CASE: Naturalis. How do you Scrum a T-Rex?

Naturalis’ Educational Development Department was created in 2014 from the merger of two departments: Education and Information Services. All the activities Naturalis offers to students and families thus came to live under one roof. Just in time, because major renovations were coming. In 2016 the T-Rex (named Trix) was due to arrive and in 2019 the new museum opened. The department was looking for a way to work efficiently, like Scrum, without losing creativity.

Best Practices Approach

To begin, there was a training session for the entire team. Energy was high everyone was ready to start. At the same time, there was a rushed feeling. How was that? Because there was also ad hoc work being done for other teams and departments. We reduced those tasks in collaboration and focused on days working on education around Trix. All the unnecessary fluff and noise we have removed. Focus! A good first step.

Rhythm and Sprints

Working in a set rhythm with (partial) deliverables also took some getting used to. A 6-week period consisted of 3 sprints:

• 2 weeks Design & Concept, testing with target audience
• 3 weeks Elaboration of Design and Concept, demo with end users
• 1 week Reviews, process feedback
• 1 week Rest week, final touches

After each sprint, the next batch of stakeholders already on the doorstep to test proptypes. Think parents, children, teachers, elementary schools. Explicitly formed the review now the time to learn and which part of the educational activity to improve and to implement that these improvements immediately. This in turn gave peace of mind towards the official opening, as products were completely finished, and not left hanging endlessly.

“The creativity of the team to use Agile and Scrum to their liking is tremendous. As a result, the form of collaboration fit seamlessly into the world of all the team members at Naturalis. For example, having 1 yoke of a scrum board where team 1 worked from left to right on it and team 2 worked from right to left. This provided additional connection among the teams and very quick switching to align each other’s ideas and tasks.”

Concrete result:

• Ready in time for Trix and the opening, thanks to Scrum and Agile
• Validated and tested exhibition with real users
• Transparent team collaboration
• Partial deliveries made the team’s work very transparent to the rest of the organization