Name the five Scrum Values and explain how they make the empirical pillars actually work.
Five Values That Make the Pillars Real
Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, Courage
The three empirical pillars — Transparency, Inspection, Adaptation — only work if the people practising Scrum genuinely live certain values. Without them, the events become empty ceremonies. Scrum defines five values:
**Commitment** — team members personally commit to achieving the team's goals. In practice: the team commits to a Sprint Goal and does everything it can to reach it, not just to complete a task list. Commitment protects the Sprint Goal from scope creep.
**Focus** — the team concentrates on the work of the Sprint and the Sprint Goal above all else. Focus and Commitment work together: they prevent the team from being pulled in too many directions and help Developers deliver a real Increment rather than half-finished items.
**Openness** — the Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about all the work and the challenges. Openness is what makes Transparency possible: if people hide problems, no one can inspect them. A team that is open at a Sprint Retrospective can surface real impediments instead of polite non-issues.
**Respect** — team members respect each other as capable, independent people. Respect creates the safety needed for Openness. Without it, people will not admit mistakes or raise hard truths.
**Courage** — team members have the courage to do the right thing and to tackle tough problems, even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular. Courage is what lets a person stand up to pressure — to a powerful stakeholder, a boss, or a deadline — and still say the hard, honest thing. It takes bravery to tell the room "we are not going to meet the Sprint Goal" or "our process is broken." Openness and Courage together enable honest Retrospectives and genuine Adaptation.
Lesson notes
Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, Courage
The three empirical pillars — Transparency, Inspection, Adaptation — only work if the people practising Scrum genuinely live certain values. Without them, the events become empty ceremonies. Scrum defines five values:
**Commitment** — team members personally commit to achieving the team's goals. In practice: the team commits to a Sprint Goal and does everything it can to reach it, not just to complete a task list. Commitment protects the Sprint Goal from scope creep.
**Focus** — the team concentrates on the work of the Sprint and the Sprint Goal above all else. Focus and Commitment work together: they prevent the team from being pulled in too many directions and help Developers deliver a real Increment rather than half-finished items.
**Openness** — the Scrum Team and its stakeholders are open about all the work and the challenges. Openness is what makes Transparency possible: if people hide problems, no one can inspect them. A team that is open at a Sprint Retrospective can surface real impediments instead of polite non-issues.
**Respect** — team members respect each other as capable, independent people. Respect creates the safety needed for Openness. Without it, people will not admit mistakes or raise hard truths.
**Courage** — team members have the courage to do the right thing and to tackle tough problems, even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular. Courage is what lets a person stand up to pressure — to a powerful stakeholder, a boss, or a deadline — and still say the hard, honest thing. It takes bravery to tell the room "we are not going to meet the Sprint Goal" or "our process is broken." Openness and Courage together enable honest Retrospectives and genuine Adaptation.