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Scrum - The Play
Posted on May 26, 2009
On the second day of a CSM training I was conducting, I decided to hold an exercise to test how well the previous day’s teachings had taken hold in the attendees’ freshly Scrum-laden minds. The group broke into teams and selected one question card from a deck of Scrum questions I provided. Their goal was to answer the question in the form of a presentation to the rest of the group. I was specific in that I did not care how they chose to convey the answer. They could sing a song, do a dance, perform a play, create a flipchart drawing, give a lecture, or whatever else they might feel inclined to do.
The five-person team that picked the question “What is the Scrum framework?” decided to do a brief play. It was very creative and was one of the more interesting visual representations of Scrum that I’ve seen. I wish I had videotaped it! Here’s how it went:
One gentleman standing to the side of the “stage” says: “I am a ScrumMaster. I would like to do Scrum, but first I need some very important things. Oh, if only I had a vision!”
A woman holding a large sheet of flipchart paper with “VISION” written in magic marker on it dances across the floor.
ScrumMaster: “Oh good! A vision! Now if only I had a Product Owner who could share this vision with a team!”
A man holding a flipchart paper that reads “BACKLOG” strolls coolly across the floor and stands next to the Vision.
ScrumMaster: “Great, I have a vision and a product owner and a backlog! Now all I need is a team to do the work.”
Two men step forward and wave their arms around in the air. The letters T, E, A, and M are each on Post-It Notes attached to their shirts.
ScrumMaster: “Wonderful – I have everything I need to get started! I guess we should have our Sprint Planning Meeting now.”
The ScrumMaster, Product Owner, Vision, and Delivery Team stand in a circle. The Product Owner tears off a small slice of the BACKLOG flipchart paper – essentially shearing off the B – and hands it to the Delivery Team. The Vision dances around them both as this is occurring.
The Delivery Team takes the strip of paper and starts ripping it into smaller pieces – the tasks! Once this is complete, they all commit with a showing of thumbs up.
ScrumMaster: “We are underway! Let’s check in now with our daily stand-up.” They hold a brief stand-up. Everyone is deliriously happy with the progress.
(At this point the play ends to a huge round of applause. However, the team had forgotten about the Sprint Review meeting at the end of the sprint. So instead I’ll make up the perfect ending to this play…)
ScrumMaster: “Our sprint is over! It’s time for our Sprint Review meeting!
The ScrumMaster, Product Owner, Vision, and Delivery Team stand in a circle around a laptop. A Delivery Team member pushes a button and waves his hand.
All: “Ooooooh! Aaaaaaaaah!”
Product Owner: “I accept this!” Everyone shakes hands.
-The End-
I loved the way the Vision continually danced around all parties during the play, and the way they used the flipchart paper to represent smaller and smaller chunks of work. It was a quick and simple performance of the Scrum framework and worthy of a Tony award!
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