Loaf Of Bread, A Jug Of Wine, And A Whole Mess Of Cheese

Today was the end of our first Scrum experiment as a combined group. On Monday, I suggested to Dusty that instead of doing a single eight-day sprint we try two four-day ones. At first, it seemed crazy, but by the end of the day today, I was certain it was a good idea. We had our difficulties, but now we get to do what Scrum asks us to do: inspect and adapt.

To that end, I was really happy with the way our retrospective went today. We could have come out of it discouraged, but I deliberately chose to focus on the positive, and I'm glad that I did. I'm also delighted that one of the things that I picked up at Agile 2010 has paid immediate dividends. Lyssa Adkins taught Thirty-Five, a simple yet effective technique for quickly discussing and prioritizing suggestions, in an Open Jam, and we used it to good effect in our retrospective. I hesitate to use the word "team" yet, but it's clear we're working better together.

To celebrate the end of the sprint, we went out for that most Swiss of dishes: fondue. On top of a mountain. Okay, near the top of a mountain.¹ Mont Tendre is just over a mile high, and just below the summit is restaurant that serves just five things. One them is fondue, and that was enough for me. Even if it took forty-five to drive up, and another forty-five to drive back down, we had a great time, and it was a wonderful finish to a great four days.

¹ One of the Swiss guys did say, "It's not really a mountain."