What are the 5 scrum values?

Scrum values are the foundation of how agile teams work together. They guide behavior, shape decisions, and influence problem-solving. You’ll find them in the official Scrum Guide — not as rules but as shared beliefs that help teams build momentum and trust.

According to the 15th State of Agile Report, 66 percent of agile teams use scrum or a hybrid version of it, making it one of the most popular agile approaches. But while the scrum framework outlines roles, meetings, and tools, it’s the values that power the framework. There are five in total: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. They shape team habits, not just workflows. Modern project management software also plays a key role in supporting these values by making communication, task tracking, and transparency easier for agile teams.

Why do scrum values matter? Well, they help teams work smarter and more transparently. When teams take these values seriously, there are fewer misunderstandings and more accountability. People feel comfortable speaking up, asking questions, and owning their work. Instead of just following the framework, they build a real team culture — one that supports flexibility, collaboration, and steady project progress. Let’s take a closer look at each value.

The 5 scrum values: Overview and purpose

The five scrum values — commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect — set the tone for how team members interact and handle their work. Each value has its own definition and purpose:

1. Commitment: Each person pledges to achieve goals and support the team.
2. Courage: Individuals speak up when they face obstacles and dare to challenge norms.
3. Focus: Everyone concentrates on the most important tasks during each sprint.
4. Openness: The team shares progress and problems honestly and transparently.
5. Respect: Members appreciate each other’s contributions and insights.

These values influence how scrum roles (product owner, scrum master, and the development team) function, as well as how events (sprints, sprint planning, daily scrums, sprint reviews, and sprint retrospectives) and artifacts (product backlog, sprint backlog, and increment) are carried out. They also align closely with the three scrum pillars: transparency, inspection, and adaptation. When the team upholds transparency through openness, they can better inspect their progress and adapt accordingly, fueled by commitment, courage, focus, and respect.

1. Commitment

Commitment in scrum is about agreeing to achieve sprint goals and support the team’s shared vision. It doesn’t mean every plan goes perfectly; instead, it’s the willingness to own deliverables and see them through. Whether you’re a developer committing to a specific task or a scrum master championing continuous improvement, commitment ensures that everyone is engaged and accountable.

This value also helps teams avoid half-hearted promises. For instance, in sprint planning, a scrum team decides how much work they can complete and then commits to that scope. By honoring commitments, teams build trust — both internally and with stakeholders — and set achievable goals rather than overpromising and underdelivering.

2. Courage

Courage means taking bold steps, especially when faced with uncertainty. Agile teams often deal with new technologies, shifting requirements, or evolving market needs. The courage to experiment, admit mistakes, and propose innovative solutions keeps scrum teams resilient and adaptable.

In practice, courage can mean voicing concern when timelines are unrealistic or admitting a mistake during a daily scrum. It can also mean advocating for a product enhancement that stakeholders might initially resist. This willingness to speak up and tackle challenging issues head-on strengthens the scrum team’s ability to deliver real value.

3. Focus

Focus in scrum is about zeroing in on the right tasks at the right time. With agile principles emphasizing iterative development, each sprint is a dedicated period for achieving specific goals. Team members reduce distractions and optimize productivity by focusing their energy on defined priorities.

This might look like a scrum team choosing two high-impact features for a given sprint and shelving less critical items for later, for example. Daily standups strengthen this focus by spotlighting only what’s relevant today, preventing unnecessary detours. A laser-like focus also helps to meet sprint goals consistently and creates a sense of shared purpose as everyone is working toward the same objectives.

4. Openness

Openness encourages transparent communication about challenges, progress, and ideas. Since scrum relies heavily on collaboration, teams must feel comfortable discussing roadblocks, dependencies, and risks without fear. This candor aligns closely with one of the core scrum pillars: transparency.

Daily scrums, for instance, offer a chance to voice concerns that might affect others’ tasks. Sprint reviews invite stakeholders to inspect the increment and share candid feedback. If you practice openness during events like these, your team can respond to issues faster and adapt early rather than letting small problems accumulate. It’s also vital for building trust and maintaining a healthy, blame-free culture where continuous improvement thrives.

5. Respect

Scrum teams are cross-functional, involving designers, developers, quality assurance testers, and more. Respect ensures that each member’s expertise and perspective are valued. When respect is embedded in the team culture, discussions become more constructive, and members are more likely to offer help or guidance when needed.

In daily operations, respect means listening attentively to peer feedback, acknowledging differences in opinions, and giving credit where it’s due. Recognizing your teammates’ contributions, whether in the sprint review or during a retrospective, makes the environment positive and builds loyalty. This sense of respect reinforces collaboration, a key ingredient for any successful application of agile methodology.

Scrum values vs scrum principles

While scrum values shape mindset and team behavior, scrum principles (and the broader agile principles) guide the methodology itself. The 12 agile principles from the Agile Manifesto describe the fundamental beliefs about incremental delivery, welcoming change, and customer collaboration. Scrum’s own principles revolve around iterative progress, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Values like openness and respect are intangible and center around how people think and interact. Principles, on the other hand, are more operational. For example, “delivering working software frequently” influences how often your team pushes updates. But without the value of focus, you might stretch yourself too thin across multiple features. Values and principles are therefore essential for a healthy, sustainable scrum implementation.

Examples of scrum values in action

Sprint planning

During sprint planning, teams demonstrate commitment by volunteering and promising to deliver tasks. Courage might show up when someone suggests tackling a technically complex feature first. Focus surfaces when the team negotiates and limits the sprint scope to what’s truly feasible. And openness and respect appear when everyone shares opinions on sizing and dependencies without ego or fear.

Daily standups

Respect and openness dominate in the daily standups (or daily scrums). If a developer is stuck, they openly share the issue, respecting others’ time by keeping updates concise. The team shows courage by raising concerns that might disrupt timelines. Focus is reinforced as each person highlights only what’s immediately relevant, while commitment shines through when individuals own their progress and next steps.

Retrospectives

Retrospectives are prime territory for openness as team members collectively analyze what went well and what didn’t. By being transparent, they can uncover hidden bottlenecks. Courage is critical here because admitting mistakes or areas for improvement can feel risky. Commitment to change is demonstrated when the team actively decides on action items to improve future sprints, showing respect for everyone’s input.

Conflict resolution

Scrum values guide conflict resolution by encouraging respectful dialogue. Instead of blaming, teams investigate root causes openly. If two developers disagree on an approach, courage helps them present their viewpoints calmly, and respect ensures no one is belittled. Commitment to team goals can help align them on the best solution, and focus keeps the discussion from veering into personal issues.

Industry use cases

• Software development: A cross-functional team upgrading a payment system might rely on courage to test a new cloud service, openness to reveal performance metrics, and commitment to meet security standards.
• Marketing: A group of digital marketers launching a product campaign can use focus to prioritize channels, respect when critiquing ad concepts, and openness to share early results and pivot quickly.
• Healthcare: A hospital IT department might lean on transparency (openness) and courage to propose new telehealth solutions while showing commitment to patient safety and focusing on regulatory compliance.

Common challenges and solutions

Scrum values can be tricky to maintain despite their clarity, especially when deadlines loom or communication falters. Below are some typical challenges and how to address them.

Lack of transparency

• Problem: Teams avoid tough conversations, causing hidden risks to spiral.
• Solution: Model openness through leadership. Encourage sharing in retrospectives and highlight positive outcomes when someone speaks up early about an issue.

Missed commitments

• Problem: Sprint goals slip because tasks were overestimated or team members were overbooked.
• Solution: Revisit capacity planning. Emphasize realistic goals during project planning and make it clear that commitment is about delivering quality, not just meeting several story points.

Conflict avoidance

• Problem: Fear of confrontation leads to unresolved disagreements.
• Solution: Introduce “conflict and resolution” sessions during retrospectives. Celebrate constructive conflict, which can lead to more robust solutions.

Limited focus

• Problem: The team juggles too many tasks, compromising quality.
• Solution: Use backlog refinement sessions to ensure only items of the highest priority make it to each sprint. Encourage time-boxing techniques to maintain deep work on crucial tasks.

Lack of respect

• Problem: Members belittle others’ ideas or overrun conversations.
• Solution: Establish team norms on communication. The scrum master can mediate by reminding everyone that diverse perspectives strengthen the final outcome.

If one value breaks down, it often drags others down with it — for instance, regularly missing commitments can erode respect and openness. So, keep them all in balance. The above solutions achieve this by involving coaching, role modeling, and consistent reminders about the team’s shared vision.

How to apply scrum values in day-to-day life

Scrum values aren’t just for work — they can elevate your personal habits and interactions too.

• Commitment: If you decide to read 10 pages of a book a day, honor that promise to yourself. This value fosters discipline and reliability in personal projects.
• Courage: Speak up when something feels off in group settings, whether that’s a volunteer committee or a community meetup. Offering honest input can create positive changes beyond software environments.
• Focus: When learning a new skill or hobby, apply focus by eliminating distractions. Set a clear goal and avoid multitasking.
• Openness: Be transparent with friends or family if you can’t meet a commitment. Clear, proactive communication prevents misunderstandings in personal relationships.
• Respect: Value other people’s time, opinions, and boundaries. Showing genuine respect in daily conversations can build deeper trust and cooperation.

Integrating these values into daily life strengthens the habits that make you a better collaborator — in scrum teams and beyond.

Using Jotform Boards to improve scrum values

Jotform Boards is a comprehensive task management tool designed to streamline workflows and enhance team collaboration. By visually organizing tasks in a Kanban-style layout, you can supercharge your scrum events and ensure everyone stays on the same page.

Below are examples of how each scrum value can come to life with Jotform Boards.

Commitment

You can clearly assign tasks to team members with due dates, priorities, and detailed descriptions. This setup allows everyone to see what’s on their plate and holds them accountable. For instance, create a “Sprint Board” where each team member is assigned their sprint backlog tasks. That way, commitment is both visible and trackable at any time.

Courage

Jotform Boards’ open visibility encourages team members to take ownership of complex or uncertain tasks. @Mentioning others for feedback provides a safe space to raise red flags or propose bold solutions. One idea is adding a “Risky/Challenging Tasks” column where people can volunteer, log blockers, and brainstorm solutions. By doing so, the team demonstrates courage in facing tough work head-on.

Focus

A Kanban-style layout helps everyone concentrate on the current sprint goals. To reduce distractions, you can filter the board by priority, sprint number, or “In Progress” status. During a sprint, hide non-sprint backlog items so the board only shows tasks relevant to that period. This ensures each user’s focus remains on the most critical items.

Openness

Real-time updates, comments, and activity logs in Jotform Boards foster transparency. Everyone sees who’s working on what and any recent status changes. By granting viewer or editor permissions, you can share the board with the entire scrum team — and even stakeholders if appropriate. This level of visibility encourages openness and reduces guesswork on overall progress.

Respect

When tasks are assigned with clear descriptions, team members know exactly what’s expected of them. This prevents misunderstandings and encourages constructive dialogue. You can also use comments for peer feedback or to praise finished tasks, and even celebrate completions with emojis or “Done” reactions. Such gestures show respect for each other’s efforts and keep morale high.

Check out Jotform Boards features to explore how to tailor boards to your unique team requirements. The tool’s flexibility aligns perfectly with scrum values, whether you’re handling sprint planning, daily standups, or retrospectives.

Tips for sustaining scrum values

Following the scrum framework is one thing; keeping its values alive is another. To truly embed them into your team culture, it helps to adopt intentional strategies that reinforce the “why” behind the process.

• Regular check-ins: Beyond daily scrums, consider recurring one-on-one sessions or smaller group discussions. This can encourage greater openness and respect.
• Leadership buy-in: Scrum masters and product owners should embody the values. If leaders show commitment and courage, the rest of the team is more likely to follow.
• Celebrate small wins: Acknowledge instances when someone goes the extra mile. Recognizing positive behavior reinforces it.
• Retrospective focus: Instead of only discussing “what went wrong,” highlight how the team demonstrated scrum values during the sprint. This keeps them top of mind.
• Ongoing education: Encourage the team to read case studies, attend agile meetups, or enroll in scrum master classes. Continuous learning keeps energy levels high and builds deeper respect for the framework.

Scrum values — commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect — are at the heart of high-performing agile teams. They guide daily behaviors, shape decision-making, and make core scrum events meaningful. While the scrum principles and broader agile methodology outline how work is structured, the values bring about positive cultural shifts and deeper collaboration.

Ultimately, scrum values improve productivity, bring teams closer together, and fuel a sense of shared purpose and mutual respect. Whether you’re planning a new software release or rolling out a marketing campaign, integrating these values can create an environment where every team member feels empowered to share ideas, tackle challenges, and adapt to shifting requirements. If you’re eager to enhance collaboration and deliver consistently, start by embracing and modeling these five values every day. Supportive tools like Jotform Boards can help. With a solution like this, teams can visually track commitments, encourage bold solutions, maintain focus, promote transparent updates, and reinforce respect. Give it a try for free today.

Photo by Yan Krukau