Agile, Scrum & Running

 

Photo by sporlab on Unsplash

Yesterday when I ran home from work, it had around 25 degrees. I already felt a small fatigue from the run to the office and thought about my planned running time.

I do not plan a concrete time as it is nearly impossible to reach this exact time as I need to cross several roads and might wait on a lot of crossings. It reminds me on the Scrum planning meetings

where the Sprint is planned. It is always a best guess for the next 14 days. We can consider some uncertainties like incomings bugs or sick leaves, but it is not possible to plan everything.

As different to my run where the distance is fixed and the time is flexible, in the Sprint the time is fixed and the scope is flexible. In both cases the resource is also fixed for the planning.

 

Pace is the key for a constant run. Running too fast will drain your power too much and you will either miss your goal or you will suffer from that run some days and you need a break because of an ancle.

When you work in the office on a complex problem, you will not get an ancle in the muscles, maybe your neck or back will gives you a sign of being overworked. The core topic is here the mental health.

If you will then need a break, this can take weeks or even month to get back. Get your pace is the key, is does not matter if this is for sports or in your office.

 

But what is the pace in detail? On my yesterday’s run, I had an average pace of 5:38. Looking into the details, I never run a kilometer that pace. Sometimes faster sometimes slower. When I look on my watch, I try to stay in a pace range and adjust my speed. Running faster is nice but I know that I will not be able to do that on a longer distance. When I run slower, I inspect the circumstances: Are my legs tired? How are my arms and legs technique? Is my breathing in an acceptable range? Is there a slope? Or is my brain getting tired? On base of these inspection I

can do an adaption. - INSPECT and ADAPT.

Is there any difference to your daily work? If something in the Sprint decreases the performances and the sprint goal is in danger, inspect and adapt. The sooner you can adapt, the sooner you are back

on your pace.

 

After a successful run, my satisfaction is high and there is motivation to run again, maybe even faster. To be faster, I can do that just by running the same again and again until I stuck on a level of pace. Simplified said, there are two limiting factors - on the one hand it is my available running time and on the other hand it is a missing training plan.

To run faster, a training plan is needed with different running styles to improve the ability to run faster.

Compared to business, working on a continuous pace will make you faster until a certain level because all recurring tasks needs less time, and you have time for some new tasks. But that is also limited as my same running’s again and again. Getting better in your job needs a learning plan and that highly depends on you what you need. This makes you stronger and better.

The key for getting better is motivation. Without motivation, you will stay on a certain level and that is the key for all leaders to keep the motivation high. Then the great success is a no-brainer.