Creative Scrum: Backstory
Every good story doesn’t begin where you think it does.
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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.
Related Guides
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.
Did you know Scrum applies to more than just developing code?
When you understand the essentials of Scrum and the nuance of how to apply it, you can use it to level up aspects of everyday life.
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.
Related Guides
Action Plan
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Scrum design
What are the three pillars of Scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars, and each leads the team to ask a critical question.
- Transparency. How does this make things more visible?
- Inspection. Where does this create space to evaluate?
- Adaptation. When does this encourage growth?
Learn how to apply the three pillars of Scrum and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What are the values of Scrum?
There are five values critical to the practice of Scrum: commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect.
- Commit to achieving the goals of the Scrum Team.
- Courage to do the right thing and work on challenging problems.
- Focus on the Sprint's work and the Scrum Team's goals.
- Open about all the work and the challenges with performing the work.
- Respect each other to be capable, independent people
Learn how to align Scrum values with your organization and then explore the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
What is the sprint goal in scrum?
The sprint goal encapsulates the product owner’s vision into a concrete statement for the development team to measure the sprint against. The sprint goal provides a theme for the sprint’s work helping the team see how all the parts come together.
Learn more about the role of the sprint goal in scrum and explore the essential Scrum glossary.
What is Scrum?
What is the definition of scrum?
Scrum is founded on three essential pillars leading teams to ask the following questions:
- How does this make things more visible? (Transparency)
- Where does this create space to evaluate? (Inspection)
- When does this encourage growth? (Adaptation)
Further explore the definition of scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is Scrum hard to learn?
This is because Scrum’s simplicity makes learning easy, but Scrum truly changes how you work, and that adjustment can be difficult. It changes power dynamics and expectations within the team and between the team and the rest of the organization.
You can explore further is Scrum hard to learn, along with the pros and cons of Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When did Scrum start?
Scrum was initially used as a term related to project management in 1986 by Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in their paper “New New Product Development Game” In the Harvard Business Review. The first recorded Scrum project came a little later in 1993 from Jeff Sutherland.
You can learn more about Scrum’s backstory. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What do all the scrum words mean?
Learning Scrum for the first time can be overwhelming. There are a lot of new terms and concepts in Scrum. I’ve listed the most common terms in a Scrum glossary.
How to use Scrum
Why use Scrum?
It forces clarity and prioritization, which provides the focus necessary for teams to be effective. Scrum embraces complexity and change by keeping many things simple and iteratively evaluating and adapting.
You can learn more about why to use Scrum and three challenges Scrum solves. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
When does Scrum not work well?
Scrum isn’t always the best option for teams. Scrum can fail when there is a substantial mismatch between organizational culture and the Scrum values. It also depends on the nature of the work you do. If you work if very linear, predictable and tightly defined, you may not experience many benefits Scrum provides.
Find out more about aligning your organizational values with Scrum or how Scrum might fit in your context. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How do I know when to use Scrum?
Scrum functions at its best when you have a dedicated team focused on developing a singular product. Its agility shines when there are time constraints combined with uncertainty.
Explore the pros and cons of Scrum along with expectations vs. realities with Scrum. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Learning to apply Scrum
How to choose between Scrum and Kanban?
Important factors include your team size and the type of work you do. Kanban is very process-oriented, so you should consider how defined, static, or long your process is?
You can explore Scrum and other agile approaches. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
How does scrum help an organization?
Scrum forces clarity and prioritization, which are critical to organizational effectiveness. It provides a competitive edge by allowing teams to adapt as the market or priorities change. Teams operate more effectively because Scrum combines empowerment of the team members with alignment to top priorities.
Learn more about scrum’s impact on organizational culture. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Is scrum a methodology or a framework?
Scrum is more of a framework than a methodology, and it helps teams adhere to Agile principles and get stuff done. Scrum provides basic rules but doesn’t prescribe how to do the work. It provides principles, values, rules, and some core structure but still leaves a lot undefined.
Learn more about scrum as a framework. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
What’s the difference between scrum and agile?
When people say “agile,” they usually refer to it as a mindset. Scrum is a framework for how to organize people and work in an agile way. If you’re practicing Scrum, you’re working in an Agile way.
Learn more about the relationship between scrum and agile. Then browse the most common terms in a Scrum glossary and learn what is Scrum.
Scrum certifications
Where should I start with scrum certifications?
Are you looking for a challenge to motivate yourself to learn scrum better? Are you looking to land a specific job?
If you just want to take the next step in learning, the PSM has a low barrier to entry and should open some doors to allow you more opportunities to practice the scrum master role.
If you’re trying to land a job then it really depends on what that job is looking for certification-wise.
Here is my experience with certifications as a path to growth.
Want to learn the essential Scrum terms.
Scrum elements
What is the definition of done?
The definition of done is a list of what must be true to consider a PBI done. The whole team creates and agrees to what is in the definition of done and is updated as needed for the team to function effectively.
Learn to use the definition of done and explore acceptance criteria vs definition of done.
What is the increment in scrum?
It is the next complete piece added to build the product. The increment is complete in the sense that it should be ready to release to the end-user even if the team chooses to wait.
Learn more about incremental and iterative development or explore the essential Scrum glossary.
