(Edu) Scrum at XP Days Benelux: beware of the next generation

Xp Days Benelux 2014 is over, and it was excellent.
Good sessions, interesting mix of topics and presenters, and a wonderful atmosphere of knowledge sharing, respect and passion for Agile.
After 12 years, XP Days Benelux continues to be inspiring and surprising.
The greatest surprise for me was the participation of 12 high school students from the Valuas College in Venlo, who arrived on the second day. These youngsters did not only attend the conference, but they actually hosted a 120-minute session on Scrum at school, called EduScrum.

 

Eduscrum

EduScrum uses the ceremonies, roles and artifacts of Scrum to help young people learn in a better way. Students work together in small teams, and thus take ownership of their own learning process. At the Valuas College, two enthusiastic Chemistry teachers introduced EduScrum in their department two years ago, and have made the switch to teaching Chemistry in this new way.
In an interactive session, we, the adults, learned from the youngsters how they work and what EduScrum brought them. They showed their (foldable!) Scrum boards, explained how their teams are formed, and what the impact was on their study results. Forcing themselves to speak English, they were open, honest, courageous and admirable.

 

Learnings

Doing Scrum in school has many similarities with doing Scrum at work. However, there is also a lot we can learn from the youngsters. These are my main takeaways:
– Transition is hard
It took the students some time to get used to working in the new way. At first they thought it was awkward. The transition took about… 4 lessons. That means that these youngsters were up and running with Scrum in 2 weeks (!).
– Inform your stakeholders
When the teachers introduced Scrum, they did not inform their main stakeholders, the parents. Some parents, therefore, were quite worried about this strange thing happening at school. However,  after some explanations, the parents recognised that eduScrum actually helps to prepare their children for today’s society and were happy with the process.
– Results count
In schools more than anywhere else, your results (grades) count. EduScrum students are graded as a team as well as individually. When they transitioned to Scrum the students experienced a drop in their grades at first, maybe due to the greater freedom and responsibility they had to get used to. Soon after, theirs grades got better.
– Compliancy is important
Schools and teachers have to comply with many rules and regulations. The knowledge that needs to get acquired each year is quite fixed. However, with EduScrum the students decide how they will acquire that knowledge.
– Scrum teaches you to cooperate
Not surprisingly, all students said that, next to Chemistry, they now learned to cooperate and communicate better. Because of this teamwork, most students like to work this way. However, this is also the reason a few classmates would like to return to the old, individual, style of learning. Teamwork does not suit everyone.
– Having fun helps you to work better
School (and work) should not be boring, and we work better together when we have some fun too. Therefore, next to a Definition of Done, the student teams also have a Definition of Fun.  🙂

Next generation Scrum

At the conference, the youngsters were surprised to see that so many companies that they know personally (like Bol.com) are actually doing Scrum. ‘I thought this was just something I learned to do in school ‘, one girl said. ‘But now I see that it is being used in so many companies and I will actually be able to use it after school, too.’
Beware of these youngsters. When this generation enters the work force, they will embrace Scrum as the natural way of working. In fact, this generation is going to take Scrum to the next level.