Using Scrum to Achieve your New Year’s Resolution
Agile Scrum is a workflow that is most commonly used in software development. However, it is not a system designed exclusively for software development. Instead it is a set of principles for completing tasks efficiently.
Common wisdom and self-help books recommend the same mindsets and practices that Agile Scrum principles do. Here are some examples of what I mean; I will elaborate on each below.
- Time-box your habit building or goal. Break big goals into tiny tasks.
- Get small wins early on, to grow momentum and tackle high priority things first.
- Plan for success. Determine what is needed but also be agile enough to change strategies if what you start with does not at first succeed.
- Keep a record or reminder of your goals in view every day. Review these goals.
- Take time to review and reflect on achievements, obstacles, and strategy shifts.
Time-boxing
In Scrum, all work is completed in a specific period of time (a time box, also called a sprint) that can be anywhere from a week to a month. Developers, Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and Stakeholders work together to determine the requirements and the amount of work that is expected to be done for each sprint. That work is divided into smaller tasks so that the team knows exactly what each feature requires. The completed work at the end of the sprint is called ‘the increment’.
Imagine life goals are the features that you want to integrate into your life. These goals can also be broken into smaller tasks and goals completed within a longer period of time, like three months. Self-help gurus like Tony Robbins and Michael Hyatt recommend planning out goals in similar ways.
In his book Your Best Year Ever, Michael Hyatt explains,
“Success is about incremental change…When we take control of our motivation, however, we can stay in the game long enough to see how that incremental change adds up to major achievements.” p. 176 Michael Hyatt, Your Best Year Ever
Take big goals like the following and break them out into the things that need to get done in order for them to happen.
Big Goals
- Lose 20 lbs.
- Plant a garden.
- Read more.
Task Breakdown
Let’s breakdown the losing weight goal. Perhaps you do not have sneakers to run in, but you want to build a running habit. Add the shoes as a task.
Get Wins with High Priorities
Once the tasks for each major goal are broken out, I can start to tackle them. Hyatt recommends tackling the smaller tasks first on high priority goals. Keeping motivated is challenging for these big life changes, and seeing those easy wins get to done will help build that momentum.
In scrum, we do the same with our task breakdowns. Small tasks that can be completed right away give the team a sense of momentum and completion. Additionally, the team will ‘swarm’ around a feature, trying to complete all the tasks for the highest priority things first. That way, if we fail at some tasks, at least we have a complete feature.
The same principle should be applied to life goals. If losing 20 lbs is the most important goal for me, then I make completing those tasks and removing obstacles from that goal my highest priority every day.
Looking at the big picture of a project can be daunting, but viewing it in small pieces can make it possible.
Be Agile
Another reason for the task breakdown is to allow for swift, agile changes when obstacles arise. The task breakdown makes it easier to see dependencies and where changes will affect the work; it also means it can be easier to extricate oneself from a strategy that is failing in favor of something else that will get the job done.
Let’s examine the losing weight example from above. I might give running a try and determine that I loathe it with the deepest passion. So instead, I enroll in a Taekwondo class. Technically I have failed to complete one of my tasks, a habit of running every other day, but now I can replace that task I hated with one I enjoy. I am able to adjust my strategy without causing my entire weight loss plan to crumble.
Hyatt recommends setting up triggers for behaviors, something that Duhigg also suggests in the Power of Habit. For example:
- Dressing in your workout clothes when you go to sleep so that you are more apt to workout when you wake up.
- Cleaning the blender and your favorite travel mug for your morning smoothie.
- Keeping the watering can in the kitchen as a reminder to water your plants every morning.
- Creating a space for meditation and visiting it every morning.
What happens if I wake up late one morning? Hyatt says that we should have back-up triggers for when common things go wrong. You know your weaknesses; you can plan accordingly.
If you are continuously missing your goal, consider removing the goal altogether and replace it with something for which you have a greater passion.
Keep Goal Visibility
The scrum board displays all the tasks for the sprint for the team to select and mark them as “To Do”, “In Progress”, or “Done”. The team has a daily stand-up to review the remaining tasks, obstacles, and completed work.
Hyatt spends all chapter fifteen in Your Best Year Ever waxing about the benefits of reviewing one’s goals and how important it is to keep these goals visible. Hyatt explains,
“One of the main challenges we face with reaching our goals is losing track of them… We can lose months of the year before we realize we’re not making progress. A regular goal review process can fix that problem” — Michael Hyatt p.215, Your Best Year Ever
I recommend setting up your own scrum board in a section of your home. It is up to you whether it is public or private. Some people may find motivation in having their goals laid before family and friends, but others may find that terrifying. Do what works for you.
All you need are some notecards and wall tack or sticky notes. Create four columns on your wall: Backlog, To Do, Doing, Done. You can also choose to have a card that displays the date of your sprint.
As the week progresses, review the board at a designated time every day. Create a tally on cards that are habit trackers so that you can see streaks of completing it. Jerry Seinfeld used a similar method for writing jokes.
Finally, Consider if there are obstacles that need to be addressed and track when those obstacles are overcome; that is important for the final section.
Review and Reflection
In a study conducted by Cheryl J. Travers called “Using Goal Setting Theory to Promote Personal Development”, Travers concludes that,
“Continuous ongoing reflection helped them [the goal setters] to assess goal suitability throughout the goal process. Critical reflection created personal feedback throughout the goal pursuit process in order that goal adjustments could be made.”
Reviewing and reflecting on goals is critical to succeeding with them. Scrum recognizes this too, and dedicates hours of every sprint to reviewing the work that was completed and reflecting with team members to see what could have been better and what went well.
If you have a workout buddy, find a time to reflect over a healthy smoothie every two weeks. What did you both accomplish that you were proud of? What was disappointing? What should be adjusted to make your experience more fun, rewarding, and efficient? This will make the experience more rewarding when you succeed and less harmful when goals are not reached.
Conclusion
Scrum principles are in line with the best advice from the top authors and speakers about habit building goal setting. We can use this to our advantage by treating our own personal goals with the same objectivity and agileness that we dedicate to software development.
The best part is, the stand ups are really short.
