Scrum Values Retrospective
Reflect on commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect in day-to-day work.
Commitment
Where did we commit well—or where did commitment waver?
Courage
Where did we speak up, try hard things, or avoid hard truths?
Focus
What helped or hurt our focus on the goal?
Openness
Transparency about progress, risk, and learning.
Respect
Psychological safety, inclusivity, and how people treated each other.
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What is the Scrum Values Retrospective?
The Scrum Values Retrospective is a framework-specific format that uses the five official Scrum values—Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect—as lenses for team reflection. These values were codified in the Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland and represent the behavioral foundations that make Scrum effective. While most retrospective formats focus on processes and outcomes, this format examines the underlying values that drive team behavior.
Each value column asks the team to reflect on how well they embodied that value during the sprint. "Commitment" explores whether the team honored their sprint goals and supported each other in delivering on promises. "Courage" examines whether team members spoke up about problems, tried difficult things, and made hard decisions. "Focus" assesses whether the team maintained concentration on sprint goals without being pulled into distractions. "Openness" evaluates transparency about progress, risks, and challenges. "Respect" checks psychological safety, inclusivity, and interpersonal dynamics.
This values-based approach is powerful because it addresses the root causes of most team dysfunction. Process problems are usually symptoms of values problems. If code reviews are slow, the underlying issue might be a lack of commitment to the team over individual work, or a lack of respect for the reviewer time. The Scrum Values format targets these root causes directly.
When to use the Scrum Values Retrospective
This format is most valuable for Scrum teams that want to deepen their practice beyond mechanical process compliance. Use it when the team is technically following Scrum but the outcomes are not improving—this often indicates that the ceremonies are happening but the underlying values are not being lived. It is also excellent for newly formed Scrum teams establishing their culture, as it explicitly names the behaviors expected in a healthy Scrum team.
The format works best with teams of three to nine people (the Scrum-recommended team size) and requires 60 to 75 minutes because five columns need adequate discussion time. Use it quarterly alongside your regular sprint retro format, or whenever the team has experienced interpersonal friction that process changes alone will not resolve.
Avoid this format for teams that do not practice Scrum—the values will feel imposed rather than organic. Also avoid it when the team is in survival mode and needs tactical process fixes rather than cultural reflection. If the team cannot deliver basic sprint commitments, focusing on values may feel disconnected from their immediate reality. Stabilize the basics first, then use this format to elevate team culture.
How to facilitate the Scrum Values Retrospective
Begin by reading the five values and providing one concrete example of each from recent team experience. This calibration is essential because the values are abstract and people interpret them differently. For example, "courage" might mean "speaking up in sprint planning when scope is too large" or "admitting you are stuck and asking for help." Give the team eight to ten minutes for silent reflection and writing—values reflection requires more introspective time than process reflection.
Process one value at a time. For each value, read the cards, group themes, and facilitate a discussion guided by two questions: "Where did we live this value well?" and "Where did we fall short?" Balance positive and negative observations—each value should include both examples of strength and opportunities for growth. Resist the temptation to rush through all five values; it is better to deeply explore three than superficially cover all five.
After processing the values, ask: "Which value needs the most attention in our next sprint?" Select one or two values to focus on and create specific behavioral commitments: "To demonstrate more courage, we commit to flagging scope risks in sprint planning even when stakeholders are present." These behavioral commitments are different from process action items—they are about how the team will show up, not what they will do.
Tips for getting the most out of the Scrum Values Retrospective
The most common pitfall is treating this as a judgment exercise rather than a growth exercise. "We failed at commitment" is not useful. "Our commitment wavered when the P1 bug disrupted our sprint goal, and we did not renegotiate scope with the product owner" identifies a specific scenario, a specific gap, and points toward a specific improvement. Always ground values discussions in concrete examples to prevent them from becoming abstract moralizing.
Be especially careful with the "Respect" column. This is where interpersonal issues surface, and they can be sensitive. If respect concerns emerge, facilitate with care: focus on patterns rather than incidents, and on situations rather than individuals. "We sometimes interrupt each other in planning" is safer and more actionable than naming a specific interrupter. If serious respect issues surface, consider a private follow-up rather than a group discussion.
Rotate which values get deep attention across multiple sessions. If you focus on Courage and Openness one quarter, emphasize Commitment and Focus the next. This rotation ensures all five values receive periodic attention without making any single session feel overwhelming. Over the course of a year, the team develops fluency in all five values and can self-assess without needing the formal retro structure.
Variations and adaptations
For remote teams, consider a pre-session anonymous survey where each team member rates the team's performance on each value from one to five. Share the aggregated results (not individual ratings) at the start of the retro as a discussion catalyst. Divergence in ratings is especially informative: if half the team rates Focus as a five and half rates it as a two, understanding that gap becomes the most valuable conversation in the session.
For async teams, assign one value per day for a five-day reflection week. Each day, team members post one observation about that value in a shared channel. By Friday, the team has a rich collection of observations across all five values. The synchronous session on Friday synthesizes themes and creates commitments. This drip approach produces more thoughtful reflection than asking people to address all five values simultaneously.
A popular variation for non-Scrum teams replaces the Scrum values with team-generated values. Run a values discovery session where the team identifies their own five core values, then use those as the retrospective columns going forward. This personalized version is more authentic and often more powerful because the team has ownership of the values they are reflecting on. Another adaptation for coaching contexts adds a "What would [value] look like at its best?" prompt that encourages aspirational thinking alongside current-state reflection.
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