Gleaning The Scrum Guide

Here in the mountains of Virginia there are signs of spring. The Canada geese are renewing their annual battle over who will win the island in the pond to hatch and raise their goslings, the snowdrops and crocuses are sprinkling the meadow with color and I was able to get into the garden to deal with some weeds that took advantage of my winter hiatus. I even tackled the overgrowth and dead from the bramble fruits.

Some of the spinach I planted last year has overwintered and will likely spark new growth over the next couple of weeks. I haven't had the courage yet to peak under the row covers to see if any of the lettuces survived as well.

This talk of gardening has gotten me to thinking about gleaning. Every year after the main harvests are over, I scan over the garden to see what might have been left behind — carrots still hibernating (carrot puree for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner anyone?), a winter squash too immature to store but with hopes before the first freeze arrives, a turnip or two, sweet and hot peppers that haven't yet succumbed to the chill nights.

Revisting the garden and discovering something left behind is in a way a more rewarding and satisfying experience than the main harvest. It is like the gift after the gift when you thought there was no more to give. The gleaning and the rebirth of things that overwintered is a celebration of the wonder of life.

This past month I had the pleasure to chat about things that might have been left behind and are waiting to be discovered with my colleague Mike Vizdos. The place was the Agile Richmond Meetup. The topic was the 2020 Scrum Guide.

Mike and I have introduced agile and lean to teams and their organizations for more that two decades. Yet we both continue to be amazed at what is still left to pick up after the main harvest. Some organizations approach agile like a big corporate farm. They make big investments and their huge industrial harvesters scarf up a lot of goodness from the agile fields. While these harvesters are fast and efficient, they also leave some potentially valuable stuff behind.

On a whim, Mike and I wanted to see if we could glean the 2020 Scrum Guide and pick up 20 things that an organization might have left behind and discuss each in 1 minute or less. With our Agile Richmond host and organizer, Braz Brandt, as timer we took on the challenge live at the February meetup. It was a blast and great fun — and we did it!

Afterwards, we opened the discussion to the attendees inviting them to join us on a walk over the 2020 Scrum Guide field and tell us about the things they noticed that they might have overlooked before. For the next 30 minutes they, too, were amazed at what they found. Who knows what great things they will do with the things they picked up!

Every time I go over the Scrum Guide, it seems I notice something new or something old that I now see in a new light. Sometimes I'll go so far as to pick it up, turn it over and consider it. At times, I'll simply toss it back onto the field. But other times, I realize I've discovered a something useful — something that I missed on previous visits that is now relevant. Perhaps on earlier visits I wasn't yet ready to see it.

When was the last time you read the Scrum Guide? What might you glean from a revisit to the field?

If you take this challenge, let me know what you find. I and others might find it useful, too.

And if you would like to have me run this session with your team or organization, let me know.