I always wondered the source of truth behind the principles of SCRUM framework.

“Scrum is founded on empirical process control theory, or empiricism. Empiricism asserts
that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known.”

Reading the above sentence in SCRUM Guide made me reflect on the concept of “Empiricism”.

Empiricism argues that insight arises from experience, interpretation, and experimentation.
Empiricism also claims that knowledge arises from experience and making judgments depending on
what is learned. Empirical methods are applicable to situations in which the problem domain is
dynamic and there is no certainty of performance from implementing a specified procedure.

While fostering decisions based on facts, the resulting experiences allows insights which are key in
nurturing excellence. The degree to which we can make informed decisions, is co-related with the
mechanisms in place.

The first step in this process to collate accurate fact-based information and make the same available
for Inspection. The next step is to Inspect with emphasis on identifying unaccepted deviation. The
last step is to make modifications to eliminate further variations depending on the observation.

These are reflected in the SCRUM Guide which refers to the three pillars which uphold every
implementation of empirical process control: transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

As I recollect the adoption of SCRUM in multiple clients, the patterns common to these success
stories has been the ability of the team to reflect these principles in their behaviour, especially the
Daily Scrum practice.

TRANSPARENCY

The Daily Scrum event allows team share progress and expose impediments, and so by laying this
foundation of transparency collaborative problem solving emerges.

INSPECTION

During Daily Scrum , the above transparency creates an opportunity to observe the patterns
emerging over a period of time . The team is able to observe the progress being made based on the
shared facts from yesterday as combined with today. While the progress is as expected the team
proceeds as planned. However, the team flags the same for action if there appears to be a challenge
or sudden shift of circumstances.

ADAPTATION

Adaptation is one of the key actions as a consequence of Daily Scrum , where in the team embodies
the SCRUM value of Courage to do the right thing . There might be situation where the Inspection
insights and analysis followed infers the need to either STOP what is being done and pivot in a
different direction or remove the impediment before moving forward . Team does an analysis on
the potential consequences as a result of this decision and then shares the same to all impacted
parties .

Exploring the foundation principles in the SCRUM framework during this Pandemic has made me
realise the importance of having strong values that drive our behaviour along with taking
accountability of our actions