Who doesn’t love music? We all have different choices, tastes – but we all listen and have our favorites. I like listening to various music and play guitar (Disclaimer: I am not a music major or a pro).
There’s been this one thing on my mind for a long time, and I could not resist this post when I saw David Bland’s tweet about “Kanban-Agile Jazz.” [Don’t forget to check out the trackback link at the bottom of that article by Olaf Lewitz].
I observed one strange coincidence when I met, read about, and researched some famous agilists. Many of them play guitar (or a musical instrument).
To name a few (on Twitter): @mcottmeyer, @howardsublett, @dennisstevens (if I am not wrong), Dave Minor, @darianrashid (drums), and the list goes on..(you get the point).
Most importantly, the experiment that I have in mind is on the lines of what Olaf mentioned in his post:
- In the next agile (or scrum or kanban or XP) get-together event, invite the attendees WITH their instruments
- Ask the attendees at the gathering to form a band by choosing among themselves
- Create a tune or select a song of their choice
- Practice for a few times and then
- Present for few minutes in front of the get-together audience
Yep, you’re thinking right; something like the “YouTube Symphony Orchestra” on a very small-scale.
Why do this?
- Fun & Entertainment
- Interactive and engaging
- Something different/Innovative than just doing “hands-on” sessions, open space, games
- Displaying agile principles/values: Collaboration, Self-organizing teams, Improvisation, Iterating, Practicing, and Delivering
As you can see from Olaf’s “White Night..” post, few passionate people have used the Jazz experiment to get their point across to the audience about improvisation. After all, people get together to discuss what they are passionate about (agility), and in that, people form small groups, get engaged in discussing topics of their interest. If people don’t find the topic interesting, they use the “law of two feet” from open space, searching for discussion that engages them.
So, why not meet with like-minded music (agile) enthusiasts at such events and jam?
Note of caution: Please make sure you don’t get lost in music so much that you forget the main purpose of being at the (agile) event 🙂
Original post: Agile & Music: Suggestion for an experiment | Spice of life (wordpress.com)
