Consultancy
Zeven Lessen Vanuit De Bergsport Voor Scrum TeamsAt first glance, the world of mountaineering seems to have little in common with agile working. Yet Scrum teams can learn a great deal from the way mountaineers deal with challenging conditions, writes Pieter Wolswinkel, an avid mountain sports enthusiast and organisational consultant at BPM Consult.
Where mountaineers focus on climbing peaks, Scrum teams concentrate on delivering organisational goals and projects, often centred on innovation and IT development.
However, in pursuing their missions, mountaineers and Scrum teams frequently encounter the same challenges. Here are seven valuable insights and lessons from mountaineering that apply to Scrum teams:
1: Know your basics
Just as climbers learn techniques before starting an ascent, Scrum teams must understand the fundamental principles of the agile way of working, especially before taking on a major ICT challenge.
Ensure that everyone within the team is familiar with the Scrum framework, including agile principles, roles, meetings, the product backlog, and so on. In addition to this basic knowledge, it is also important for the team to share a common understanding of how Scrum is applied within their specific team or organisation.
For example, organise a team day to discuss the way of working and agree on team-specific practices. Make sure that any new members who join later are properly onboarded and introduced to this way of working.
2: Know your own strength
Almost every mountaineer has good equipment and has received proper training. Your expedition becomes even safer when you accurately assess your own abilities, gradually build up the level of difficulty, and communicate regularly with your fellow team members.
For Scrum teams, it is important to check whether the right expertise is present. This reduces the risk of team members taking on tasks that are beyond their capabilities. At the same time, the absence of specific expertise can be an opportunity for team members to develop further. This helps the team grow and makes it less vulnerable.
3: Trust each other 100%
During a challenging climb, mountaineers must be able to rely on each other completely. When roped together, it can quite literally be a matter of life and death. At the heart of every ascent lies mutual trust and taking responsibility for yourself and the team.
For Scrum teams, it is rarely a matter of life and death, but openness and trust still play a crucial role in the success of a project. It helps to prevent frustration and miscommunication within the team.
Encourage the team to get to know each other better. For example, have conversations about how team members respond in stressful situations and explore what is needed to stay calm. This helps the team to become better attuned to one another and strengthens mutual trust..
4: Keep the end goal in mind
Mountaineers have a crystal-clear goal in mind: to reach the summit and then return safely. Setting a clear goal provides direction and increases the engagement and motivation of agile teams. It is also essential for staying the course in the face of setbacks and keeping the end goal in sight. And once the goal has been achieved, do not forget to celebrate success: no summit without a flag.
At the start of a project, take the time to thoroughly brief the Scrum team on the project’s objectives. During sprint reviews, both the team and stakeholders can be informed about progress and the expected timeline.
5: Be open to change
Climbers must adapt to changing weather conditions. This may mean choosing a different route or even a different peak altogether. It is part of the risk of the profession and inherent to mountaineering.
In the same way, agile teams must embrace change. Just as climbers cannot influence the weather but must deal with it, Scrum teams face changing customer demands or shifting project priorities. Develop a mindset that allows you to respond easily to these, sometimes rapidly changing, needs.
6: Don’t make the same mistake twice
Through extensive training, climbers improve, but they also learn significantly from past experiences. Regularly look back to see what works and what does not. By taking time to reflect on what can be improved in collaboration or ways of working, a team’s efficiency increases. There is always room for improvement, just as a mountaineer always seeks to climb higher or more challenging peaks.
Within Scrum teams, this is often done through a retrospective. Use the retrospective not only to reflect, but also to assess whether previously implemented improvements have actually delivered the intended results.
7: Alone you go faster; together you go further
The African proverb ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’ highlights what is needed to achieve lasting success. Go together, not alone. In an individualistic and results-driven society, the focus is often on speed and individual performance.
Yet Scrum teams deal with complex challenges that require a collective approach. At the outset, involving more people with different perspectives may not make things faster. However, it ultimately leads to a better solution that saves time in the long run.
By embracing these lessons, teams can become more effective at overcoming challenges, strengthening collaboration, and pursuing success in a flexible and adaptive way.
