Implementing Scrum in Weekly Chores (Laundry)

According to Scrum.org, Scrum is a lightweight framework that helps people, teams, and organizations generate value through adaptive solutions for complex problems. In a nutshell, Scrum requires a Scrum Master to foster an environment where:

1. A Product Owner organizes the work for a complex problem into a Product Backlog.
2. The Scrum Team transforms a selection of this work into an Increment of value during a Sprint.
3. The Scrum Team and its stakeholders review the results and make adjustments for the next Sprint.
4. Repeat.

Scrum is simple. Try it as is and determine if its philosophy, theory, and structure help you achieve your goals and create values. The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement Scrum theory. Scrum is built upon the collective intelligence of the people using it. Rather than provide people with detailed instructions, the rules of Scrum guide their relationships and interactions.

Is there any similarity between doing laundry and Scrum Framework? Let us explore.

Usually, dirty clothes are piled up in one laundry basket, and on a particular day (most probably on the weekend), we are ready to address their needs (wash/clean them).

Based on the washing machine's capacity and other priorities (if any), the User sorts the clothes and starts washing them. If the User has a dryer with the same capacity, the User gets the same pile of dried clothes after every laundry cycle. If the washer and dryer capacities are different, the User may need an additional cleaning or dryer cycle to finish the laundry.

Let us find the similarities between this regular/weekly chore and the Scrum framework.

The washing machine and Dryer play the Agile/Scrum Teams role in this comparison. The User plays the Product Owner role (and Scrum Master; ensures that the washing machine is loaded correctly and adjusts the settings for the washing/drying cycle). In an ideal environment, the same person should not play both roles. If the User has family members, they play the End-Users (including the User).In short, the User was implementing an agile concept without being aware of it.