Life-is-like-a-box-of-chocolates!!!
No wonder you guessed it right! Yes, the blog title is borrowed from a famous dialogue from the 1994 American Comedy Drama Classic ‘Forrest Gump’ directed by Robert Zemeckis with Mr Tom Hanks lived as the protagonist.
Forrest Gump won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Hanks, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. It received many award nominations, including Golden Globes, British Academy Film Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Hey, hey hold on! Ravi, have you moved away from writing Agile to reviewing and sharing facts about Hollywood classics?
Did I guess your question right? Thank you, don't praise me much. I feel a bit shy handling compliments.
No, I haven’t shifted my focus. Remembering the entire plot and the most catchy dialogues, I want to draw some parallel between the movie and Scrum.
"My mama always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get." - Forrest
Remembering the definition of Empiricism from the Scrum Guide,
In complex environments, what will happen is unknown. Only what has already happened may be used for forward-looking decision-making.
Yes, Forrest’s mention is quite similar to the complex domain what we are in and the level of uncertainty it has built-in.
“Mama always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.”- Forrest
This reminds of how the Development Team collectively explains about the work pulled during Sprint Planning with the PO and SM.
“By the end of the Sprint Planning, the Development Team should be able to explain to the Product Owner and Scrum Master how it intends to work as a self-organizing team to accomplish the Sprint Goal and create the anticipated Increment.” – The Scrum Guide
“When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go, you know, I went.” – Forrest
Reminds to me about the flexibility spoken in the essence of Scrum,
“The essence of Scrum is a small team of people. The individual team is highly flexible and adaptive. These strengths continue operating in single, several, many, and networks of teams that develop, release, operate and sustain the work and work products of thousands of people.” – The Scrum Guide
“My mama always told me that miracles happen every day. Some people don’t think so, but they do.” – Forrest
Hope you made some guess this time? Yes, this reminds me of the Daily Scrum.
“The Development Team uses the Daily Scrum to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and to inspect how progress is trending toward completing the work in the Sprint Backlog. The Daily Scrum optimizes the probability that the Development Team will meet the Sprint Goal.” – The Scrum Guide
The next one, a better one:
“Have you found Jesus yet, Gump?” – Lieutenant Daniel Taylor
“I didn’t know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir.” – Forrest
“During Sprint Planning the Scrum Team also crafts a Sprint Goal. The Sprint Goal is an objective that will be met within the Sprint through the implementation of the Product Backlog, and it provides guidance to the Development Team on why it is building the Increment.” – The Scrum Guide
How true that the most important thing about the Sprint is nothing but crafting a Sprint Goal and using the Sprint Goal to create focus, flexibility and collaboration!
And finally,
“You can’t be doin’ this, Forrest. You can’t keep tryin’ to rescue me all the time.” – Jenny Curran
Remember the most critical role of the Scrum Master to reveal than to resolve?
“The Scrum Master serves the Development Team in several ways, including [..] Coaching the Development Team in self-organization and cross-functionality” – The Scrum Guide
Happy to have my most favourite flick during my teens do share some space with my ultimate sense-making framework – Scrum!