Scrum Requires Psychological Safety
In a recent webcast (1) I mentioned that Scrum by its nature, assumes psychological safety exists in order for Scrum as a practice to function. Furthermore I would assert that for Scrum to be truly successful Scrum absolutely requires psychological safety to be established both inside and outside of the Scrum Team.
My feeling is that within the Scrum Guide, psychological safety is an implied practice, not explicitly mentioned nor referenced as an essential element. But without psychological safety Scrum and the essential people who enact the framework, may function, but cant’t flourish.
Before I go there any further, lets delve into a definition of what psychological safety is, and more importantly what it is not.