Origin of the Scrum Chicken and Pig Cartoons
The Original Scrum Chicken and Pig Cartoon…
The Back Story of the Scrum Chicken and Pig Cartoons
Leap into the Time Machine with me…
2006 (and earlier)
The year was 2006. Fifteen years into my career (and coming off the successful publication of book with Scott Ambler), I was deep into a full time multi-year consulting engagement with a large financial services firm (that has continued to go through many iterations of Scrum and Agile within their enterprise).
I had become an “official” Certified Scrum Trainer (by Ken Schwaber as the Scrum Alliance was still pretty much in the beginning stages of moving to a “non-profit” organization).
Ken shared this “Chicken and Pig” story with us back in January of 2004, when I originally attended and participated in what was evolving into the “Certified Scrum Master” certification.
At the time, the idea was the Scrum Team was made up of “Pigs” (the people doing the work — think Developers today) and “Chickens” (the people who had ideas on how the work would get done — think stakeholders today). At the time, we were decoupling the idea of a Product Owner away from being a “Chicken” [which finally happened and they are now an accountability (aka role) on the Scrum Team!].
I was faithfully sharing this story for years, and I asked the community if anyone had drawings of this anywhere (at the time, the agile and scrum world was still pretty small and made up of a bunch of really early adopters lol).
I got laughed out of the room most of the times I had this conversation about the idea with my peers.
So… seeing an opportunity, I thought I’d get something started.
One problem.
I can’t draw.
So… I put the word out to the community (remember they were telling me this was a dumb idea) and finally found someone (not in the Agile or Scrum Community) who resonated with the idea. Tony Clark agreed to illustrate the ideas I would come up.
We published this first Scrum Chicken and Pig cartoon on September 11, 2006 at a new site I created at www.ImplementingScrum.com.
Zoom ahead through about 2011
Each week, Tony and I bounced ideas off each other. We would regularly publish a cartoon (illustrated by Tony and concepts co-created by both of us [any errors are mine]).
An awesome collaboration.
It kinda took on a life of its own.
People noticed.
Heck, the original Scrum cartoon was translated into over a dozen languages (it’s on my Product Backlog to publish here again sometime!).
The people who were laughing at the original idea were thinking that it was not such a bad idea anymore.
After publishing over a hundred of these cartoons, we decided to end the series.
All the content and rights were signed over to me and Tony went on to continue doing incredible things with his life.
2024 (and beyond)
So.
Here we are.
Calling people “Chickens and Pigs” when Implementing Scrum in the real world is pretty much history.
Phew.
For me, the story is still pretty timeless.
[ … and others, like this reflection by Kirk Israel ]
Over the past 18+ years, I’ve tried many different iterations of the site and publishing ideas at ImplementingScrum.com.
Currently, you can see this original cartoon and learn more about starting, practicing, coaching, and leading [not managing] Scrum in the “Real World.”
You know, where you and I live and breathe today :-).
While I am not producing any new scrum chicken and pig cartoons (check out the internet way back machine if you are curious), I have kept up the habit of publishing an email every week and sharing a new point of view using one of the original Scrum comic strips.
I’ve done this pretty consistently for 18+ years. That’s now officially over half of my professional career [eek].
These days, it’s usually an email that I send out to subscribers on Saturday morning (to thousands of people like you and me).
What Next?
Meh. Who knows.
I’ll try and continue the practice of publishing a new blog article on a regular cadence (let’s see if this blog thing is still relevant — I guess if you are reading this it’s working!).
I’ll continue sending people one of my Scrum Cartoons with relevant and timely information about Implementing Scrum in the real world each weekend.
It’s OK, you don’t have to read it over the weekend (smile).
I’ll also continue training, consulting, and mentoring people around the world. While it’s been most virtual the past few years, I am starting to do the “in person” travel thing once again [when it’s relatively safe for all of us].
And…
Who knows.
One of your experiences may wind up being shared with others in our growing community of Scrum and Agile people all around the world!
Contact me (with feedback) or connect with me on LinkedIn to discuss this more together.
Also, check out AgileMentoring.com while you are here; it’s a great community of practitioners from around the world who are figuring things out together!
One final thing…
Subscribe to my weekly Saturday morning emails about Implementing Scrum in the real world. And get an “every two week” check in from me too (usually every other Wednesday at some point).
What could be better?
About the Author: Michael Vizdos
Hi. I sincerely appreciate you reading this article. My name is Michael Vizdos and I’ve had the privilege of working with thousands of people on teams all around the world for the past 30+ years of my professional career.
You can read more about my background or contact me or connect with me / send me a direct message on LinkedIn .
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