Getting

Agile
Four Strategies To Bring Out
The Best in Your Distributed Team
Introduction
The idea of “going to work” has changed significantly over the
past 18+ months. Gone is the belief that employees and managers
must be in the same physical space each day to be productive.
Now, with the right tools, teams can deliver exceptional results
while working remotely.

All of these changes present us with a new challenge: how do we

work in ways that benefit both the employee and the organization?
With this kind of empowered approach to work, everyone can
easily focus on the work, collaborating easily even if their team is
fully distributed (or works in a hybrid system). For these organiza-
tions, change isn’t something to be feared — it’s the secret to their
success.

But to bring about this new era of work, we’ll need to find a new
way to think about how we do what we do — and the resources we
use to do it.

That’s why the team at Mural partnered with Scrum Inc., the global
authority on the most widely used Agile framework, and Ministry of
Supply, a high-tech work-leisure brand, to create this training man-
ual. Our objective is to help you, your team, and your organization
find a path to success in this new world of work.

1
01:
Gaining perspective:
process and culture
02:
Learning
from 2020

03:
Addressing the issues:
collaboration, connection,
intentionality, and sustainability
04:
Making it work
for your context

2
01
Gaining
perspective:
process
and culture

3
01: Gaining perspective: process and culture

Process and culture — it’s time for a reboot.

Our take: It’s time for a new perspective;
close your eyes, take a deep breath,
and get ready to embrace new solutions.
Every organization should see this moment Agile is a philosophy that helps teams
for what it is: a tremendous opportunity for deliver high-value features to their cus-
a culture reboot. Leaders and employees tomers without waiting for a full launch. It
alike have the chance to think intentionally started as a reaction against the traditional
about the future of work and to create waterfall methodology of delivering soft-
or evolve a corporate culture that serves ware, which favors long release cycles over
everyone equally. incremental iterations.

The pandemic forced so many of us to Rather than waiting months or years to

work fully remote for nearly two years. It deliver a full suite of software products,
wasn’t easy for anyone, but the abrupt for example, an Agile team delivers work
and forced changes that teams navigated in smaller chunks. This enables teams to
introduced new ideas about how — and collaborate closely with their customers,
where — work happens. It raised provoc- develop a product plan and strategy in real
ative questions about what it takes for time, and make adjustments as needed.
teams to do their best work.

Not every change was positive. For exam-

ple, nonexistent commutes meant longer
working days for many and an increase Agile is a philosophy that helps
in burnout for some. Still, it revealed more
was possible than anyone imagined, even teams deliver high-value features
when teams couldn’t work together in the to their customers without waiting
same place for months on end.
for a full launch.
More than anything, it gave everyone an
opportunity to examine and recommit
to the true purpose of an “office,” a place
supporting collaboration, communication,
and a sense of belonging.

4
01: Gaining perspective: process and culture

Whether the endpoint for your organization If you’re new to Scrum (or want a refresher)
looks like co-location, fully remote, hybrid, this short video will help get you started.
or some completely new thing, embracing Scrum is a lightweight framework that
an Agile mindset will start you on the track accelerates productivity and innovation,
to success. improves communication, removes
the things that slow work down (known
as impediments), and forces clear
Why Agile? prioritization.
The four values and 12 principles at the
Perhaps most importantly, Scrum empow-
heart of Agile were originally created by
ers teams to decide exactly how they do
and for software engineers. Over the past
the work to achieve the Sprint goal and
20 years, though, Agile has successfully
Product goal (more on these later). This
spread to just about every industry and
alone can greatly improve an organiza-
function, thanks in large part to the Scrum
tion’s culture from the ground up.
Guide, which enables teams and organiza-
tions to operationalize Agile concepts. With Scrum, teams can conquer the
biggest challenges raised by the new era
That’s where Scrum, the most widely used
of work: collaboration, intentionality, and
Agile framework, comes in.
sustainability.

5
02
Learning
from 2020

6
02: Learning from 2020

Capture lessons from 2020.

Our take: Look back to the early days of the
pandemic for key insights on remote work.
While 2020 is now (thankfully) behind Now is the time to sit down with teams
us, the lessons teams and organizations and individuals and listen to what they
learned during the pandemic remain front have to say.
and center. It is crucial that leaders capture
Start by asking what worked and what
insights from these experiences before
didn’t work about remote work. Be ready
they are lost in the rush to return to some
for some tough conversations with teams
new normal.
and individual team members. But don’t

What did and

didn’t work
about remote
work?
7
02: Learning from 2020

shy away from asking the hard questions. a hybrid approach, all that matters is that
Ask them directly about the pros and cons you decide — keeping your teams in limbo
of working from home vs. being in the will only lead to speculation, anxiety, and
office. frustration.

Listen actively. Take notes. Ask them what Know that whatever you choose to do, the
they’d like to see moving forward. Scrum framework can help your teams and
organization navigate through the transi-
Once you have this feedback, you can
tion and beyond. Let’s dig into the biggest
make informed decisions about what
challenges distributed teams face and look
workplace model works for your organiza-
at how Scrum can provide solutions.
tion. It doesn’t matter whether you decide
to keep your teams fully remote or adopt

8
03
Addressing
the issues:
collaboration,
connection,
intentionality,
and sustainability

9
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Strategies for collaboration, connection,

intentionality, and sustainability.
Our take: Assembling a team is just
the first step — it takes an intentional
collaboration strategy to really bring
members together.
Issue 1: Collaboration
Effective collaboration is as close as it gets These days, it seems that shared work-
to a universal characteristic of a successful space — more than workplace — is the
team. Accomplishing something together defining characteristic that supports effec-
that could not be achieved by an individual tive collaboration, especially when it comes
is the whole point. to distributed or hybrid teams. However,
emphasizing the workspace over the work-
Before the pandemic, co-location was seen
place does come with challenges.
as the best way to create an environment
where effective collaboration flourished.

Then everything changed. It had to.

“Often when people talk about

great teams, they only talk
about that transcendent sense
of purpose. Just as critical, but
perhaps less celebrated, is the
freedom to do your job in the way
that you think best — to have
autonomy.”
Dr. Jeff Sutherland, co-creator of Scrum, founder of Scrum Inc.,
Agile Manifesto signatory

10
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

SOLUTION:
Embrace a digital-first Create or update your team Prioritize swarming
infrastructure working agreement canvas Effective collaboration rarely just happens,
Highly productive distributed and hybrid Ever consider the difference between a regardless of whether the team is hybrid,
teams rely on an infrastructure that is team and a workgroup? Workgroups are co-located, or distributed. It has to be
accessible from any location. Developing focused on individual contributions. Teams prioritized to make it a team norm.
these systems is relatively easy when you are focused on shared goals, collaboration, As it’s known to many practitioners of
embrace a digital-first mentality. and cohesion. Scrum, swarming is a simple but often
Digital common spaces and platforms like Getting to that state can be contentious overlooked way to immediately boost the
Slack, Mural, Jira, Microsoft Teams, and and takes time. This is why your teams performance of any team. And it is so sim-
Zoom have revolutionized work by allowing should be launched (or relaunched) using ple to implement that even teams new to
real-time and asynchronous collaboration our Team Working Agreement Canvas Scrum can begin using it right away.
to efficiently take place. template. Swarming occurs when as many team
Brainstorming sessions and Scrum Team working agreements accelerate members as possible work simultaneously
events that once took place on physical cohesion and collectively set the behav- on the same prioritized piece of work
whiteboards are now being held in virtual ioral norms, expectations, commitments, exclusively until they’ve finished.
workspaces (you’ll even find some new and shared purpose that lead to high The exact nature of what this entails is
and helpful Mural templates for these performance. dependent on the work being done. But
sessions below). the goal remains the same. Once that
Whether your team is newly formed or has
When you commit to digital-first, you’re been working together for a while, make prioritized piece of work is completed, the
committing to a philosophy that shifts time to co-design agreements using the team then swarms on the next item until it
from thinking of the workplace as a phys- steps in this template: too is completed. And so on. Give it a try.
ical space to thinking of the workplace as
• Come up with a team name, motto,
digitally defined. Read on for some of the
and mission
ways you can embrace this new way of
• Assign roles and responsibilities
thinking in your team.
• Choose metrics and KPIs
• Discuss strengths and skills as well as
gaps and growth opportunities for your
team
• Co-create values and norms as a team
• Look ahead to events and key dates
Establishing these team working
agreements will help you lead your team
regardless of where they’re working from.
Going through this exercise is a great way
to make sure the deliberate changes you
make to your workplace/workspace culture
are baked into how your team works
together.

11
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Issue 2: Connection
Connection can be challenging for any better at what they do. Left unchecked, this
team (and is key to high-impact collabo- bias can leave distributed or hybrid team
ration). Throw in a distributed workforce members feeling disconnected, unmoti-
spread across time zones and cultures and vated, or worse.
you could be facing some serious obsta-
cles to success. Now, the connection challenge won’t
magically disappear because of the
If some team members are working post-pandemic culture reboot. No, leaders
together in the office while others are and teams will have to develop strategies
connecting digitally, the team could end up to help their teams connect. Fortunately,
with a “here and there” dichotomy. Connec- digital workspaces built for collaboration
tion will suffer. (like Mural) and frameworks (like Scrum)
have never been more available and easy
Compounding this is what’s known as
to adopt.
proximity bias — the misguided perception
that those working in close proximity to Let’s look at how digital can help your team
you (or leadership) are more reliable and evolve and connect better than ever before.

“Remember: it’s not the

documentation that needs
to be kept in sync, but the people.”
George Dinwiddie, Owner of iDIA Computing,
Software Development Coach and Consultant

12
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

SOLUTION
The Scrum framework at work
A feature of the Scrum framework is the lightweight structure it
provides teams. The framework creates regularity, a rhythm, or
cadence that gives just enough structure to boost connection,
productivity, and innovation without bogging individuals down in
never-ending meetings. With this structure, it’s very clear what
the purpose of each meeting is and where a Scrum team is in the
process — both extremely helpful for distributed teams.

Let’s walk through the five Scrum events and the impact they
have, and how they are even more powerful in a distributed situ-
ation. You’ll also find Mural templates for many of these events to
help accelerate your team.

Sprint
1-4 Weeks

Sprint Backlog
review refinement

Input from
end-users,
customers, Sprint Kaizen Sprint Daily
team and other retrospective backlog scrum
stakeholders

Product
owner
Backlog Sprint Customer-ready Incremental
planning product increment release

13
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Sprint The first event in the Scrum framework gives The Sprint As we stated above, the Sprint is the sum, it is
Planning shape and structure to the coming week or the cycle, the rhythm of work. The consistency
two. It sets a clear goal. The Team commits to a and dependability of a Sprint, over and over,
body of work they think they can complete and give us a predictable and knowable schedule. It
provides a strong ‘Definition of Done’ that gives removes uncertainty. It provides structure. That
the Team specific and actionable things they is especially valuable in distributed or hybrid
need to accomplish to successfully finish the situations.
Sprint and meet the Sprint Goal. Sprint Planning
helps distributed teams ensure that they are Sprint Review This is where stakeholders and customers give
in agreement and alignment on the “why and feedback on what the Scrum Team has accom-
what” of the work to be done. plished each Sprint. These feedback loops can
You can find a Mural Sprint Planning template still exist with distributed teams. And feedback
here. is always key.

A clear Sprint Backlog coming out of Sprint For a team working virtually, this touchpoint
Planning gives every member of the Team a reminds them that there is a world outside
shared understanding of what needs to be of their Team. That they are delivering value
accomplished. This focus is critically important, and pleasing customers. That their work has
especially in a time of disruption. Otherwise, it is meaning.
far too easy for a Team to splinter. A clear Sprint You can find a Mural Sprint Review template
Goal and Sprint Backlog gives them that focus. here.

Sprint Here is our chance to get better by identifying

Daily Scrum Limited to just fifteen minutes each day, this is
Retrospective what worked, what didn’t, and what we can do
a critical touchpoint for team members working
better. No matter what, the process needs to
far from each other. The Daily Scrum is where
be examined, iterated on, and improved. When
Scrum teams give clarity on where the work
things work well, they should be celebrated and
stands and identify any surface impediments.
replicated wherever possible.
It is also a daily chance to replan based on the
The Sprint Retrospective provides teams with
latest feedback, information, impediments, or
a predictable and safe space to be heard in
emergent changes. Replanning at the Daily
regards to how happy and engaged they are in
Scrum is always important. It gives the Scrum
relation to their role, the team, and the company.
Team the ability to quickly pivot as needed. And
The ultimate purpose of the Sprint Retrospec-
that is invaluable in situations where unpredict-
tive is for the team to have a chance to identify
ability can be the norm.
and implement a process improvement that
There is another benefit of the Daily Scrum, will lead them to be happier in how they do their
one that is often overlooked: It gives people a work, allowing them to achieve more.
reliable touchpoint of connection.

You can find a Mural Daily Scrum template here.

14
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Keep it digital Keep it equal Host virtual social events

Once your team begins sharing informa- As touched on earlier, connection chal- Finally, while it’s important for teams to feel
tion exclusively in digital forms, you’ll see lenges can leave some team members connected while working together, it’s also
how they are more connected. Scrum feeling out of the loop. This is about important to encourage team members to
teams, for example, can shift their entire more than a bad Wi-Fi connection or connect outside of work. This is reportedly
PI planning (program increment planning) microphone. the one aspect of our pre-pandemic work
sessions to digital. Encourage them to lives that workers miss the most. Teams
Instead of placing the burden on individu-
use a digital thinking canvas like Mural to miss the classic watercooler or coffee
als to figure out how to insert themselves
record and share important information, break conversations, hallway chats, and
into a conversation, make it a team norm
plan and track work, and facilitate sprint celebrating with their co-workers.
that everyone is responsible for making
events.
sure all feel equally welcome and able to Distributed teams need to find time to
contribute. build the camaraderie that came so natu-
rally pre-pandemic.
One way to ensure everyone is on equal
footing is to give everyone a seat at the Hosting virtual social events either asyn-
table (in digital terms). If one person needs chronously or in real-time (e.g., happy
to call in, have everyone call in, even if hours, online games, or meetings to talk
some team members are in the office and about something other than work) goes a
could meet in person. This helps to avoid long way toward helping teams feel more
proximity bias — the “here or there” dichot- connected. Create a virtual watercooler in
omy we mentioned earlier — and helps Mural to build spontaneous, light-hearted
keep things equal. connections. Make sure you surface
these watercooler activities in Slack or the
preferred digital tool your team uses to
communicate on a daily basis.

Want to take things to the next level? Host

an entire virtual event to bring everyone
together digitally for a common, fun
experience.

15
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Issue 3: Intentionality
Another challenge that arises for teams An intentional workplace culture has pro- tools to help highlight what work needs
is that they can get tunnel vision around cesses that: to be done and how far you’ve pro-
their goals and strategies. This can lead gressed. Find one that fits your work-
•
• Enable individuals and interactions
to a situation where there’s less of a team flow, not one that requires you to fit it.
Focus, alignment, and collaboration
environment than a group of individuals • Foster effective communication Both
•
don’t just happen on their own. They
working adjacent to one another. Unless synchronous and asynchronous com-
require information, communication,
teams are regularly taking stock of where munication have a place and should be
and understanding of what work needs
they are in relation to the organization’s thoughtfully supported with technology
to be done and why.
purpose, vision, and values, they can find (software) and other resources (like the
• Create a ‘Minimum Viable Bureau-
•
themselves going through the motions office!).
cracy’ Provide just enough guardrails to
and easily fall into a rut. • Enable effective collaboration and
•
carry out the function(s) required with-
swarming This is a well-established
To avoid this challenge, teams need to get out impeding creativity and the delivery
pattern for success for any team,
intentional. of value to customers.
including distributed and hybrid ones.
•
• Work as well remotely as in the office
As obvious as this point is, it is still a For a distributed work environment, the
SOLUTION: problem for many distributed teams. right processes and tools are especially
Build your culture with the An intentional workplace culture has
complicated. A reservation system for
team spaces and webcams on office
new model in mind resources that:
whiteboards won’t cut it. You need infra-
A cultural reboot takes more than simply •
• Make the team’s work visible to each structure that is as accessible and effective
taking a traditional team environment and other There are many digital backlog virtually as it is in the office.
translating it for a digital space. Instead,
you must intentionally build systems and
processes around the new reality of work.

In an intentionally designed workplace cul-

ture, processes and tools empower teams
to get work done. So what does this mean
in practice? For distributed teams, this
“Work is not a place.
means that the processes and tools allow It’s what you accomplish together.”
teams to connect in a sustainable way. Jim Kalbach, Chief Evangelist, Mural
They give team members the ability to be
as productive at home or from the road as
they were in a traditional workplace like the
office.

When leaders ensure that their teams have

the right processes and resources, employ-
ees feel confident they can accomplish
everything, regardless of how challenging
or complex.

16
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

SOLUTION:
Remember the purpose
of the office
To intentionally build your workplace These days, when so much time is spent
culture with the new model of work in communicating, building, and connecting
mind, you need to take a step back and through digital platforms, the office looks
think about the purpose of the office. The more like one of many resources for
pandemic helped us reconceive work and teams to leverage when needed. Because
showed us what can be done remotely. physical spaces are a high-cost tool for
Now it’s time to apply these learnings to a businesses, ask if the value of maintaining
world where the office is, again, an option. an office outweighs the overhead for your
team? If your answer is “yes,” then it makes
Ask two fundamental questions:
sense to co-locate. If “no” — or if you don’t
• What does having employees know — consider if there might be other
report daily to a particular building ways (and moments) to bring people
accomplish? together in a common physical space for
• Does the office provide a return on collaboration, ways that don’t require main-
investment (ROI) for both the business taining a permanent physical workplace.
and the employees?

17
03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

Issue 4: Sustainability
The fourth challenge faced by distributed It’s time to look at your workplace culture:
teams is sustainability (you might think
• Are you speaking out of both sides of
about this as staying far away from
your mouth when it comes to taking
“burnout”). When working from home is
self-care breaks?
an option or the normative behavior of
• Is your organization sending mixed
the team, there is a very real danger that
messages about what sustainability
employees will set unsustainable sched-
means?
ules for themselves.
• Is sustainability a value that you com-
It is always difficult to shut off after a long municate on a regular basis?
day of work, and when your office is your
What was once a simmering problem wait-
dining room table, sliding into working
ing to boil over became a full-blown crisis
12 and 14 hour days can happen almost
in the pandemic age. Your team needs you
without notice. This is especially true if you
to support them as they learn how to prior-
have team members who work in different
itize happiness and maintain a sustainable
time zones. With workspaces like Slack or
pace of work.
Microsoft Teams serving the function of a
digital headquarters, it’s all too easy to not We’ve come up with three solutions to
know when most folks have called it a day. achieve this goal.
In organizations with employees spread
across time zones, a common quitting
time norm may be impossible to achieve.

“You know you’re doing the Heart

of Scrum if everyone involved with
the project is always confident that
they know as much as they need
to, about what’s going on, what’s
done, and what’s coming up.”
Ron Jeffries, one of the founders of Extreme Programming (XP),
Agile Manifesto signatory

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03: Addressing the issues: collaboration, connection, intentionality, and sustainability

SOLUTION:
Maximize the most of time Use the right metrics Track feelings of burnout in
together and apart Metrics can be a scary word, but if you retrospectives and act on the
Teams need to make the most of both learn to love your metrics, you can reduce feedback
their synchronous and asynchronous time confusion and highlight a team’s progress
(and setbacks) through the product devel- Scrum retrospectives are a great oppor-
to succeed. Not only do you want to stick tunity to not only reflect on the past Sprint,
to carefully thought-through agendas opment process. You can use Agile metrics
to streamline your delivery process and but also on how the team is feeling (if
whenever possible, it’s also important you’re already doing regular Retros, start
to track all your work and make it visible help workflow operate at a more sustain-
able pace. tracking feelings of burnout and react to
to everyone so people know who needs the feedback if the team or team members
to do what, when. Here are a few metrics Scrum can help are feeling overworked).
In Scrum, this is done with a Sprint Backlog teams optimize for sustainability:
Identify and tackle negative trends in
or Product Backlog. If you already have a Sprint burndown: Teams organize work happiness before they become a problem.
backlog, make sure you’re embracing a to be completed into time-boxed sprints. Empower your teams to ensure they are
digital first mentality and there’s an easily Teams that consistently meet their fore- keeping a sustainable pace. Ask for ways
accessible virtual version available. casts look really great but don’t let this to improve work-life balance and listen to
Using a digital workspace like Mural that tempt you into fudging the numbers and the answers. There are countless ways an
can be accessed anywhere, Scrum teams marking a task complete before it’s ready. organization can prioritize the well-being of
automatically have an inventory of work to its employees.
Velocity: Velocity is the average amount
be done (user stories). Transitioning from of work teams complete during a sprint,
an analog tool, like a physical whiteboard, usually measured in story points. It’s very
saves time and prevents the need for useful for forecasting and it’s important to
people to waste mental energy scribbling monitor velocity evolution to ensure sus-
notes or figuring out what’s next. tainability. Use the Scrum Pattern “Yester-
day’s Weather” to help your Scrum teams
quickly calculate how much work they will
likely complete in the upcoming Sprint.

Control charts: Control charts focus on

the cycle of time for work in progress,
tracking total time from “in progress” to
“done.” Measuring this is an efficient way to
improve a team’s processes because the
changes are evident and adjustments can
be made almost immediately.

19
04
Making it work
for your context

20
04: Making it work for your context

Make it work for you.

Our take: Connect the right dots
at the right time.
Strategies are little more than theories A New York Times profile of the company COVID-19 and an existential threat
unless you can see how they will help published on March 4, 2021, perfectly Like all of us, Ministry of Supply’s leadership
you and your organization achieve its explains the dilemma the company faced: hoped the pandemic and its restrictions
greater goals. Real-world results should be “Ministry of Supply is one of millions of would be short-lived. Unfortunately, they
weighed before major changes take place. small businesses that were blindsided by weren’t.
the pandemic, though it was hit especially
That is where Ministry of Supply comes in. Demand for office apparel evaporated
hard as a company that sold work clothing
The high-tech clothing company used the almost overnight. Ministry of Supply started
when almost everyone stopped going to
strategies described above to do some- selling (and donating) masks to help fill
the office.”
thing their deep-pocketed legacy compet- an urgent need in the market. While this
itors couldn’t do — thrive in a complex and That is where the story of Ministry of Sup- generated much-needed cash flow, it was
quickly changing market. ply could have ended. Thankfully, it didn’t, not enough to sustain the company. Still,
and today, Ministry of Supply thrives. they held on.

How Ministry of Supply Uses

Scrum to Stay Productive
in a Distributed Environment
“Scrum is best learned through implement-
ing it. So we said let’s commit to it. We
didn’t have clarity around what the world’s “We don’t need an accurate
going to look like in much more than two to
three month increments. Let’s make sure document. We need a shared
we’re able to adapt quickly to whatever lies understanding.”
ahead.”
— Gihan Amarasiriwardena, President, Jeff Patton, author of User Story Mapping
Co-founder of Ministry of Supply

Background
Looking back, 2020 was a breakout year
for clothing startup Ministry of Supply. Just
not in the ways they expected.

21
04: Making it work for your context

By the end of summer 2020, CEO of to reposition our brand.” The threat was Some Scrum elements, like the Daily
Ministry of Supply Gihan Amarasiriwardena compounded by the calendar. It was now Scrum, had long been a part of their
and his team came to a realization: “People August, and pandemic or not, the holidays workflow. But given the situation they now
weren’t wearing belts and they weren’t were effectively right around the corner. faced, they knew they needed more. So
wearing brown shoes.” Ministry of Supply had to have relevant they partnered with Scrum Inc. to ensure
clothing to sell, and quickly, or they would they fully implemented both frameworks
And they wouldn’t be in the foreseeable
lose out on the biggest shopping time of and not just their component parts.
future.
the year.
Creating a cross-functional
Belts and brown shoes are accessories
Scrum and Ministry of Supply adaptive organization
that complement their products. This
Amarasiriwardena and his co-founder, Like many organizations, Ministry of
represented an existential threat to the
Aman Advani, were already acquainted Supply’s original structure was defined
company.
with the fundamentals of Scrum. They had by expertise, with specifically established
“We couldn’t just wait this out and hope read both Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice silos of design: make and sell. “I think the
to sell dress shirts and blazers again in the Work in Half the Time and The Scrum great part of Scrum,” Amarasiriwardena
six months,” explains Amarasiriwardena. Fieldbook. says, “was it gave us a reason to work
“We had to redevelop our product. We had cross-functionally.”

“We couldn’t just wait this out

and hope to sell dress shirts
and blazers again in six
months. We had to redevelop
our product. We had to
reposition our brand.”
Gihan Amarasiriwardena, President, Co-founder of Ministry of Supply

22
04: Making it work for your context

45
Amarasiriwardena shared how the original Results
structure was good for function work, “but When demand evaporates, most retailers
not the important cross-functional work deeply discount their products as a last-
of moving the business forward particularly ditch effort to sell what they can. Amara-
in a remote and now hybrid environment.” siriwardena and Ministry of Supply decided

So, teams were reorganized into

to take another approach; they pivoted all number of days
of their affected products and their entire
cross-functional Scrum Teams. Backlogs
brand identity.
it took Ministry of
were used so that work was visible to Supply to pivot their
all. Ministry of Supply works in two-week Take the couple million dollars worth of
Sprints and they incorporated their own slacks they had in inventory. Amarasiri-
products and entire
customized innovation. wardena and the Ministry of Supply team brand.
thought, “Could we change the fit?”
Aligning on vision and value
Leadership had a vision: recreate and Customer research highlighted the fact
relaunch products and have the brand that work from home professionals were
transform from office apparel to high-per- not tucking in their shirts, “so they don’t
formance work-leisure clothing that care about their belts.” The new design
allowed customers to be comfortable incorporated a drawstring waistband.
while still looking professional. The kind of
Sneakers had also replaced dress shoes.
apparel that allows customers to hop on
“With sneakers,” Amarasiriwardena notes,
their Peloton in between Zoom meetings
“you typically want a bit shorter length
without missing a beat.
and a more tailored fit.” So the new design
“We had this dream board in July and altered the cut of the leg accordingly.
August,” remembers Amarasiriwardena.
Overall, it took Ministry of Supply just 45
“We knew where we needed to go. What
days to pivot their products and their entire
we didn’t have prior to Scrum was an
brand. Industry norms for such a dramatic
efficient way to break down that vision into
change are around 18 months.
segments to get them done fast.”
Scrum helped this organization respond
Ministry of Supply also needed alignment
faster than others thought possible.
across the board and prioritization based
on delivering business value in the optimal Ministry of Supply was able to rapidly adapt
order. “We had to delineate what was to change and completely pivot its entire
important now versus what can we do product line in record time, becoming a
later,” which, as Amarasiriwardena states, recognized market leader in the “work
“is exactly what the grooming of the back- leisure” or “hybrid clothing lines.”
log is all about.”
Gihan Amarasiriwardena says Scrum is a
Using the Scrum framework kept the big reason the startup succeeded where so
teams aligned. many established, deep-pocketed brands
failed.

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04: Making it work for your context

Boosting productivity by cutting time The future of Scrum at Ministry

spent in meetings by 50% of Supply
Unlike other frameworks, Scrum is not Sally Schultz is the Scrum Master at Minis-
overly prescriptive. This allows for custom- try of Supply. After attending a Scrum Inc.
ized adaptations that improve outcomes training course in June 2020, she has been
for both teams and the organization as a driving force behind the implementation
a whole. Such a customization greatly according to Amarasiriwardena.
increased productivity at Ministry of Supply.
Schultz is pleased to see “how we’ve
“One of our team members said everyone evolved as a team and how we’ve really
was experiencing Zoom fatigue,” remem- grown in terms of efficiency. We’ve cut
bers Amarasiriwardena. “We were just hav- down our meetings and are driving
ing so many meetings trying to replicate business value.”
our office environment.”
Scrum, she says, has helped Ministry
So leadership decided to try to incorporate of Supply deliver tangible outputs and
the concept of “Maker / Manager” work- success. The highlight to her however is,
weeks within their two-week Sprints. One “how the team has rallied around it.”
week is designated as “Manager Week.” All
Working well and achieving in a crisis is
meetings and Scrum Events are contained
always laudable. But working in a way that
in this week. The other week is “Maker
allows you to adapt to complex situations
Week.’’ It’s all about getting the backlog
before they become a crisis is one way to
done. The only exception is the 15-minute
measure true business agility.
Daily Scrum, which takes place every work-
day throughout the Sprint.

As Amarasiriwardena describes in this

Fast Company profile, before this innova-
tion, “The average Ministry of Supply team
member had 31.5 meetings per week.
One year later, we cut that number almost
in half to 17.6.”

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What’s next?
Inspect, adapt,
improve.
One of the greatest advantages of using Scrum is
that the system is iterative. This means teams are
always encouraged to inspect, adapt, and improve.
No system or process is ever a “one-and-done”
proposition. There is always more to learn!

In today’s working world, the way teams adapt and move forward is constantly changing.
Work is evolving to embrace better processes and make use of resources in ways that
drive results.

The teams at Mural, Scrum Inc., and Ministry of Supply hope you have found this explo-
ration into strategies to ignite distributed teams helpful. If you want to learn more about
practices from Scrum, Scrum Inc. is the global authority. For teams looking to collaborate
visually using templated practices for Scrum, create a free forever Mural workspace and
look for Scrum templates.
Finally, if you want to be dressed for motion and comfort, ready for whatever the new
world of work throws your way, head over to Ministry of Supply — their Agile teams have
been designing new styles just for you.

25
Scrum Inc. is the global authority on Scrum, the most widely
used Agile framework. Founded by Dr. Jeff Sutherland, the
co-creator of Scrum, creator of Scrum@Scale, and co-signer
of the Agile Manifesto, Scrum Inc. has helped hundreds of
organizations and more than ten thousand teams achieve
better results by successfully transforming the way they
work. Through private and public training courses to lead-
ership workshops, team launches, coaching, organizational
transformations, and a comprehensive Agile Education
Program, we offer Scrum and Agile solutions to partners
large and small. All of our consulting and training solutions
are also available virtually. Learn more.

Mural is the leading provider of digital workspaces for

guided visual collaboration in the enterprise, Different from
online whiteboarding and design software, the Mural®
platform transforms teamwork by making meetings and
workshops interactive experiences designed for problem
solving, play, and imagination. Tens of thousands of teams
at companies such as SAP, IBM, Microsoft, Facebook, USAA,
Procter & Gamble, and Thoughtworks, as well as Mural’s
other customers, use the platform to foster inclusive,
imaginative teamwork and turn shared ideas into a shared
reality — at any time and from anywhere. Create your free
workspace.

Ministry of Supply is based out of Boston and born in the

labs of MIT, Ministry of Supply engineers clothing for motion,
comfort, easy care, and the planet. Think: breathable,
stretchy, sweat proof, and machine washable. Learn more.

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