Applying Agile principles to business strategy using psychology:Expanding the Definition of Customer Value
Novelty Note:While the SCARF model has been applied to Agile team dynamics and customer experience, this post introduces a new synthesis: applying Scrum thinking + SCARF psychology to identify “invisible increments” — high-societal-value groups like construction workers — as underserved customer segments.
Context
Scrum emphasizes delivering valuable increments frequently and maintaining a strong focus on the customer. Yet many organizations prioritize high-revenue segments, overlooking essential workers who provide enormous societal value but are rarely recognized in strategic planning.
I call this oversight the “Invisible Increment.”
The Invisible Increment
Take construction workers as an example. They produce a “Done” increment every day — buildings, roads, and infrastructure that enable all other business operations.
Yet they are often ignored as a meaningful customer segment. This contradicts Agile thinking, where real value goes beyond what is easily measurable.
Are we optimizing for the highest societal value or just the highest transactional value?
Using SCARF to Redefine Customer Value
To address this blind spot, I would like to use David Rock’s SCARF Model, which identifies five drivers of human motivation:
- Status
- Certainty
- Autonomy
- Relatedness
- Fairness
These dimensions help redefine value in a human-centric way. Value is not only financial — it is psychological.
Example: A Fast, Empathy-Driven Agile Increment
Imagine a retailer launching a simple initiative:
“To all construction workers: thank you for building our community. Anyone with one year of experience can receive an immediate discount on essential safety gear.”
Why is this an Agile increment?
- It is simple and fast to launch
- It directly addresses SCARF needs (Status, Fairness, Relatedness)
- It generates immediate customer feedback
- It builds a human-centered relationship, not just a transaction
The first increment delivered is recognition, not the discount.
Key Takeaways
- Accelerate Feedback Loops – Emotional response gives rapid confirmation of value.
- Deliver the Highest Value First – For overlooked groups, recognition > pricing.
- Reveal Hidden Customer Segments – Scrum emphasizes value; psychology helps identify where it actually exists.
- Strengthen Human-Centered Strategy – Agile is not only a delivery method; it is a mindset that prioritizes people.
Discussion Questions
- How can Scrum teams help organizations identify their own “invisible increments”?
- Should Agile organizations use psychological models like SCARF to define value?
- Have you seen examples where recognition delivered more value than a feature or discount?
The concept of 'invisible increments' is fascinating. I believe it complements Evidence-based Management (EBM) very well.
In EBM, we consider 'current value', which is the value we already deliver to our customers, and 'unrealised value', which is the additional value we could deliver.
'Invisible increments' refer to the part of unrealised value that has not yet been recognised. In this context, 'invisible unrealised value' is a more appropriate term.
When we try to measure unrealised value, we naturally only measure the visible part and may overlook the invisible part.
Considering psychological factors such as which people are often overlooked and how we can increase customer value by providing recognition can definitely help to uncover 'invisible unrealised value'.
Therefore, thank you for your thoughts.
Hi Benedikt,
Thank you so much for taking the time to reflect so deeply on the idea.
I really appreciate how you connected invisible increments to EBM — especially the way you framed it as invisible unrealised value. That wording is much more precise, and I agree that psychological factors and overlooked groups fit naturally into that dimension.
Your perspective adds clarity to my concept, and I’m grateful for that.
Thank you again for your thoughtful contribution.
I was not familiar with the SCARF model, and my first reaction to "yet another acronym" was probably a SCARF response in itself. But I do see value in using it to understand stakeholder perceptions.
On “invisible increments”: I believe this is often a symptom of weak stakeholder engagement. When people don’t understand why technical or architectural work matters, it feels "invisible". Better communication and awareness of emotional drivers, like certainty, fairness, and status, can make these increments more meaningful.
I have also seen resistance not just to technical work, but to Agile itself. Agile can feel threatening to people who are used to traditional project management, because it challenges status, certainty, and long-held ways of working. SCARF can help explain these reactions and guide change more effectively.
Overall, SCARF seems useful for understanding the human side of value, especially when reactions are emotional rather than functional.
Great point, Pierre! I like how you connect invisible increments to stakeholder engagement and emotional drivers. I think combining SCARF with small recognition experiments could make these increments more visible and meaningful.
Hello Medhi, I read this and thought, this goes way beyond my boundaries of what I associate with scrum and agile. I associated what you wrote a lot more with my experiences in marketing, where we spent time identifying market segments (construction workers) and establishing brand emotions (this company respects the common man).
I see little in your post that I see as the key aspects of scrum/agile thinking namely, small increments and collaboration. You might argue that the 10% discount for construction workers is a small increment. But is it? How do you verify someone working for a year in construction? Do the IT systems need to be updated? Is there a maximum purchase? How do I get this message out there? What's the media strategy? How do I know this generated the results that I intended and my company is now has an improved association with "fairness"?
Overall, when you talk of delivering value, you are mainly talking about delivering value to the company, primarily through improving the public perception of the company. This sort of intangible outcome is nothing new and often discussed in the marketing world. Using SCARF to identify potential marketing campaigns is valid, but does have to have anything to do with Scrum or Agile? I think not. The idea for the discount could come from anywhere, the implementation could be done via any form of project management. I really don't see the connection at all.
Hello DJ MIC,
Thank you for taking the time to read my article and share your perspective. I’d like to clarify one point that may help connect it more clearly to Agile. The true increment I describe is the recognition of often-overlooked groups, like construction workers—not the discount or material incentive. The discount was only an illustrative example to show one possible way of delivering that recognition.
The core idea is that making the invisible visible—acknowledging human value—can be treated as a real Agile increment because it delivers immediate psychological feedback, provides a reinforcing feedback loop for them, aligns with SCARF principles, and can positively influence behavior.
I just wanted to clarify this so the focus on recognition as the main increment is clear. I’d be happy to discuss further if you’d like to explore how human-centered increments can fit within Agile practices.