Business Value

Value is an important concept in Agile.

The first principle in the Agile Manifesto is:

“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.”

In the Scrum Guide we read:

“Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value.”

But what is Business Value?

At a brainstorm session about Business Value, organised by the Liberators, in which about 40 Scrum Masters from various countries and different kinds of companies participated, we arrived at the following conclusions:

• Business Value is complicated,
• nobody measures it(!),
• it is the most important concept to give direction to our work.

Business Value is complicated because it comprises many things. It is basically a compendium of what all stakeholders experience as value. It includes both quantitative and qualitative components. And to make it even more interesting, it includes both a rational and an emotional component. And did I mention that it also varies over time?
Last but not least, not all value is created equal, so the different types of value need to be weighed according to their importance. For example, user value is usually the most important.