Delivering Value Is So Important

I was talking to a colleague a while back about the primary accountability of Scrum teams. They said that it is the job of an agile team to create value.

I disagree.

An agile team's job is to deliver value.

There's a subtle difference between creating value and delivering it.

For me, it's like the difference between baking a cake and making a cake.

I can bake a cake–it only involves opening a box, adding water, and putting it in the oven. I’d eat it myself (of course!) but I wouldn’t want to serve it to my company.

But when my daughter makes a cake she puts frosting on (the best part!) and often adds little decorative flourishes with more frosting. She might write on the cake. She might even add sprinkles. Her cake is finished and potentially shippable. It could definitely be served at a dinner party, or sold at a bake sale.

Creating value is a start but it’s like a cake that hasn’t been decorated or even frosted. Delivering value goes further. It includes getting the new, valuable thing into your users’ hands.

Creating a product that users will value is a necessary start. But the product only becomes valuable once it is delivered to users.

When a team goes beyond creating value to delivering value frequently, it has learned to succeed with agile,