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2 Home Blog Contact Search Popular Posts Build your own Scrum 09 May 2011 Retrospective Cookies 27 Sep 2011 Update The Card Wall - The App 08 Oct 2011 Agile Manifesto & Values Posters 08 May 2011 Go Fish! Agile Antipatterns May 2011 Build your own Scrum Date: 09 May 2011 Author: Adam Weisbart Category: Featured, Scrum, Sidebar Comments: 12 Comments URL: Tweet Like I ve been working as a full time Agile Coach at Granicus in San Francisco. During my first month on the job I gave several Scrum 101 courses to the development organization. A month after that it was time to start building Scrum teams, and since I had already introduced the group to Scrum, I didn t want to bore them with another lecture. Instead I created an exercise they could use to refresh their collective memory. I ve since used it while co-teaching a CSM course as I pursue my CST certification. The Lowdown The goal of the exercise is to get small groups of 5 to 9 people collaborating with each other to recreate the workflow of Scrum from memory, or from trial and error. I ve found this works equally well if they ve attended a lecture on Scrum, if I review the workflow quickly prior to the exercise, or even if the individuals have just read the Scrum Guide. The magic of the exercise is that a group of people, even Scrum amateurs, can work it out together. And isn t that what it s all about? :) On Twitter... Tell Congress: Don t censor the web! /zm6hohab about 13 hours ago Just submitted proposal 1 of 2 to present at Agile 2012: 2 days this is a clear sign that you need to go get a MacBook. Just sayin'. 5 days your box of are on their way! Enjoy! 7 days ago The Setup Each team will need: One printout of the Build your own Scrum worksheet Scissors Construction Paper (for use as the background) Scotch Tape Glue Stick Markers (not essential, but my teams have used them creatively) I start by breaking the class into groups of 5 to 9 folks (depending on course size). I then hand a Build your own Scrum sheet to each of the teams, explaining that the sheets have everything they need to recreate the workflow. 1 of 5 1/18/12 11:31 AM

3 They should cut the elements out from the sheet and glue them down as they see fit. They re timeboxed to 20 minutes. They re free to talk to each other, but not the other teams, and while I may be in the room observing, I won t be helping. I let them know that at the end of the 20 minutes they ll need to share the work they ve done with the rest of the class, explaining the workflow in their own words. Show and Tell During show and tell I have each of the groups present their work to the rest of the class. This is where you need to be on your game, drawing explanations out of the team, and facilitating others in the class to offer up suggestions or clarification if the team missed something. You of course can also jump in and offer up clarification, but I ve found that most of the time the individual teams can help each other, which makes it even more powerful. Ask the team about the impediment icon (if they used it) and how it s handled. Ask them what they think about the size of the team on the sheet (you ll noticed something is a bit amiss with the number of members ;). In one case, I had to ask why they drew horns and a tail on the ScrumMaster: Remember though, in Scrum the ScrumMaster is a servant of the team, not a traditional project manager. Good stuff. I ve been really amazed with how well this exercise works. It gets people participating right off the bat, fosters collaboration, and shows just how intuitive and clear the framework is. Give it a Try Download a copy of Build your own Scrum for your next course. I ve released it under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license, so you won t go to jail for grabbing a copy. You re free to use it in a course you re teaching, even if you re charging money for said course. I d love to hear how you ve used it, and if you have any improvements for the exercise. I just ask that you contact me to request permission before reusing or remixing any of the content into coursework you d sell. Enjoy! Share: Share 0 AGILE MANIFESTO & VALUES POSTERS RETROSPECTIVE COOKIES 12 Comments Pam 10 May :05 am Never underestimate the power of scissors, construction paper and glue sticks. Manipulating those objects activates areas in the brain that stimulate creativity and open thought. Got music to go with that? Sameh 14 May :05 pm Interesting post! Can you please share photos of the outcomes from the playing team? 2 of 5 1/18/12 11:31 AM

4 Thanks Adam Weisbart 19 May :05 am Thanks Sameh. Sure. Have a look at what one of the teams at the Seattle Scrum Gathering did. The photo is great, but the conversations they had while explaining the result is much more important than the result in the photo. Sameh 19 May :05 pm I understand conversation is more important. Karen 21 May :05 am Looks like a fantastic training exercise, thanks for sharing. I will give it a try in an upcoming course and let you know how it goes. David Socha 24 May :05 am I was at Adam s session at the Scrum Gathering, and was impressed by the design of this exercise. Simple and insightful even for people experienced in Scrum. And I expect this exercise could be easily adapted for other processes. Thanks for providing the template. Shane Warren 23 Jun :06 pm I attended a talk of Adam s where he taught the Scrum process and used this exercise. It was a perfect exercise to see from all the information I received what I had actually learned. It was a lot of fun too! Paul Heidema 13 Oct :10 pm Thank you Adam for facilitating the Build Your Own Scrum exercise at Scrum Gathering London. I learned a ton and it was great meeting you too. I hope to use this exercise with my own consulting team and with others that I train and coach. Awesome! Scrum Gathering London Day 3 Recap #sglon «Agile Guidance 3 of 5 1/18/12 11:31 AM

5 via Paul Heidema [...] going to the source would be better. Here is the link to Adam s post about this exercise: It was also nice to meet Adam and Karen Greaves since they are also in the process of becoming [...] Martin Rowe 19 Oct :10 pm Adam Thanks for your session at the Scrum Gathering in London. When you explained the content of the session I thought it was too simple. By the end of the session I was glad that I had taken part. Over the last two days I have delivered this with four groups of students and knew that the exercise was working when I was able to stand back and watch the groups become fully involved (always a good sign). It seems to me that the materials work on many levels. It is easy to think that simply delivering information is the job done. These materials helped to cement the information and to provide the Trainer/Lecturer an opportunity to check that the learning has taken place. Is this another example of the power of simplicity? When preparing and delivering a session perhaps it is a trap to think that to go into more depth is the way to move the session forward. These materials perhaps help to prove the point that in some cases the way forward is to do the opposite and to make sure, with a simple exercise, that the information has been delivered and has been received (done). Thanks again Martin Rowe University of Plymouth/Petroc Devon, England Yi Lv 03 Nov :11 am Hi, Adam! I like the exercise very much, may I include this into my CSM course? Thanks a lot for sharing! Yi Adam Weisbart 16 Nov :11 pm (@Weisbart) Yes, of course! I'll have a new version and facilitation guide out shortly so stay tuned. If you use it in the field, I'd love to hear how it works for you. Leave a Comment Name 4 of 5 1/18/12 11:31 AM