Scrum and Army Soldiers

Consider the case of fight between two countries. Let’s suppose ABC and XYZ.

ABC has:

• Camps (Room for discussion)
• Soldiers (Developers)
• Machines to fight with (Technologies, Tools)

Suppose ABC has 100 soldiers. All the soldiers cannot go through one way, so we divide this large team into 4 small teams of 25 soldiers each. The team not only consists of soldiers with guns but also soldiers with wireless, soldiers with medicines and other. Imaging the same case in agile development. Small teams are made generally of 5 or 6 peoples having cross functional domains.

ABC can attack XYZ either through Air or through Ground. (I am not considering water as a means of attack as ground and water are both considered to be of same granularity).

Soldiers are not constrained by the forces. They can hit the missile without any permission from superior if that can make the other down. That means the developers are free to do anything in order to get the work done.

Fighters have their plans but plans don’t work many times. That means that you cannot follow one strategy or the same strategy every time.  The Soldiers have to take their own decisions in order to move forward. In agile development it’s about peoples and not about processes. Developer’s team decides what to do next.

Major of the army sitting in the camp can guide the soldiers about the strategies of attacking, hiding or like,  through his learning’s and experiences. Agile master/Scrum Master/Project Manager plays the role of Major.

Team of soldiers move forward only when they capture the present whole area.  That means they completed their task of killing all the demons and test whether some are left or not. Finding the right time to attack and completing the work is first priority. In Agile enviornemnt you have sprints. Finish the first sprint then go for the other. For every sprint you have to follow all the phases like requirement prioritization, testing, coding, documentations and debugging.

It reminds me of the days when i along with my family went to Port Blair. At every island there is a check post. They check you completely and if found nothing unconditionally, then you can move ahead to the island. That means they ensure that you are not taking unusual stuffs inside and while leaving,  without leaving your stuffs and without affecting the enviornment.  In Agile enviornment peoples enter the room with some knowledge and leave the room with bags full of knowledge. And ensure that they finish their work, not done any waste and didn’t leave any bug.