What is the Scrum Values Retrospective?
The Scrum Values retrospective asks your team how well it lives the five values at the heart of Scrum: Courage, Focus, Openness, Respect and Commitment. You take each value in turn and look at how it shows up in daily work. Splitting them out makes the conversation concrete. Instead of asking whether the team is 'doing Scrum well', you're asking whether people speak up about problems, protect their focus time and follow through on what they agreed. The five values are set out in the Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. They're what make the events and artifacts work, because practices like daily stand-ups and retros depend on trust and honesty. This retrospective helps your team look past the mechanics of the process at how people actually work together.
Scrum Values Retrospective Format
Courage
How do we tackle tough problems?
Courage in Scrum means facing difficult situations and challenges head-on. Encourage participants to share instances where they've shown courage or where they feel the team needs more courage. Look for examples of speaking up, admitting mistakes, or taking calculated risks.
Focus
How can we improve focus on our goals?
Focus is the team's ability to concentrate on the current sprint work and project goals. Guide the discussion toward distractions and ways to stay focused. Consider focus challenges for individuals and for the team as a whole.
Openness
How do we stay open to new things?
Openness involves transparency about work, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. Encourage discussion about information sharing, willingness to try new approaches, and receptiveness to feedback. Look for ways to create a more open environment.
Respect
How do we respect each other?
Respect means acknowledging each team member's contributions and treating everyone as capable, independent people. Guide the discussion to explore how respect is shown (or could be improved) in daily interactions, decision-making, and collaboration.
Commitment
How can we make our commitments a reality?
Commitment in Scrum means dedicating yourself to team goals and continuous improvement. Focus the discussion on how well the team follows through on sprint commitments, process improvements, and personal development goals.
When to use this retrospective
- When your team is new to Scrum and needs to understand the values in practice.
- When team dynamics or performance problems suggest people have drifted from the values.
- As part of a quarterly team health check, alongside your regular sprint retros.
- Before a big change or a hard stretch that will test how the team works together.
Suggested icebreaker questions
- Which Scrum value do you find easiest to practice and why?
- Share a recent moment when you saw a teammate show one of these values.
Want a warm-up your team plays, not just answers out loud? Browse free icebreakers →
Ideas and tips for your retrospective meeting
- Ask for specific examples. They're easier to act on than general statements.
- Have each person rate the team on each value and plot the results on a radar chart.
- Make it safe to be honest. No team lives all five values perfectly, and saying so up front helps.
- Try discussing one value a day in the run-up to the retro, so people arrive with examples.
- Record a concrete action for each value so you can track progress.
- Use real moments from recent sprints to show where a value was lived, or wasn't.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five Scrum values?
When should you run a Scrum Values retrospective?
What questions does a Scrum Values retrospective ask?
Why do the Scrum values matter?
How often should you run a Scrum Values retrospective?
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