“I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who.” - Rudyard Kipling
In Scrum, we also have these serving people but we add in 3 more.
Think of them as very close siblings; they are all interlinked and their names are
- Transparency
- "... means not only visible but also understandable." - Gunther Verheyen
- Inspection
- Without Transparency, there cannot be Inspection. How do you know what you're inspecting and why?
- Adaptation
- Without Inspection you cannot adapt to the changes in requests and circumstance; how do you know you're heading in the right direction?
Scrum is built upon Empirical Process Control theory and the aspects (pillars) that support Empirical Process Control theory are Transparency, Inspection, and Adaptation.
In a complex world, dealing with complex problems it is wise to check, adapt, and be open and clear with what and how you're dealing with the complexities.
Each event within Scrum contains an aspect of Transparency, Inspection and Adaptation. Each event feeds into the next, it is an opportunity to understand more, to see further, to deliver more.
If you miss an event out, only half engage in the event, or only choose to do it every so often you're missing an opportunity to be Transparent, to Inspect and to Adapt. You are potentially missing out on a world of opportunity to understand where you are and where you're heading.
In this different world we find ourselves, keep your friends close, check in with them often and don't miss one out. You will feel the benefit.