Are Your Sprints Adding Value?

The point of living your values every day is for the purpose of adding value to your life or the lives of others. Preferably both.

The value doesn’t have to be huge. If you run 12 times a Sprint, you’re maintaining your fitness. That’s added value to you. If you commit to stepping away from work and spending an evening with your loved ones, that is added value to them - and you! If you learn a new skill that you can apply at work, that’s added value to you and the company you work for.

I believe that this is what life is all about, and Scrum for Your Life guides you through this. Some of the value you add is difficult to quantify. It’s easy to see your net worth grow if that’s your goal, but how do you measure the happiness of your friends and loved ones? Kindness adds huge value to our most casual relationships, and acting kindly makes both the giver and receiver feel better.

And what about those values you can measure? Is your running distance increasing, or your mile time decreasing? Acquiring a new skill is measurable in itself and may also result in more income. And taking a vacation is something you can count as the number of days you relaxed.

Think about this during your next Sprint Review. For those things you can quantify, do so. Don’t ignore the intangibles though. They are as important as your tangible accomplishments.