Scrum. It’s funny how much of the tech industry landed on a term for a little-understood part of a game that most people in the United States would struggle to describe.

The metaphor goes back to a 1986 Harvard Business Review article, The New New Product Development Game. The examples are dated, but it still resonates 40 years later. Bringing people together to do something is hard, doing it successfully is harder, and doing it efficiently is what many of us spend our professional hours focused on.

The paper’s metaphor is a team passing the ball as it moves upfield looking to score. Teams have “shapes” they base their offense on and a few called plays, but from there it’s beautiful chaos. The ball carrier tries to weave through, or run through, defenders. Teammates run support lines to receive a pass and exploit a defender out of position. Others get ready for the next phase or protect the ball after a tackle.

The authors of “The SCRUM Development Process” later focused on the scrum, and the word took off as part of the larger agile development movement.

The thing is though, the scrum isn’t free flowing like open play. It’s beautiful in its own right, technical and precise with some brute force, but not what you’d typically call agile.

Scrums restart the game after a law is broken. The 8 forwards bind into a single unit. Called “the pack”, this collection of humanity can approach 2,000 lbs on adult men’s teams and apply a lot of power very quickly. The 7 backs position themselves to receive the ball if their team wins it or defend if they lose it.

They’re for alignment. Everyone knows where they are going to be when it starts, but more importantly, their teammates know where they are and plan to be once play starts. The overall goal is to move the ball forward during the entirety of the game, but there is value in coming together to understand where everyone is and to prepare for what’s next.

Its the same reason why whole initiatives can’t be driven by a single kickoff meeting. People do unexpected things during execution. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s why alignment has to continue. It’s calling the next play, making eye contact with the people you’re working with and committing to them that you understand your role in the next phase. Unforeseen things happen, but a shared framework and goals help you adapt together until the next alignment.

These things can happen in person, virtually, or through documents and agreements. Often it’s more than one because people and teams process things in different ways.

The art is in figuring out how much alignment is needed. Just like ruggers wouldn’t want to scrum for 80 minutes, team alignment should be brief and to the point. They should set the tone for the next phase.

The start of Q3 is as good a time as ever to make sure everyone is pushing the right direction.

Bonus, a little scrum ASMR from the match this weekend!