Jorgen Hesselberg

One of my favorite characteristics of Scrum is that it is so beautifully simple that it can be neatly summarized in the 19 pages of the Scrum Guide, which is updated periodically by Scrum co-creators Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. Although the essential elements of Scrum have remained largely unchanged since its inception, the framework continues to evolve, and the Scrum Guide has been updated four times as of this writing.

One of the most significant changes came in 2016, when the Scrum Guide introduced the five Scrum Values: Commitment, Courage, Focus, Openness, and Respect. The reason these values are so important is that they create the foundation for sustainable, high-performing teams. Without values to guide teams’ norms and behaviors, it’s easy to lose intentionality and direction. The five values, therefore, influence the way teams work and help us grow an organizational culture of continuous improvement.

Although each of the values plays a critical role in Scrum, I believe Openness is particularly important. Scrum Teams embrace empiricism, confront reality, and at times deal with inconvenient truths. That requires transparency (one of the empirical pillars of Scrum) and the mindset to view potentially uncomfortable information as opportunities for improvement, not something to avoid or sweep under the carpet.

One of the best examples I’ve seen of embracing Openness as a value was at Toyota, when I visited its lift truck plant in Indiana a few years ago. I felt fortunate to observe the factory and inspect the many techniques, practices, and methods that manifest the deep teachings of Lean. As we were going through the plant, I turned to the chief engineer and asked him about Toyota’s approach to handling defects.

The engineer smiled at me and let me know they were thinking of renaming “defects” to “treasures.” I remember getting confused—why would Toyota re-label their defects? And “treasures”? At first, it reminded me of some of the less-than-successful companies I’ve worked with before that labeled defects as “features” to help everyone look better on status reports.

The engineer quickly picked up on my puzzled look and explained: “We’re considering renaming defects to treasures because they are providing us with immense value. When we find a defect, it is a gift—it is revealing information about the system that will help us improve it. These are flaws we did not know about until the defect ‘told’ us.”

I could tell he was getting excited to explain further. The engineer continued: “We then go to the root of the defect, understand the cause for why it appeared in the first place, and then we fix the problem to ensure it never happens again. The system is now stronger, more resilient, and healthier as a result of this defect telling us this valuable information—it is indeed a treasure.”

The example illustrates the power of Openness: not only does Toyota confront reality by “welcoming” the flaw, they take immediate action on the root cause of the defect so that it does not occur again. As the engineer explained, the overall system has now been improved as a direct result of intelligence provided by the defect.

As you explore the other 96 Things every Scrum Practitioner should know, this one deserves to be near the top of your list: Openness and transparency are fundamental to Scrum and the continuous improvement mindset so clearly evident at industry leaders like Toyota.