Is that they’ve always been there.

Inside of the Scrum guide or NOT, the values have always been there.

Just today, I over heard this conversation: ” Scrum’s coming out of the dark ages man, it’s doing what agile did with values”.

I almost choked on my sandwich.

It was a display of self control to not interject :s.

So maybe you can help me?

Tell me, honestly:

Now that we see it printed on a piece of paper, is that some sort of call to action, are you now “allowed” to use the values or place a greater emphasis on the values?

I feel uncomfortable with the celebration.

It makes me wonder.

If people are celebrating Scrum Values & it’s been around in popular use for almost 10 years, then:

• Have people viewed Scrum as just practices all of this time?
• When people learned Scrum, did most not enquire beyond the guide?
• When people were taught in a CSM class, were they taught that the guide is all they need to understand Scrum?

If the answer is yes, I think so many of us practising Scrum have been missing the point.

And in many ways it answers a question I’ve had in the back of my mind for so long “Why do more and more developers in London dislike Scrum?”. Well now it seems obvious, perhaps?

If you’ve seen Scrum as an 8 page guide & haven’t used the values then that’s just using a skeleton with no soul.

Scrum isn’t a mechanistic thing which is JUST practices – it’s so much more than that.

So the excitement makes me think, well what have we been doing all this time?

Scrum Trainers, ScrumMasters, Scrum Coaches…surely we’ve emphasised the importance of Scrum value to those learning & the addition to the guide isn’t really a game changer.

Or is it for you?

Maybe you’ve always used the Scrum values & are glad they have made it into the guide as you feel that it’s given the importance it deserves?

I get that angle, I see it.

Just that if people have just felt like we can embrace Scrum values – now – what exactly have we then been embracing?