The 5 Scrum Values That Make Self-Managing Teams Work
The 2020 Scrum Guide defines five values that underpin every Scrum event and artifact. Without them, the framework becomes mechanical.
The Values at a Glance
| Value | Core Question | Action / Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | Do we own our Sprint Goal? | Team pulls work into Sprint, owns delivery end-to-end. No blame game — team succeeds or fails together. |
| Focus | Are we protecting the Sprint? | Daily Scrum aligned to Sprint Goal. No context-switching. PO doesn’t add work mid-Sprint. |
| Openness | Is everything visible? | Burndown is visible. Blockers raised in Daily Scrum. Sprint Review shows real progress, not a polished demo. |
| Respect | Do we trust each other? | Devs challenge estimates respectfully. Everyone’s voice heard. Decisions are team decisions, not top-down. |
| Courage | Do we say the hard thing? | Sprint Retro says what’s not working. SM escalates blockers. Devs push back on unrealistic scope. |
Commitment
“I will do what I say.”
Commitment in Scrum isn’t a contract — it’s a pledge to the team. When a Developer pulls a Product Backlog item into the Sprint, they’re telling their peers: I’ll do my best to get this done.
This is why Sprint Goals exist. Without commitment, the Sprint Backlog is just a wishlist. With it, the team has skin in the game.
Focus
“One thing at a time.”
Scrum limits work-in-progress by design. A Sprint is a timebox. The Sprint Backlog is a fixed scope. The Daily Scrum orbits the Sprint Goal.
Focus means protecting the container — no new work mid-Sprint, no context-switching, no death-by-meetings. The PO respects the Sprint boundary. The SM guards it.
Openness
“Show the work.”
Openness is transparency in action. The Product Backlog is visible to everyone. The Increment is a real demo, not a slide deck. Blockers go on the board, not in private DMs.
Teams without openness hide problems until Sprint Review. Teams with openness surface issues early when they’re still fixable.
Respect
“Trust the people.”
The Scrum Guide gives the Developers one line: “Developers are accountable for creating a usable Increment.” Respect means actually believing they can. No micromanagement. No assigning tasks from above.
Respect also means listening — the PO respects the Devs’ estimate. The Devs respect the PO’s prioritization. The SM respects everyone’s autonomy.
Courage
“Say the hard thing.”
Courage is the value that makes the other four possible. It takes courage to commit. Courage to focus when there’s pressure to multitask. Courage to be open with bad news.
In the Retro, courage means saying: “Our Sprint Planning takes too long and we need to fix it.” In the Daily Scrum, courage means: “I’m blocked and I can’t unblock myself.”
One-Liner
Learn the 3-5-3 to do Scrum. Live the five values to be a great Scrum team.