Bas Vodde is one of the authors of the Scrum Primer available from InfoQ.com and from the Scrum Primer website.
On the Scrum primer website there is a graphic which shows an overview of the Scrum process which has been made freely available under a Creative Commons license.
Recently another version of the overview diagram was added to the website – one showing the Scrum process as an anime cartoon
Bas spoke to InfoQ about the new graphic.
InfoQ: What inspired you to prepare an anime view of the Scrum process?
Bas: It all happened quite accidentally. Over the last years, I've worked quite a lot in Japan, especially giving Scrum courses there. One day, a participant, Hidetoshi Kanuka who is an active participant of the Shibuya Trac and the SukuSuku Scrum community, brought some planning poker cards that were in anime style. He had made them himselves. I looked at them and thought they were really really great. So, I asked if we could replicate them. However, he had only four images and we wanted a different image on each card. So, we needed an artist and the Japanese agile coaches at Odd-e had a friend, Touku Okamoto, who could make anime really well, so we asked her. She made anime style planning poker cards which are now incredibly popular with our students and clients.
The planning poker cards were Scrum-themed. So, one day, I was looking at them and noticed that we had all graphics to create a Scrum Overview picture. So, I asked my colleagues from Odd-e Japan what they thought about that and they said it was possible. So, we started making the Scrum Overview picture. We'll see what comes from it next. So far, it has mainly just been fun and cool.
InfoQ: Who was the artist?
Bas: The artist is called Touko Okamoto who is also a traditional Japanese style painter. She's a good friend of our Odd-e Japan team and always helps us out with lots of things. And, as you can see, she is a great artist. I think we're really lucky to work with her :)
InfoQ: How many versions of the diagram did you produce?
Bas: Well, before we have the ones we published, we went through a long cycle of review and change. I think this might have lasted for one and a half year as all of us are busy and the communication didn't always go smooth. My Japanese language skills are still really bad!
In the end, we published three versions: blue, pink and green. These versions kind-of came by accident. I believe the original version was pink (the cutest) and then I figured it would be nice to have a blue version too. So, I asked for a blue version and I got back a green version. I'm still not sure why, but I liked the green version too, so we ended up with three versions so everyone can pick their style :P
InfoQ: How has it been received by the community?
Bas: So far, it has been received very well. The most common feedback has been that they are "cute".
Personally, one of my favorite feedback has been from an American friend of mine who works in the Finance industy. This was related to the planning poker cards. Each card he would say "Oh no!" and be amazed at them. In the end, he said he loved them, but he wouldn't be able to use them in the US. I thought that was an interesting comment. I wouldn't know as, well, I'm rarely in the US.
InfoQ: You’ve released the diagram under a Creative Commons license – what restrictions are there on people using it?
Bas: We published it under creative commons with "attribution" and "no change". The no change means you can't change the image. Not sure who would want to do that anyways :). The attribution means you need to attribute it back to Odd-e or the Scrum Primer site. The image is allowed to use commercially, so it is easy to add it to a presentation or-so.
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Community comments
What, no tentacles?
by Andy Till,
Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
Re: Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
Re: Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
Re: Nice girls
by Vodde Bas,
Re: Nice girls
by Polly Shaw,
Re: Nice girls
by Jez Davies,
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
What, no tentacles?
by Andy Till,
Your message is awaiting moderation. Thank you for participating in the discussion.
What, no tentacles? Surely this is representative of the feeling after a bad pairing session or a stand-up with a non-agile project manager.
Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
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Sexy girls:)!
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
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What you see as a nice thing is, the opposite: a bad thing. Its typical for a industry which is dominated by men to illustrate a scrum process with not only exclusevly women but also slim, "sexy" women. These things are exactly the ones which show women that the software engineering industry is not theirs to participate.
a great initiative for making the software industry greater is the ada initiative adainitiative.org/
Re: Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
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Sorry, Stefan. This is just my first impression from the described "Scrum process". I'm a man and what can I do?
After reading the article I've become a bit randy and think "this sexy style" is just the way to be noticed among thousands.
But I personally consider this "fantastic article" as a joke, just my oppinion.
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
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Let's say it's a joke: Even this tells us a lot about how the industry sees itself. The only way "sexy girls" can be funny in this context, is that they are seen as something which is unlikely to happen. So to say: "Normal", "nice" girls are not to be found in technical jobs.
One other thing.
(1) Being a man says nothing about your sexual orientation.
(2) Even if you are heterosexual, you could wonder why women in our industry are not allowed to see "sexy, nice" men in a anime presentation of a scrum process.
Re: Nice girls
by James Michelsen,
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Sorry but I can't do anything with IT industry as well as with women choice. There are some industries where women dominate or men don't want to be involved.
I like what you are doing and wish you the very best.
Re: Nice girls
by Vodde Bas,
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Hi Stefan,
Thanks for your feedback. Let me give some feedback back on this. It is sad that people are so "western" oriented and are forgetting how much people and work is in the East. Why is this relevant. You mention "Its typical for a industry which is dominated by men" whereas this is definitively not true about "the industry". I work a lot in countries such as India or Thailand and in those countries there *is no* men domination. In fact, I often find places where there are more women than men in Software development teams.
Next to that, let me point out that the artist is a woman. Next to that, I've been using the images as poker cards for years. I've had 2 variants, an Anime one and a Medieval one. Everywhere I go, the Anime one is most popular by both men and women. In fact, usually when women see them their reaction is "Oh, so cute".
Now, I agree about harmfulness of stereotypes, but you can take it too far, especially when you are only hitting on generalization with another one.
Re: Nice girls
by Polly Shaw,
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As a woman my reaction was that it was sexist. I looked at the pink one hoping to find it populated with sexy boy devs. What a disappointment!
Re: Nice girls
by Jez Davies,
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Sexy boy devs - isn't that an oxymoron?
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
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"There are some industries where women dominate or men don't want to be involved."
But you are saying it like this is determined by nature and not by who kids are brought up.
Society decides what is appropiate for a woman or a man and it is hard to take a stand against it.
my critique is that this pressure from the society towards women to focus on beauty against technology is being reinforced by the pic.
Re: Nice girls
by Stefan Esterer,
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"It is sad that people are so "western" oriented and are forgetting how much people and work is in the East."
Thx for the hint. You are right, i'm talking from a western perspective.
"Next to that, let me point out that the artist is a woman."
This has nothing to do whether something can be seen as sexist or not. There are of course lots of women too who reproduce societies rules.
" Next to that, I've been using the images as poker cards for years. I've had 2 variants, an Anime one and a Medieval one. Everywhere I go, the Anime one is most popular by both men and women. In fact, usually when women see them their reaction is "Oh, so cute"."
Like i said above: woman approving something, does not mean it is not sexist.
What I would like to know why there are no man included in the picture and why all of the woman in the picture have to be so slim. this IS a problem (surely in western countries, but I expect in asian toos) that women are pressed to have a certain look.