A Scrum Master Guide to Improving Value Delivered

By Stephanie Ockerman and Simon Reindl
Oct 29, 2019

␡

What is Value?
Delivering Faster Is a Good Start, But Not Enough
Product Value and the Scrum Team
Using the Product Vision to Enliven Team Purpose, Focus, and Identity
Measuring Value
Inspecting and Adapting Based on Feedback
Summary
Call to Action

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Product Value and the Scrum Team

In Scrum, the Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the outcomes that the product will deliver to customers, thereby maximizing the value realized by the organization.

This focus on value and outcomes represents a change for organizations in which output has historically been the measure of success. Output measures things that are produced or consumed, such as features delivered or story points. Output is easy to measure, but it is of only secondary importance: The number of features delivered is irrelevant if none of those features improves the lives or capabilities of the customer. Features delivered matters only in consideration of profitability or time-to-market, but if they produced nothing of value then they are simply waste.

IN PRACTICE: MEASURING PROGRESS AND SUCCESS

When people talk about “status” or “progress,” listen for the mindset driving the discussion. If it is just about percent complete, number of features built, or red/ yellow/green status, ask some powerful questions that bring focus to the value of the product:

Could we achieve all of these measures and still be unsuccessful?
How are we validating assumptions about the user needs or the market demand?
What are we learning about value? How is this guiding our product decisions?
What has changed with our users or our competitive environment since we began this initiative?

Too often, “percent complete” and similar discussions hide an assumption that everything on the “wish list” is important and valuable. The aforementioned studies prove that they are not. Instead of worrying about whether everything will get done, focus discussions on how you can more quickly test assumptions about value to reduce waste and increase the value that you deliver.

The Scrum Team determines its process within the Scrum Framework. This process includes defining value, delivering value, and measuring value. Although the Product Owner remains accountable, it is likely that a Product Owner needs help. The Product Owner needs input from stakeholders, including customers, users, and Development Team members. The Product Owner also depends on the Development Team to actually deliver value, so it’s important that those team members understand the outcomes that customers seek to better inform decisions.⁴

The Product Backlog creates transparency into the relative importance of the work that the Product Owner believes will maximize value delivered. When it’s used most effectively, it forms the foundation for a dialogue with the rest of the Scrum Team as well as stakeholders, about what is valuable.

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