Agile in the Bedroom – Episode 4: Pivot Crazy

Agile in the Bedroom – Episode 4: Pivot Crazy

They were just about to make the final paint color selection when Mrs. Lemay said “Ryan, I just really need to see how the colors work with the furniture.?Can you help me move the chest of drawers out and we can put some samples down lower so we can see them together with the wood furnishings?” Ryan had noticed how excited his wife was getting and wanted to keep this up. “Certainly!?Grab that side and pull away from the wall on my count.?Three, two, one, pull!”

Ryan saw the shock on her face before he heard her yell.?“NO!?That’s awful!”

“What’s wrong?” he asked.?She is pointing to the floor and her face is flushed.?“Look at the carpet.?It’s a totally different color than the rest of the room.?Ryan, I simply cannot UN-SEE that! The rest of the carpet must be filthy!”?She backed out of the room and stopped at the doorway.?“Ryan, I can’t even STEP on that carpet now!”

Ryan looks around the room and sees all the color splashes on the walls.?He peeks behind the chest of drawers and sees the carpeting, then looks at the rest of the room.?He cringes a little, but not for the same reason.?He can hear the cash register ringing!?New carpet is expensive! He turns around and she is nowhere to be seen.?He thinks to himself, another bad sign.

He finds her in the family room, arms tucked in at her sides.?She looks like she just ate something awful. “It not really all that bad.?We can have the carpet cleaned after we take everything out to paint the walls.?We should probably paint first so we don’t spill on a newly cleaned carpet.”

The look on her face said it all.?Ryan stopped cold.?“Ryan, we are NOT getting that carpet cleaned.?I don’t care what service you choose, that carpet will NEVER be clean. I will never again walk on that floor with bare feet and our children will not be allowed in that room.”?Ryan started to say something, and she cut him off.?“No. This is not a discussion; this is simply the way it is.?Don’t try to talk me out of this.”

Ryan understood his situation.?“Totally agree, sweetheart, the carpet must go.?I still think we should paint the walls first, so we don’t damage the new carpet.”

“No.?The carpet comes out now.?Then, if we spill, it’s on the underlay and it won’t matter.” Ryan had never seen her like this. His best way out was to simply agree then ask for some sort of favor later.?Maybe a golfing weekend with his buds!

She moved towards the kitchen. “Let’s have lunch then we can get to work moving all the furniture out.?We can sleep in the guest room for a couple of days.”

Ryan thought about nothing but finances during their meal.?There were a lot of tradeoffs required to make this happen.?They might even have to cancel their log weekend vacation.?He needed more details before he dared to bring this up.

After eating, she put the plates in the dishwasher and wiped down the table.?“Ready to bruise some muscles?”?Ryan’s shoulders dropped.?This was going to be a long day.

In the bedroom, she immediately opened the sliding doors to the deck as wide as they would go.?She grabbed a bedside table and took it outside.?“Start with the small stuff and take it as far back on the deck as possible.”?Ryan complied.?After all the small stuff was gone, they took the mattress and box spring.?They then disassembled the bed and took it out.

“Okay, Ryan, let’s tackle the chest of drawers.?You take this side and pull while I take the other side and push.”?They got in place, and she said: “Three, two, one, GO!”

RIP! The foot of the unit caught on the carpet, and it tore.?Ryan looked at his wife and held his breath.?He had not heard her use that type of language before. She was in tears.?Not quite sure what to do, he bent down and tried to extract the furniture foot from the carpet.?Ryan shook his head. He had not expected this.?He shoved the chest of drawers and pulled on the carpet, making the tear worse.

“Honey, I think you will want to come look at this.”

She was in no mood and let him know!?Ryan insisted, and she caved.?Coming around the furniture she looked down at the floor. She cocked her head and knelt down.?Instead of a plywood subfloor, she was looking at a fully finished wood floor.

“Ryan, it looks nice.?Do you think more of the room is like this?” Ryan shrugged.?“No way to really know until we pull it all up.?Let’s finish getting this chest of drawers out of here.”?It took a combination of lifting and shoving, but they finally had the room empty. Ryan said “I think I got a pair of heavy-duty shears in the tools my dad gave me.?Let me go out and find them.”

“And I will make us a couple glasses of iced tea.?This has been a workout!”

Ryan came back with the shears and started cutting the carpet from the rip.?Finally, he noticed that the carpet was held down only at the walls.?A narrow strip of wood had little spikes that held the carpet in place.?It only tool about thirty minutes to pull the carpet away from the walls and through the door into the back yard. They came back in, stopping at the sliding doors.?“Ryan, the floor looks great!?Why would anyone put a carpet over this floor?”

Ryan shrugged.?“No idea.?I think my dad said it was a fad at one time. We will have to remove those holding strips along all the walls.?That may leave a mark on the floor.” He was waiting for her to react.

“Ryan, that is nothing compared to what we were looking at just a couple of hours ago! Let’s pull them up, put down tarps, and get to painting.?After you pull up the first one, I can start painting that wall.?I’ll put some music on while you get started.”

Ryan simply stared at her for a moment.?This day had certainly been crazy.?How could a single day have this many ups and downs??Well, at least it was ending well, and they were back on track.?And that floor really did look good!

COMMENTS

The Pivot is a critical part of Agile.?Seldom does a plan get completed without something coming up. Agile welcomes these changes! Instead of treating it as a hindrance to progress, treat it as an opportunity to address customer requirements more precisely.?Yes, at times it can be a drag and cause more effort or cost.?But there are times when it becomes a welcome surprise.