• Agile & Scrum Basics

How does an Agile team work? A rock band as an example. Part 2

The end customer is central

With us, the end-user is central. The client is the café that books us, but the visitors are really the focus. They need to have the night of their lives and we are going to provide that. So it may be that a pub owner really wants us to play Hotel California, for example, and we politely thank them for that and put down our own set. With the promise that we will loosen up the place our way. This sometimes causes some frowning eyebrows from the booker during the gig, but at the end everyone is always happy. Especially when the bar owner is counting his drink sales.

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

When you rehearse as little (read: not) as we do, face to face communication is very important. We are constantly providing each other with cues. In addition, we encourage each other all the time to get the best out of the song and out of our playing together. We pay close attention to sight lines during stage setup so that we can see each other. Of course we hear each other with our in-ears monitors, but nothing beats the physical contact in the process. (Non) verbal communication is essential on stage to stay on track with each other at a rapid pace. Individuals and interaction oer processes and tools thus. To top it off, visitors find this interactive way of communicating just cool to see. Something is happening on stage.

Technically it has to be right

We make sure our instruments are tiptop. We play with a top quality sound set and do not compromise in that either. We have all been playing music for over 25 years and are passionate about it. That means that everyone can hit a note and we make sure that we stay on the same level. One by playing at home, another by playing in other bands and another member by making his life as a professional music teacher.

Continuous improvement

We never sit still. Every time we ask ourselves: what could be better? What should we keep? What can we add? We experiment with different tuning of the sound, with new songs, with different setups as a band. Immediately after the gig we do a short evaluation, with the points we take to the next gig and sometimes the next day another app round with each other to turn the discussed points into action points immediately. In this way of giving feedback, egos expire and we always put the goal of band first.

Scrum Values in the band

As a band, we depend completely on each other. Every time we play it is for real. That takes courage (showing off right away) and focus (you can’t make the shopping list during the gig, all hands on deck, utmost concentration for a good set). When one of the members is not sure about a song we talk about it. Sometimes we decide to skip the song, but often we agree to drag each other through the songs: just lean against my shoulder for a while. One of our values is black humor: we know better than anyone else how to hit each other with a deep dark black remark. But this is always done with respect for the other person. No matter how hard the joke. We know that it is allowed. Don’t we ever cross the line? Of course we do. Respect is also saying that someone is going too far. We thrive on constructive disagreements. Agile is working hard together on a substantively strong and relevant product and also working on streamlined teamwork. How agile is your team? Do you manage to give hands and feet to the Agile principles and mindset? Look at your team as a band. What are the similarities to the above account? What do you take away from it? What is not yet successful and will you tackle differently tomorrow?

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