Applying the Scrum Value of Courage

One approach is just to put transparency over these shortcomings and their effects, and then ask people what they think about it. This can be challenging enough, because the value of openness often requires courage to implement. It demands great patience about outcomes and it carries its own risks.

Change may or may not happen, and there are times when you might have to choose between your job and your profession.

Change may or may not happen, and there are times when you might have to choose between your job and your profession.

Now that is a statement that is highly underrated. If it is so hard to create the change, or have the desired effect, is this really the place or department you want to be working at? It takes courage to go against the grain, even if that might mean changing place. 

Besides that there a ton of examples how you can demonstrate courage. That might be saying no to stakeholders as they come standing next to your desk, for the PO to say no to the customer, to speak up if there is something on your mind, to ask for forgiveness in stead of permission and so on.

Steve, I had the exact same question run through my head MANY days at my previous employer.  (I was let go mid-August when my company was acquired and the new owners were "eliminating duplicate positions".)  One thing that sort of helped me was that after studying the Scrum Guide and some soul searching on my own principles around empiricism and agility I decided that one Scrum Value is not enough. In most cases you have to be able and willing to use multiple of the values at the same time.  My conclusion is that you can't apply courage without at least one one other. And in the case you allude to I'd say that respect and focus are going to be required.  Courage to state where other's behaviors are not conducive and supporting of Scrum. Focus on why and how the other's behaviors can become conducive and supportive if approached differently.  Respect for the others knowing that they are not intentionally doing something harmful but haven't been capable of seeing the detriment they are producing. 

I love @Ian Mitchell's last statement. Reality is that we all need to have jobs to make money to live so that decisions comes into play.  But also consider if you are willing to sacrifice your morals over a job because I once left a Asst VP job because I couldn't support the company practices and live with myself for doing it. 

@Daniel Wilhite, I'm sorry to hear about your situation, hope something better comes through.

I posted this question because in my previous job I crashed and burned when I was more vocal. In my new job, I tried to be as careful and diplomatic as possible but I can easily sense how people flare up when they are challenged ever so mildly, their egos and their superiority (through tenure) starts kicking in. It's like a death stare where you are forced to shut up. They talk about being transparent and about the scrum values but its just a facade. They force scrum into everything to create a structure (rather a hierarchy) and the result is a dysfunctional team, yet they continue.

What makes matters worse is the number of these "coaches" keep increasing but they don't know why they are using scrum or kanban. Everything is a user story, user story has only one format i.e. As a user.... etc. The teams that are new to all this are learning the wrong things from the start.

If you have seen this TV series called "The Boys", then I feel like that character Starlight amongst The Seven; conflicted, wanting to break free, yet feeling helpless and having to be a part of that group.

With the rate of change so high and only expected to increase over the next ten years, a company being able to adapt to change in an effective and efficient way is essential to ensuring it's survival.  Maybe elevating the discussion to this level could help align thinking.  It could also help to look for support from someone in upper management who can help champion this train of thought.

The below approach has worked for me, but I'm not "prescribing" it as something that everyone else should do.

As I've matured as a Scrum Master, I have become less and less concerned about ruffling someone's feathers with an observation or question about how they are working.   Tread careful though with asking powerful questions or making observations in a group setting.   Those occasions rarely go well, as people can feel challenged or called out.   I try my hardest to approach such feedback delicately (i.e. - ask permission first, talk 1-on-1 whenever possible).   

In my opinion, as long as I am standing firm in Scrum, and I work in a very honest and transparent way 

(ex: I don't have all the answers), then I should have nothing to fear.   Approaching Scrum and Agile this way does involve some risk around job security, and I've heard from a number of people tell me they wish they could say the things I say.   I just wouldn't want to work in any other manner, so I intentionally don't, and I let the chips fall however they may.

I also firmly believe that my faith plays a large part in my ability to work this way, as I have a high level of conviction and confidence around my ability to recognize poor practices,  and my desire to help others see them too.