PAL I Study Portal

How it works

Key Focus Areas from Professional Scrum Competencies:

• Empiricism
• Scrum Values
• Scrum Team
• Events
• Artifacts
• Done

Scrum Values (Deep Dive)

The Scrum Values—Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, Courage—create an environment where empiricism, self-management, and continual improvement thrive.

How each value manifests:

Commitment:

• The team commits to achieving goals and supporting each other
• Commitment is to outcomes, not fixed scope
• Leaders model commitment by removing impediments

Focus:

• Everyone focuses on the Sprint Goal and work of the Sprint
• Limit work in progress; avoid context switching
• Leaders protect focus by shielding teams from distractions

Openness:

• Be open about work, progress, and challenges
• Share learning and failures transparently
• Leaders model openness by admitting uncertainty

Respect:

• Respect team members as capable, independent people
• Respect different perspectives and expertise
• Leaders show respect by trusting teams to self-manage

Courage:

• Have courage to do the right thing and work on tough problems
• Courage to surface risks and bad news early
• Leaders create safety for courage by not punishing honesty

Leadership implication:

• Values are not posters; they show up in tradeoffs (e.g., courage to surface risk, openness to feedback, respect in conflict).
• As Gunther Verheyen notes: values must be lived, not just displayed.