Photosynthesis is one of nature’s most sustainable production lines, the minuscule sugar/glucose Factory, by utilizing the energy of the Sun along with inputs of water and carbon dioxide
Similarly doing SCRUM act as “working software” factories, with well defined/refined Product Backlog(derived from Vision/Strategies), along with right Agile cultural mindset and Enablers(Practices/Tools)
Carbon is the chemical backbone of Photosynthesis, like Culture for SCRUM
And Team gets it from the Environment, surroundings, values embraced and the principles followed, around and within the organization. It is one of the most important ingredients for an Agile team to function efficiently and transform into high performing teams (the photosynthesis efficient Trees/plants).
The Correlations:
Photosynthetic organisms are the primary producers of SUGAR on the planet. They also produce oxygen gas as a byproduct and thus serve as the foundation of life providing food and oxygen for the complex food webs.
Scrum is one of the primary holistic approaches/ frameworks to produce working software for complex Projects. They also produce O2
1) “Operational efficiency”
2) “Optimized Whole”
As byproduct and thus serve as the foundation for High performing Teams and Optimized Organizations for complex Market Needs
| Photosynthesis | SCRUM |
| TREE | Agile/Scrum Teams |
| LEAVES | Team Members |
| CO2 | Coordination and Collaboration |
| WATER | Enablers |
| SUN | Source of Requirement(Stakeholders, end User, Non-functional) |
| Spectrum | Strategic Themes, Use-cases, Ideas |
| Visible light | Product Backlog |
| SUGAR | Working Software |
| O2 | Operational Efficiency and Optimized Whole |
| Calvin Cycle | Sprint |
Food for thought
“The Trees that are slow to grow to bear the best fruit”
Build a strong team foundation. Even as per Tuckman’s model, let the team go through the various stages of “Forming, storming, norming, and performing” to get the best results, resulting in high performing agile teams.
“Don’t cut down the TREEs”
Don’t break the Scrum Teams, as reaching performing stage is difficult if the scrum teams are cut or their make-up shifts a lot, as when a change is introduced teams reach back to forming stage to start over again and adapt to the change.
“Storms make Trees take deeper roots”
Let the team struggle, fail small and storm, to “inspect and adapt” and “continuously learning and improving”, this leads to a strong team foundation.
“Be Eco-friendly, Save Trees and let them GROW !!”
Build and preserve the environment/culture for SCRUM teams (trees) and let them GROW!!
“Love the trees until their leaves fall off, and then encourage them to try again next year.”
Letting the teams fail small and encourage them to learn and adapt, instead of penalizing them.