Scrum Smoothies mixed at the Agile Experience Day

How can you learn Scrum? Can you really do Scrum in an hour? You can. In the Scrum Smoothie session at the Agile Experience Day (hosted by the Deutsche Telekom Products & Innovation division), the participants have mixed smoothies, used Scrum and had lots of fun.

Scrum Experience

You can explain much about Scrum, but nothing replaces the practical experience. What is the role of the Product Owner? How is he involved in the work of the team? What does self-organization mean in practice? What does the ScrumMaster do?

A practical experience with Scrum provides an answer to all these questions. And once you really experience Scrum, you quickly realize the power but also the challenges that lie in Scrum.

So, why not spoil the participants with smoothies at the Agile Experience Days, and at the same time use Scrum produce the product? In the Scrum Smoothie session, the participants could complete a sprint in just 60 minutes.

Team Work

The session began with a brief introduction to Scrum. After that a participant chose the role of the Product Owner, and Malte Foegen accompanied the team as Scrum Master. Spectators could sit and watch as "Chickens" by the bar.

In only 60 minutes, the team completed a full sprint. The Product Owner defined his wishes as "user stories" ("As a customer smoothie I want a fruit on the glass, so I know what is in the smoothie in it."). Afterwards the team defined the necessary tasks for these stories. Then it started: in 3 x 10 minutes, the smoothies were mixed, variants produced, arranged and decorated.

Of course, the team also performed the standups. Conclusion: "This short pause and coordination in the team was incredibly important and effective."

Finally, team and Product Owner conducted a Sprint Review. And wonder of wonders: in each run, the team had delivered, and there was a happy product owner, who could check off all of his user stories.

Scrum Retrospective

Gerade die Scrum Retrospektive hat in einer solchen "Erlebens-Umgebung" eine ganz wichtige Bedeutung. Wie hat Scrum für uns funktioniert? Wie habe ich meine Rollen erlebt? Diese positiven Erfahrungen, aber auch die kulturellen Herausforderungen für die Organisation kamen in der Retrospektive zur Sprache.

Particularly in such a "experience environment", the retrospective has a very important meaning. How has Scrum worked for us? How did I experience my roles? These positive experiences, but also the cultural challenges for the organization were identified in the Scrum Retrospective.

In summary: the participants not only got their Smoothies, but a lot of practical experience and knowledge. The participants concluded: "Wow."

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