Spirit of the Game


... the Scrum framework does not have all answers, which means problems arise when the framework provides no explicit solution.

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Rules are written, whereas the spirit that governs human behavior has deeper roots in oral, conventional, and tacit culture.

Cricket is a game that owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its Laws but also within the Spirit of the Game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself. The major responsibility for ensuring the spirit of fair play rests with the captains. (http://www.lords.org/laws-and-spirit/laws-of-cricket/preamble-to-the-laws,475,AR.html)

From the laws of cricket:

4. The Spirit of the Game involves RESPECT for:

Your opponents

Your own captain and team

The role of the umpires

The game and its traditional values

Captains and umpires together set the tone for the conduct of a cricket match. Every player is expected to make an important contribution to the tone of each game.

On 16 May 1999 the actions of the captain in a world cup cricket game caused the umpire to intervene even in the absence of any explicit violation of a cricket law. The captain of the Indian team complained to the umpire that the South African captain was using an earpiece to communicate with the coach. The earpiece, though not in violation of a stated law of cricket, was in violation of the spirit of the game. The umpire instructed the players to remove the earpieces on the grounds that they broke this spirit (ESPN Cricinfo, http://www.espncricinfo.com/page2/content/story/82603.html).

Forces

Individuals may break the spirit

pursuing their own goals instead of the team goal

change is uncomfortable for them "we have always done it like this."

habits

Organizations as a whole may break the spirit

short-term gains

difference between feeling finished and done

Informal structure sometimes works against the spirit and is used as an excuse to violate it. On the other hand, being

Principles supporting these forces

  • Missing spirit

  • Misunderstanding of the spirit

  • Ignoring the spirit

  • Forced to break the spirit

  • Treating Scrum as a methodology rather than a framework

Therefore:

Explicitly create a culture in the organization where people know and follow the spirit of Scrum.

  • Lead by example

  • Follow the spirit of the Agile Manifesto

  • Follow Scrum values

Examples:

  • A team member comes over to another team member and demands that he stops working on the task he is working on and start on another task.

  • A Vice President demands a fixed date and scope.

  • A Project Manager is uncomfortable with self-organization and continues to micro-manage the development team.

  • As a manager “tries to improve” the Scrum implementation he orders the development team to use a specific Scrum tracking tool.

  • A resource manager changes the team every Sprint trying to optimize the match between the Team's knowledge and the expertise needed.

The team member, Vice President, Product Manager and the managers each claim that their action violates no rules in the Scrum Guide and that they are therefore working according to Scrum.

The above examples are technically not in contradiction with the Scrum Guide. But more importantly, they are also not in the spirit of the Agile Manifesto and its 16 principles. As Scrum is under the umbrella of these values we see how each example breaks at least one principle: "Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done."

To create the culture you have to be the culture. Or, as Ghandi said: Be the change you want to see.

Related patterns: see Patron and Community of Trust.