Creativity, Constraints, & Scrum: How Frameworks Spark Innovation

Whether it's sonnets, cartoons, or agile frameworks, constraints inspire creativity. Discover what Shakespeare and Wile. E. Coyote has to teach Scrum teams about maximizing innovation by following the rules.

Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, Chuck Jones, 1999 Chuck Jones Rules for The Roadrunner Cartoons

1. The road runner cannot harm the coyote except by going “beep beep!”
2. No outside force can harm the coyote-—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.
3. The coyote could stop anytime-—if he were not a fanatic. (repeat: “a fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim.” —-George Santayana)
4. No dialogue ever, except “beep beep!”
5. The road runner must stay on the road—otherwise, logically, he would not be called road runner.
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert.
7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy.
9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.

References A Beautiful Constraint: How To Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It's Everyone's Business, Adam Morgan and Mark Barden, 2015.

Inside Creativity, Constraints, & Scrum: How Frameworks Spark Innovation 00:00 Creativity Thrives inside Frameworks 00:15 Poetry Uses Strict Constraints 01:04 TV Shows Use Frameworks 01:57 The Wile E. Coyote Framework Rules 02:39 How Agile Framework Rules Inspires Creativity 03:14 A Beautiful Constraint ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JCgsg1ONQ0