Skip to main content

What are the principles of Scrum ? Are they same as the principles of agile - if not, could someone help me with the list

Last post 05:09 pm October 2, 2024 by Venkata Surya Sita Rama Varma Uppalapati
5 replies
01:17 am May 28, 2022

I get this question a lot from interviewers for the job applications of Scrum Master role - What are the principles of Scrum ? I have been through the latest Scrum Guide multiple times but there is not a single mention of the word 'principles' in the Scrum Guide. As per my knowledge, I do have the understanding of the Scrum pillars and Scrum values, but could someone please help with listing the Scrum principles ?


06:05 am May 28, 2022

The Scrum Guide, the effective operation or use of which would be impossible if any one of the principles was to be ignored.


11:52 pm June 2, 2022

Thanks Ian.

I found this list mentioning 6 principles of Scrum on one of the sources from the internet. I hope these are correct.

  1. Empirical process control
  2. Self Organization
  3. Collaboration
  4. Value based prioritisation
  5. Time boxing
  6. Iterative development

05:50 pm June 3, 2022

I don't think those are principles.  In fact, if there were supposed to be principals associated, I expect that Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland would have included them.  Instead they opted to include 3 pillars(Transparency, Inspection, Adaption) and 5 values(Commitment, Focus, Openness, Respect, Courage). 

When people ask me that question, the above is my answer.  If the interviewer believes that there are principles, I assume that they are not completely familiar with the Scrum framework and help them better understand. 


09:43 am June 7, 2022

Thank you Daniel.

Your explanation makes perfect sense !! I will elaborate on scrum pillars and values if asked again in future.


09:04 am October 2, 2024

Thank you Daniel, this answers my question regarding Scrum Principles. Thanks Mehul for the Question. 


By posting on our forums you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

Please note that the first and last name from your Scrum.org member profile will be displayed next to any topic or comment you post on the forums. For privacy concerns, we cannot allow you to post email addresses. All user-submitted content on our Forums may be subject to deletion if it is found to be in violation of our Terms of Use. Scrum.org does not endorse user-submitted content or the content of links to any third-party websites.

Terms of Use

Scrum.org may, at its discretion, remove any post that it deems unsuitable for these forums. Unsuitable post content includes, but is not limited to, Scrum.org Professional-level assessment questions and answers, profanity, insults, racism or sexually explicit content. Using our forum as a platform for the marketing and solicitation of products or services is also prohibited. Forum members who post content deemed unsuitable by Scrum.org may have their access revoked at any time, without warning. Scrum.org may, but is not obliged to, monitor submissions.