Wait a Minute……!!!!

What SPRINTS has to do with Innovations and Creativity?

You’ll are aware of it

Let’s not discuss what Agile / Scrum is

Innovation is…….

Innovation is defined simply as a "new idea, device, or method".

However, innovation is often also viewed as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, unarticulated needs, or existing market needs.

This is accomplished through more-effective products, processes, services, technologies, or business models that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term "innovation" can be defined as something original and more effective and, as a consequence, new, that "breaks into" the market or society.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation

Creativity is……. Creativity Is

Creativity is a phenomenon whereby something new and somehow valuable is formed.

The created item may be intangible (such as an idea, a scientific theory, a musical composition or a joke) or a physical object (such as an invention, a literary work or a painting).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity

How to bring Creativity & Innovation within SPRINTs?

Via Sprint

Planning?

User Story - 1 8 Story Points

Innovation 5 Story Points

Creativity 13 Story Point

User Story - n 3 Story Points

Unfortunately, Innovations and Creativity Can’t be planned. Certainly not in this way

Why?

Because we’re Human

Because we’re Humans

Can’t think and act like cyborg

We generally consider Agile Software Development as a silver bullet solution of the day to day activities

However, did we forget that?

Every human will use its own talent to use the process, which may be drastically different from others

We Say Good Driver or Bad Driver NOT Good Car or Bad Car

Let’s take a quiz…..!!!

What’s common here?

All these event happens after 4 year

interval

What if they start happening every year or worst after every

few months?

Apart from logistics, people will start losing interests.

Why?

It will become monotonous

Boring Lack of Creative thinking

Yearning of something new or different

Lack of Satisfaction

Impacts mental well being

❏ Life without weekends.❏ Life with only one type of weather

(summer / winter)❏ Driving on same roads all the time❏ Being at the same place all your life❏ Eating same food all the time

❏ The list goes on...

Consider….!!!

Let’s discuss SPRINTS

Let’s come back to our Agile World

So Why / How do we change it?

Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.

William Pollard

What organizations like Google / Atlassian Does to keep innovation engine running within employees?

❏ The 20% rule at google : where employees are free to work on anything of their choice during that time.

❏ Same arrangement is being done at Atlassian (The Jira Company)

Unfortunately, 99.9% of managers will outrightly reject these ideas as cost ineffective solution and something which will not directly serve the organization or the client

Fortunately for Google, Most of their flagship products like Google News, GMail, Adsense etc originated out of these 20%

Every change involve Experiments

All life is an experiment, the more experiments you make the better

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Experiments help in better decision making

SPRINTS : As enabler of innovation and creativity

How?

Some experiments worth considering

How about theme based sprints ?

A themed sprint is one where a set of work is based on a particular theme. There is no sprint planning required for this sprint where each and every individual is working just on the theme

❏ Automation Testing❏ Product Security❏ Memory / Disk Utilization❏ Interface Design❏ Evaluation of 3rd party API and libraries

❏ But they are not. They generally takes the back seat because it doesn’t directly impact the end user functionality

Activities which are generally considered as byproduct of Sprint Work

❏ Automation Testing❏ Product Security❏ Memory / Disk Utilization❏ Interface Design❏ Evaluation of 3rd party API and libraries

How about a SPRINT dedicated to one of these activities / Themes

❏ Minimal Duration ~ not more than 1 week❏ No sprint planning : Teams will decide what they

want to achieve next in the theme.

❏ Every Team and team member will work on achieving the goal

❏ At the end of the SPRINT : showcase what teams achieved

Steps towards Themed Sprints

How about UnPlanned Sprints ?

An UnPlanned sprint is one where teams are free to pick items of their choice. The items may not be in accordance with priority in Product Backlog

❏ Sprint Team is free to choose items from Backlog❏ How and what they do with the backlog item is

completely up to the teams❏ Breaking backlog items into smaller ones❏ Prototyping

❏ At the end of the Sprint, Team demonstrate what they chose and what is the results.

❏ They can add a rationale of taking the items and how it can be useful in future

Steps towards UnPlanned Sprints

Use your OWN creativity

Companies should create consistency of purpose towards improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs Demings

We’re Humans

Just Remember

Remember : We’re Humans

@AgileJaya facebook.com/AgileJaya

Thank You