It's About The Team

Agile is a way of thinking about team work. A way to stay true to the beliefs of a team and get quality, focused work done efficiently. It's our team's values and actions that inform our beliefs to help guide our decisions while making a project.

Teams have to be able to adapt and respond to change on a moments notice without compromising their values. Being Agile is a way to do that. 

Now with students, I would argue we want them to be able to do the same while also learning content like math, science, english, social studies, or computer science. What if student groups were self initiating, self accountable to the learning at the core of the project? Being Agile with our students, we can do just that.

IT'S THE EPITOME OF REAL WORLD SKILLS

Think of your experience as a student when you had to participate in group projects. How effective were they? How many times did the "smart kid" do all of the work while others didn't pull their weight? Maybe you were the "smart kid" and remember feeling how unfair it was you had to do all the work.

More and more I hear students express their HATE for group projects. Group projects may even negatively effect their learning if not planned, implemented and managed well. With the emergence and popularity of PBL and Design Thinking in schools, it's more apparent than ever that attention is needed on how student's should work together on projects.

By using Agile and implementing the Scrum process, students will know their role in the group, hold each other accountable, learn valuable content through inquiry but most importantly, learn and apply real world skills that are essential in our society today.

Never before in our history has our workforce done such interconnected, complex and challenging work in groups that require an aptitude for collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.

By using Agile with students, we can equip them with the necessary skills for the unknown challenges of tomorrow.

Let's Dive In

From this point on, when I mention a student team, it's a group of students tasked with creating a project.

Agile is a great why and what a team believes but it still needs a how. That's where Scrum comes in. One way to be Agile is to implement a Scrum process.

Agile & Scrum

In the graphic below, blue represent the big picture of being Agile (what and why of a team) and purple represents the major components of Scrum (How a team gets work done). This graphic is intended for you to see how the two (Agile and Scrum) fit together and the major concepts within each. 

The Scrum Process Explained

Scrum is how students operate in their teams to learn and create a project together.

Below is a graphic that describes in more detail the idea, planning, creating and reflecting stages that a team embarks on while creating the project. Often times, these are called the "ceremonies" in a scrum process.

1. First the team needs to decide what project they will make.

2. Then the team must plan the big picture tasks necessary to complete the project (Ex, research, build, create, etc) .

3. Next, the team must create, prioritize and assign smaller tasks of those big picture tasks. This is called Sprint planning.

4. A Sprint is a short period of time the team commits to getting tasks done.

5. During a sprint, the team conducts a daily scrum to discuss what they worked on yesterday, and today and any roadblocks they face in hopes the team can lend a hand.

6. After a set period of time (Ex, 3 days), the sprint concludes, this is when the team does a sprint review to determine if another sprint is necessary. If tasks are not completed in that sprint, they decide what should be on the next sprint to continue the process until project completion.

7. Finally, after the project is completed, the team completes a reflection (In the IT world it's called a retrospective) together on what processes worked well or might need improvement, and how they stayed true to their values and if their actions during the project, matched their beliefs. If there are discrepancies, or things that need to be fixed, this is the time for the team to calibrate to improve for next time.

I would argue that #7 is the most crucial and overlooked step to making it all work. A student team must always take the time to identify and fix potential "sticking points" that can get in the way of a team operating as one, unified, productive team.

The role of Scrum Master is responsible for keeping the team on track during each ceremony.  More information on the roles in Agile With Students in the next section.

Who Does What?

Below is a quick explanation of the roles in Agile With Students. Essentially it boils down to stakeholders, scrum master and team members. 

Stakeholders are the beneficiaries of the process and help define the vision and provide feedback to the team. If the stakeholders aren't happy, the team must adjust.

Scrum Master is the one that keeps things moving during the project process. They are the one that schedules the "ceremonies" during the scrum process. This role can often be held by the teacher, however this role is a great opportunity for students to learn leadership skills too. 

Team Members involves everyone that is needed to create the project. While some might be more knowledgable in one area or another, the goal is for the team to be cross functional and work together on the to dos.

Alexandre Dumas summed it up well in his book The Three Musketeers with his famous quote, "All for one and one for all, united we stand, divided we fall." As it takes the entire team to work together to create the project and if there is any division, the entire project is at risk. 

Terms used in this blog post:

• Agile = The beliefs of a team to create a project

• Scrum = The way a team creates a project

• Ceremonies = An element in the scrum process

• Big Picture Tasks = Breakdown of the big tasks a team needs to do during the project

• Sprint Planning = Team breaks down big picture tasks to smaller to dos and assigns team members to accomplish tasks on task board during a sprint

• Sprint = A short specified amount of time to accomplish smaller tasks

• Backlog = List of tasks remaining to complete the project

• Daily Scrum = Each team member describes what they worked on yesterday, what they will work on today and roadblocks they faced

• Sprint Review = Review project progression and task board to decide if another sprint is needed

• Reflection =  Think of this as an Agile review. What went well as team, what needs improvement and if the team stayed true to team's beliefs

More thorough explanations and specific classroom ideas on how to implement each stage with your students will be coming soon on this blog in AgileWithStudents.com on Mondays, so be sure to check back often.