After completing couple of years of daily practice in yoga, I could greatly appreciate the benefits that yoga provides. Having spent few years in implementing agile delivery model to various projects, I find a great deal of similarities in the structure and principle between Scrum and Yoga. Both of Scrum and Yoga are designed to deliver success.
Let’s take a closer look at the various aspects of these similarities
Product
The product in the case of yoga is your body. The product backlog is the list of ‘negatives’ that you carry in your body & mind. Backlog items or the ‘negatives’ could be physical problem or issues related to mind.
Roles
Product Owner – You are the owner of your body, so it is yourself!
The Team – It’s all your body parts, the hands, the legs, the head, the chest… (Imagine the level of collaboration!)
Scrum Master – your brain – serves and protects (so you do not break your joints) you during the class. Who can take more interest on yourself other than you!
Sprint
It is a daily sprint – your yoga classes. You would want a daily frequency to get your backlogs (negatives) cleared as early as possible!
Sprint Goal: To be Happy
Sprint planning meeting: Prayer in each class where you make the commitment to end your ‘negatives’. You also commit to not to add more items in the sprint till you clear the existing items (obviously you would not want more problems!)
The Scrum Cycle in Yoga
As a product owner you demand that you need the best fit body (product). You have a list of negatives (product backlogs) of which some of it you commit to a particular yoga class (sprint) . You want your body parts (the team) to work collaboratively to complete the asanas (tasks) that will help you get the best body (product).
Your Brain (The Scrum master), serves and protects you in each of the asana (task) by helping you removing the resistance and help you get through them. The more the collaboration of your body parts (team) the smoother completion of asanas (tasks)
Retrospective
As this is recommended to do in a more relaxed environment, in yoga you do those in more relaxed position (savasana) . You decide on the action that you can improve on the next sprint (yoga class).
It is very interesting to notice the practices of scrum which are adhered in yoga – tells a great deal of proven practices of Scrum. So get out and get yourself some Yoga and Scrum.
