I just ran across a blog post by Tobias Mayer that compares scrum to Alcoholics Anonymous. Like scrum teams, AA groups are self-organizing with no formal leadership, and the participants of the group work closely together on a focused, shared goal. And of course, both AA and scrum require constant re-evaluation and change. Tobias goes into more detail in his blog post.
To extend this line of thought, I reviewed AA slogans and found many that would apply to scrum. Among them:
- One day at a time
- First things first
- If it works, don’t fix it
- KISS–Keep it simple, stupid!
- Live in the now
- Be part of the solution, not the problem
- Decisions aren’t forever
- Let go of old ideas
- Change is a process, not an event
- Courage to change
- Principles before personalities