Scrumming Myself is Crazy!

Not scrumming myself is crazier. Personally, I do not believe in anything until I try myself. When I studied Scrum with my professor last year, I did not believe that Scrum would work. I wanted to see what my life would be like if I tested Scrum. I experimented with it by comparing what it was like to live my life with and without Scrum.

Some Agile coaches told me that people needed 5-10 years to work and develop themselves to become Agile experts. I did not believe that it had to take that long. According to, Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, by Jeff Sutherland and J.J Sutherland, it seemed possible to become an Agile expert within 2.5 years. I started by listing all possible user stories which encourage me to learn, know, and do Agile such as taking classes, reading books, joining events, talking to Agile experts, and implementing Agile at work. At home, I am a Product Owner, a Scrum Master, and a team member. I ran the full Scrum framework with all ceremonies. Moreover, I have a Product Backlog and Kanban boards in my bedroom. The boards encourage me to be Agile before going to work and going to bed. As a result, I knew more about Agile quickly. When I talked to other people about my experiment, I spoke passionately about Agile and Scrum. Practicing Scrum with my life is much better than only talking about Scrum.

After trying Scrum for five weeks on myself, I questioned myself about my experience. "Why am I doing this? What if I stop doing it?" I tried to convince myself with many positive answers and solutions. I told myself I was not strong enough to win with Scrum, so I stopped scrumming. I did not plan what I needed to, and I did not develop my Agile knowledge and skills. I did not read Agile books and blogs. I did not tlak to Agile experts. Once one lazy week had gone by, I did not produce any new steps to develop myself to become an Agile expert.

At the end of the week without scrumming myself, I found that:

I did not plan.

I did not act.

So I did not learn.

Because I did not learn, how could I expect success in becoming an Agile expert within 2.5 years? By living my life with Scrum, I learned that Scrum works! I started scrumming myself again the week after the unproductive week, and I feel that I am captaining a big ship with a compass. When I tell people about Scrumming Myself, I speak more enthusiastically about Agile and Scrum. Million percent sure, I will be an Agile expert in 2.5 years!