This post if part of a Creative Scrum series where we explore the how to apply agile for creative teams.

Some backstory is needed to understand, interpret and apply insights from my creative Scrum experience.

So let's begin.

You Can't Really Know Where You Are Going Until You Know Where You Have Been 
- Maya Angelou.

Scrum Backstory

Scrum is an established framework. The agile movement began with the agile manifesto in 2001 in the software development community. 

Scrum actually predated this by over a decade and involved many of the same people. Scrum also had its origin in the world of software development, though in recent years, Scrum is expanding further and further beyond this initial domain. 

If you're new to Scrum, there are many great resources out there. Especially if you’re coming from a non-software background, I recommend working through my Everyday Scrum Guide.

My Backstory 

My journey in both traditional and agile project management began in a non-profit called Cru, which was focused on the leadership development and spiritual formation of high school and college students. 

I began in the area of designing and planning events, moved into branding and marketing projects and then found a space in our creative department. 

Building agile teams is centered around people, and people have stories.

Most of my project management education was self-driven through online classes, books, and finding PMs outside my organization who could be mentors. It felt like every time I would learn something new, I would think, "I wish I knew this last year." But I continued to learn, earn a few certifications along the way and apply it all to my leadership. 

Organizational Backstory

I arrived in the creative department shortly after multiple successive major restructures, which were the equivalent of a 14-way merger. The team I was joining had developed a healthy creative culture but was struggling under the combined weight of increasing design requests and a lack of defined organizational processes. 

The organization had restructured again two or three times in the past couple of years and still didn't have set priorities to organize around. Project management practices were being established in some pockets but not broadly understood in any department. 

Whether you’re coming in new to a team or you’ve been there a while, take time to learn or reflect on the backstories that brought you to where you are today.

This combination of factors made the production role in the creative department a heroic effort. We described it as trying to be the air traffic controller of a major airport while standing on the tarmac holding flairs. You only could work with what you could see in the sky and who could see you.

If nothing changed, this role would continue to be a revolving door of well-intentioned but burnt-out leaders. 

As a non-profit, another interesting storyline is that all the employees individually raised money for their job. This meant compensation was directly tied to performance resulting in dynamics across the organization that, at times, felt more like working with volunteers than employees. 

This certainly added its own complexity, but I believe it also called for greater leadership to lead from influence, not position.

Translation

As the stories of Scrum and Cru began to intertwine, it was like they were from different worlds and for the relationship to grow, some significant translation was needed. 

When referencing popular Scrum materials, we needed to translate from the for-profit to the non-profit context as well as from the domain of software development to creative design. This lack of contextualized materials is part of what led me to write both the everyday scrum guide and the creative scrum guide.

We described it as trying to be the air traffic controller of a major airport while standing on the tarmac holding flairs. You only could work with what you could see in the sky and who could see you.

Translation included the language we used as well as the events and artifacts we implemented. We began with a more pure Scrum implementation and then inspected and adapted it. We also had the additional translation for factors like newly remote creative team leadership not being familiar with agile project management. 

The production team I led was constantly refactoring and asking how Scrum would work given these aspects of our organization. You'll see this play out in detail through the posts over the next few weeks.

Lead with Empathy

The agile manifesto leads out with, “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” Building agile teams is centered around people, and people have stories. If you’re going to lead effectively, you must take time to learn those stories.

Leaders who can take an empathetic approach will be at a significant advantage. Empathy involves a posture that seeks to understand and honor the experience of another person. It involves looking deeper than just what we see on the surface. 

If nothing changed, this role would continue to be a revolving door of well-intentioned but burnt-out leaders.

But when we have empathy, it changes our mindsets as leaders. When someone makes a mistake or does something that would normally upset you, you can respond with compassion rather than react with frustration.

Whether you’re coming in new to a team or you’ve been there a while, take time to learn or reflect on the backstories that brought you to where you are today. Let that understanding empower your leadership with empathy. 

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