How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Scrum Board
Don’t panic, scrum boards aren’t the end of the world
So why, in my latest group project, did we ignore the scrum board; our columned whiteboard teeming with post-it notes? I mean, humans have been communicating on walled surfaces for thousands of years, how could we have overlooked such an important medium?
The scrum board is a method that visualizes the problem solving process and breaks down a seemingly complex whole into small digestible tasks. It is ideally displayed on a wall. The wall becomes proof of your progress and communication. This is something we came to realize early on; we were so distracted by coming up with solutions to our problem that our scrum board stagnated. We were gently reminded that the scrum board helps you communicate a solution through research, roles and exchange of information. If we ignore the wall, the system breaks down. If history has taught us anything, it’s that things on walls are important.
So I will present a brief unofficial history of the importance of communicating on walls:
The Lascaux cave paintings were an early form of visualizing an environment as well as sharing possible hunting successes, techniques and rituals. Cave walls eventually evolved into chalkboards:
In the early 1960’s (before computers) NASA used giant chalkboards to internally present ideas and equations for spaceflight. They would assign different parts of complex equations to individual team members, who would cover one small part of an equation and then pass their results on to the next team member. The chalkboards ensured that they could collaborate while visualizing large amounts of data. Having teams of people tackle smaller tasks and pass the resulting information on to the next team member is not unlike the strategy displayed on a scrum board.
Eventually, what we know as chalkboards evolved into whiteboards in the mid 90’s This is where a scrum board now prefers to reside:
Here we see our scrum board in it’s final successful form. All the small tasks completed at the far right, logo experimentation filling the in-progress void. Moving the tasks to the right hand side visually assured us that the tasks were completed, research was shared and a solution was found.
But as we’ve seen, walls can extend beyond the scrum board, they can be used as the great democratizing canvas of collaboration.
Ignore this:
Do this:
Writing on walled surfaces, whether permanent or temporary, comes with the intent of creating visual communication and sharing ideas. When you visualize tasks, break them down and get them done, you can achieve great things. This is how I learned to stop worrying about the solution and love the scrum board.
