I'm Dreaming of a Scrum Christmas

Warning: Excessive (Christmas) usage of the Scrum framework may occur 🎅🏼
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Let’s say that you are the Product Owner for your very own Christmas Scrum Team. You are responsible for making sure that everything goes according to plan, and that everyone has a good time.

First, and foremost, you need to make a Product Backlog with all the tasks that needs to be taken care of on Christmas Eve.

That could be the cooking, opening presents, singing Christmas carols, watching the Disney Christmas Show (yes, it still exists), picking up Aunt Martha, etc.

Then it is time to put together your Scrum Team, that consists of yourself, as Product Owner, a Scrum Master (perhaps your partner or one of your parents), and the rest of the participants at Christmas Eve as the Developers.

Set realistic Christmas goals

Once the team has been gathered, you can put together your own Sprint Planning for the Sprint that runs over the Christmas period.

It could be beneficial to estimate the User Stories in the sprint with relative estimation. I bet your Uncle would love to play (Planning) Poker.

It is important, so you do not set out unrealistic goals.
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Remember to also define a Sprint Goal. For instance, that could be preparing “the best Christmas dinner” or that “Mom gets the perfect gift”.
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When the Sprint has been planned, and broken down into subtasks, you can end with a confidence vote. Does the team think that the plan is realistic?

The ultra-short Christmas Sprint has begun

Now, it is time to get the Sprint going. Since Christmas Eve is a pretty short Sprint, I would recommend holding Daily Scrum a couple of times during the day, so the team has the opportunity to gather and make a plan for the next tasks and discuss the challenges that are standing in the way of the Sprint goal.
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You should conclude Christmas Eve with a Sprint Retrospective, where you go through how it went.
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You could ask questions like:

• What things are you really happy went well?
• Which gifts were the best?
• Which parts of the food were most delicious?

Remember to also discuss the things that can be improved for the next Christmas Eve.
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Good questions could be:

• What things can we improve for next year?
• Is there anyone who should not be put in charge of buying gifts next year?
• Who should stay far away from the kitchen next year?
• Does the alcohol need to be rationed for certain people?
  

To Scrum or Not to Scrum

Before you know it, your Christmas Eve will be over, and Scrum has been there, helping you through it. Alternatively, you could also just forget about Scrum, and enjoy Christmas with your loved ones 😊🎄