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04 May 2020

Hiren’s secret conversation with Covid

*Covid is a fictional character based on my imagination that represents the strain of CoronaVirus that is causing the disease Covid-19. This article discusses the Scrum framework and empiricism.

Covid-19: Knock! Knock!

Hiren: Who’s there?

Covid-19: Covid.

Hiren: Covid who?  

Covid-19: It’s me, the Corona Virus of 2019. These Homo sapiens have nicknamed me as Covid-19. I like it. Hiren, you can call me Covid. How are you?

Hiren: Oh boy…COVID!! Err… I am doing well, but what do you want from me? Are you here to get me?

Covid-19: Oh no. I am just here for general chitchat with you. Tell me, how’s your Scrum training business?

Hiren: Are you kidding me about the business? You have single-handedly paused the entire world. Every person on this planet is scared of you. Why don’t you just disappear?

Covid-19: How rude. Why should I disappear? I love this beautiful planet too. It is equally mine, and I have been in existence here for a long time too. Let’s co-exist.

Hiren: Co-exist with you? Nonsense. I don’t want to argue with you. Tell me how may I help you?

Covid-19: I have heard the scientist communities from these Homo sapiens are using some framework called Scrum to eradicate me. Haha… Is this true? Please educate me. How?

Hiren: Correct. Well, we humans are the most intelligent race on this planet Covid. Over the years you must have heard from your friends Polio, AIDS, Ebola, Nipah, Influenza, and others how we handled them and we will handle you too.

Covid-19: But right now I am handling the entire Homo sapiens race. Haha. What do you know about me?

Hiren: Using the Scrum Framework, we have been continuously experimenting. Everyday iteratively and incrementally we are learning more about you. And with regular inspection and adaptation and through empirical scientific evidence we have identified many facts about you Covid.

Covid-19: Like?

Hiren: We know your Genome sequence. We know what you are made of now. We conduct Daily Scrums to put a solid plan for 24 hours and check the progress towards our goal, Sprint Review to get feedback from the key stakeholders and Sprint Retrospective to improve ourselves. We have about 80 fast paced heavily funded projects going around the globe and we will find a vaccination to destroy you soon.

Covid-19: Why is your race always angry and looking to destroy everything that comes their way? Have some respect and compassion for other organisms too.

Hiren: Why should I have respect for you? Because of you, we have lost many precious lives. And only because of you the world’s economy is in shambles.

Covid-19: Honestly, I have more reasons to get angry with you. Your race is very greedy and in that greed, you all have destroyed this beautiful planet. As a virus, I only have the ‘need’ to find a host to survive. But in your race, even after you meet your basic ‘needs’ you have unlimited ‘wants’ and these never end. Everyone always wants more… So I am equally angry with you. But I have respect for you Homo sapiens.

Hiren: You are joking right?

Covid-19: Not really. Let me prove it to you. Your innovative race came up with a new concept called “Social Distancing”, correct?

Hiren: Yes. What about it?

Covid-19: Our race self-organized and we have agreed to not bother Homo sapiens who practice “Social Distancing” sincerely. In fact, we have extended our respect to stay away from anyone who is going to wear a mask and follow the hygiene guidelines from W.H.O. Makes sense?

Hiren: Wow Self-organized. Huh? I am glad to hear this and I will pass this message around. So are you suggesting that we both can co-exist in this ecosystem and over time we will get used to each other and maybe even complement each other?

Covid-19: Yes, of course. And Hiren…

Hiren: What?

Covid-19: Show humility.

Hiren: I will work on it Covid. In the meantime, please stop bothering and hurting my people.

Covid-19: Sure Hiren. Stay healthy and I will come to meet you soon to learn a bit more about Scrum. Bye.

Hiren: Meet me for chitchat only 🙂

[…]

12 Dec 2016

How Does Scrum Promote Self-Organization?

Self-organization is something that cannot be imposed on the team. Self-organization does not mean a free run where Development Team members can do whatever they desire. Self-organization happens by setting clear boundaries within which the empowered team members can organize their own work.

Read More

Redwood trees in Muir woods

29 May 2014

A Collaboration Lesson from the Redwood Trees

The Redwood trees in Muir woods, San Francisco, are some of the tallest and widest trees on planet earth. Some trees are so wide, that it takes 40 grown up adults to make one circle around it! These trees are known to live for thousands of years and each year they grow bigger and bigger.  Most tall trees have roots that go deep down to keep them stable. For example, the roots of the palm tree are as deep as the height of the tree. However, research tells us that though the Redwood trees are the tallest trees on earth, their roots are not deep at all. California has gone through a tremendous number of hurricanes, cyclones, windstorms, tornadoes and earthquakes in the past 2000 years. Any normal tree would have been crushed instantly, but not the Redwood trees. They’ve been standing tall and strong ever since. So, what is the secret behind these trees?

It seems the Redwood trees have some special mystical power. The roots grow outwards instead of deep under the ground. And when these roots come in contact with roots of the another Redwood tree, they wrap around each other multiple times and form a strong bond. Each tree shares a bond with another tree through its roots, and eventually, every single Redwood tree is connected to each other. The roots hold on to one another through the harshest of weather, and keep the family of trees standing tall and strong, together.

The roots of older and wiser trees hold on to the roots of trees just beginning to grow. They’re basically telling them —“You’ll grow big and strong. Reach for the sky and we’ll help you get there. You have the strength of hundreds of trees in the forest because we’re all connected. Our strength is shared together, and it grows together.”


If we dig deeper and try to understand self-organization, a principle very much needed for being Agile, we will realize that collaboration and co-operation are the basic attributes needed to self-organize. Similar to the Redwood trees, Agile team members need to collaborate so that the entire team rises higher and higher. This interconnection helps each individual to grow, inspire and motivate each other. It builds trust and transparency, and at the same time a feeling of safety to explore new hypothesis, innovate and produce a quality deliverable to the customer, with a feeling of satisfaction. 
The Redwood tree example was shared in one of the spiritual  discourses and I found this example so very relevant to some of the Agile values and principles.