Týr

I have been working in a scrum team for a number of sprints. This post is not to advocate the process, In reality I think scrum just boils down to talking to people and helping out. This is just to point out the positive aspects of scrum and how they align to a set of virtues people have emulated. For scrums part these are the attitudes and practices that I have seen led to positive results. The virtues I will be speaking of come from the Odinic rite and Astaru practices. Don't give them too much weight they were made up in the 70's by dungeons and dragons players with too much time on their hands. I am using them as chastity really doesn't have a place in scrum and wrath may actually be useful.

Per the fifteen second wiki search I did in my research the values of Astaru are as flows. I will try to address each point by point with thoughts on scrum.

• Courage: In the face of a project that is new and untried say yes I want to do that project myself. You will learn from it and will have a better idea of what the next project may take. Also your team develops an air of getting things done.
• Truth: Don't veil your words you need to be open and honest with your team. If you don't speak your mind nothing will change. Also sometimes two voices are heard when one is not. Adding your agreement and support to someone is a big thing.
• Honour: Give your team faith in their skills. You are going to work cross functionally if you are getting scrum right. Honor your coworkers by trusting them when they take up work in your area of experience. Also take advice they give, maybe they have seen things from a different light.
• Fidelity: Treat your team as family, you may have issues within the team but not outside. Speak of the team as a hole but challenges as your own. Have your team members back even when other work pulls you aside for the team. You need to finish tasks and not leave people waiting on you.
• Discipline: This is really something that is assumed in all work environments, but for scrum try to work within the needs of other team members. QA may speak in bugs so dev should be attentive to the bug tracking system. Design may need to give more documentation that calls out specifics they may not normally have listed, so that those code the page can give them what they want.
• Hospitality: Attend to each of your team members and if they are needing provide for them. If they need to complain then listen. If their voice is not heard create a forum so it is. If they are being wronged work to set it right.
• Self Reliance: When you take a task own that task from beginning to end. It is fine to need help, it is not fine to not seek that help.
• Industriousness: If you finish your tasks take more. Keep those post it notes flying across the board.
• Perseverance: If something is pushed from a sprint to the next thats fine you can finish it next time. Don't throw away your work because you missed a sprint deadline. Keep at things even when you know they are not going to be finished. Do what you can.
  

Well that's it. Please let me know if this is a help or where I am wrong.

Jim Rickel