Tag: Story

Mother says bigger is not always better.

On By Scrum Under SiegeIn StoryLeave a comment
Podcast about large agile stories

A few months back I stumbled across Arrested Development on Netflix. I heard it was good so I started watching it. Great show. Straight up comedy with no attempts to be serious or heartfelt. I like that. Jason Bateman is outstanding as the son (Michael) who just tries to do the right thing but his family thwarts him at every step. I would like to think I am the Michael of my family but my mom says I’m more like Buster (she would say that).

Thats Buster on the left. He loves his mother.

There are 5 seasons on Netflix. It turns out the first 3 seasons aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Netflix picked up the show years later and made seasons 4 and 5. This makes complete sense to me as the first 3 seasons were comedic awesomeness. The characters were great and their lines were delivered the exact way that my sense of humor responds to.

Seasons 4 and 5 did not touch my funny bone. They didn’t even come close. The episodes didn’t really advance the storylines or the characters much imo and at the end of the day, the show just wasn’t that funny anymore. All good things must come to an end.

The problem was, Arrested Development didn’t end soon enough (season 3). Think of an agile story that is too big and bloated. It cannot get to done in a sprint and just keeps dragging on and on and on. Good agile stories are like Arrested Development seasons 1 to 3. They are enjoyable. Large agile stories (seasons 1 to 5) just go on past their time and lose their edge. I think this makes sense because no one wants to see an adult George Michael (Michael Cera) just like no one wants to work on a giant story that carries sprint to sprint.

Recipes don’t always make good stories

On By Scrum Under SiegeIn StoryLeave a comment
Podcast about story formats

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking and baking. To be fair to Doug, this is Jack writing the blog. Doug is a young guy. Since I don’t have the “baking gene” nor the “delicate palette” I rely heavily on recipes. I’ve learned that some recipes work and some produce what taste like dog food. Sorry dogs but your food is terrible.

For instance, a good friend of mine gave me her ginger snap cookie recipe (see image). This recipe is rock solid. Do not change a thing. I have always loved ginger snaps, so trust me when I say follow the recipe.

I grew eating Chicken Chow Mein. Mom and dad would buy it (take out) and bring it back home. For years, my wife and I have been customers of D Fongs Chinese. In my brain, their Chicken Chow Mein defines the meal for me. I searched several Chow Mein recipes online and finally found one that might turn out like D Fongs. Nope. Terrible recipe. Not even going to share it with this small yet discernible audience. But it did give me a foundation of the ingredients. Since then, I’ve made several changes to the recipe and have come kinda close a few times where the meal was decent. The quest for perfecting that recipe continues.

Think of story formats like a meal recipe. If you like how things turn out and so does your audience, then keep following the recipe. If you or your audience is struggling with your story format, then maybe you should try cutting down on the soy sauce and add a little more corn starch to thicken things up a bit.

Bake for 9 to 10 mins.

Ginger snap baking notes.

Cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in egg until well blended. Add molasses. Then add flour and spices. Roll into 1 inch diameter balls and dip into sugar. Put on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. You want to remove cookies from oven before the fall so that they remain soft. These freeze very well.