Happy Friday,

Big news!

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When my kids were born, I put a lot of my own personal hobbies and interests on hold. One of those was TTRPGs (think Dungeons and Dragons). I wound up reading through things late one night, wound up on one Discord server, and then another, each with people who are passionate about these kinds of games and interested in playing.

I've had a great time playing with absolute strangers.

That started several months ago, and only recently did we all come together on a call, where someone began asking questions like what our real names are, where we live, and so on.

It turns out one of them was a Product Owner, and I couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. The call quickly shifted from discussing our love of games to them ranting about how stupid and frustrating all this agile stuff is.

I get it.

It is a real shame that so many people have spent their careers living under ineffective methods, installed "Because we're agile." It wasn't supposed to be like that.

During this call, I mentioned an exercise I conduct with groups that are struggling with the concept of agile, which I'll share with you. This is an exercise that is eye-opening for everyone, and starts the conversation about how you might best work together.

Is It Scrum/Agile!?

Played almost like a game show, the host/facilitator will list events, artifacts, practices, values, etc., and seek out a vote from the audience/team as to whether it's part of Scrum or the Agile Manifesto. After the vote, the answer is revealed and that item is moved to an appropriate column of in or out.

As the host, you'll need to observe how the teams currently work and list all the things they're currently doing, as well as what they seem to know or believe about Scrum or agile. Add to that list things you've pulled directly from the Scrum guide or manifesto, and sprinkle more in that are commonly in practice in the industry.

Here's a list to get you started. I'll put an (X) if it's not part of Scrum or the manifesto.

• Story Points (X)
• Stand Up (X)
• Daily Scrum
• Scrum Master runs the Daily Scrum (X)
• Commit to the sprint plan (X)
• Velocity (X)
• Acceptance Criteria (X)
• Epics (X)
• User Stories (X)
• "As a... I want..So That" (X)
• Definition of Done
• Definition of Ready (X)
• Sprint Review
• Sprint Demo (X)
• Refinement/Grooming is required (X)
• Shift Left (X)
• Product Owner prioritizes the backlog (X)
• Prioritize by business value (X)
• 20% budget for Tech Debt (X)
• Split stories for partial credit (X)
• Burnup/Burndown (X)
• Three questions in standup (X)
• Can't estimate in hours (X)
• The product owner can add items to a sprint (X)
• Only the product owner can cancel a sprint

You get the idea.

As the host, you simply list the item, field, or whatever question you need to make sure they understand the item, and then you call a vote. At the end of the vote, you declare the truth about the item. This will usually spark questions like, "Why do we do that?" and "Where did that come from?"

After the end of your game, debrief on what happened. There is a natural moment where everyone realizes there is a choice of how they can work together, and some of these things will continue to help, and some will not. This is the foundation to reset on what you do and why.

If you were reading that list and you were surprised by some of it, you won't be alone. The reality is, most folks are simply copying what they've always done or been told. They don't know what was a choice and what wasn't.

If you'd like to learn more about this exercise or you've done something similar, I'd love to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Ryan

PS: This exercise is one I've used many times to help build exceptional teams. The teams I help often see a 400% improvement in their development speed, regularly ship bug-free products, and say it's the best job of their career. If you want teams like that, or want to ask more about how that looks, call me.