a good use of the Product Backlog.
Summary:
Using the Scrum Values as a guide for the Scrum Team how to behave during the entire Sprint will support raising transparency, which is the purpose of the Artifacts.
For the Product Backlog this means raising the transparency on what the product might look like in the future.
The more the team becomes skilled in living the Scrum Values, the more transparent the Product Backlog will be.
Prompt
Together with your Scrum Team, evaluate how living the Scrum Values can still improve Product Backlog Transparency.
How do you see that the values of Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness and Respect are lived? What can you do to make the Scrum Team live these even better?
I hope you find value in these short posts and if you are looking for more clarifications, feel free to take contact.
If you want to take a deeper dive into the core concepts we are covering in this blog series, then surely check out our Professional Scrum Mastery workshop. We have some scheduled in the coming period.
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