My Experience of Agile
I was recently introduced to the world of ‘Agile’. I was anxious, wondering how will I even fathom out this tech-laden concept. A dear friend calmed my anxiety by giving a simple explanation - “Relate agile to everyday things, it’s not very techie!”
When I was sleeping with this thought, I had my epiphany moment. I realized Agile is neither a method nor a mindset. Agile is the way of life! Leave aside the software industry where this concept was born; I figured I can be agile in planning an event, reaching my health goals, or even raising a kid.
The concept of Agile Wedding
Unknowingly and fortunately, I had already witnessed the beauty of Agile during my work stint with Sketchknots, a bespoke destination wedding planning company. Yes, only witnessed and not a part of, as I was only creating content for their website. While I was being briefed about the company, the team, and their services; I noticed that the co-founders were both techies. Voila, I now realize that Agile had become their way of life too.
Roles in Agile Weddings
- Product Owner — The couples are product owners, the product being their wedding.
- Scrum Master — The director of Sketchknots, Annada acts as the Scrum Master. She helps the couples visualize their weddings to figure the requirements and expectations her team would need to work on.
- DevSecOps — The entire team of Sketchknots, right from the logistic manager, art director, etc. take up this role, to develop and deliver the dream wedding for the couples. Alongside, there would be a representative from the couple’s side (optional).
Artifacts for Agile Weddings
Following are the major artifacts made and/or maintained by the Sketchknots team to better plan and execute the wedding event.
- Couple’s dream wedding brief
- Contract of the wedding venue
- Budget allocation list
- Save the date & wedding invite
- Confirmed guest list with details
- Wedding menu with details
- Logistic plan with details
- Decor plan with details
- Gifts list with details
Communication Tool for Agile Weddings
Sketchknots’ weddings are typically desi with a classy touch. This is because their clients are NRI couples who want to get married in India. Sounds like a familiar challenge? Yeah, the team members are not co-located here! While the wedding planning and preparations progress, Sketchknots gives the couples a clear view of the happenings at their end via ClickUp. ClickUp is their Scrum Board with a 7-day time view, just like tech sprints.
ClickUp facilitates effective planning, organizing, and collaboration between the couples and the Sketchknots team. It is a productivity platform that helps the team manage their tasks and allows teams to function at their best with the help of notes, reminders, calendars, goals, scheduling, prioritizing, and an inbox.
Retro in Agile Weddings
There is a weekly sync-up call between the Sketchknots team and the couple, in which they analyze the week’s progress as shown by the ClickUp board. Devise actionables for the tasks that didn’t go as planned, and the line-up of tasks for the coming 7 days.
That’s about my experience of Agile. Do leave your comments to tell me about your experiences. Cheers!