Scrum Task Origami -
Part 3: Iterative Development
Thursday, 15 April 2010 -- 6:30 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update on our scrum team’s origami project, and we’ve come quite a long way!
First, our pile of cranes was getting unruly, so I finally brought in some thread and started stringing them up. They’re hanging in groups of 40, so there are still some odd cranes lying about on the table, waiting for us to pick that project back up so that we can string another set.
Our progress on the product owner’s modular origami request is also progressing. In keeping with the ideas of iterative development, we’re slowly building up towards the final grand vision.
Our first step was to complete a Level 1 Menger sponge built out of basic Sonobe origami modules. The team worked together to make the components, and it wasn’t long before the model was complete:
(Sadly, our sculpture has seen better days before this photograph. Apparently it was so well constructed that people felt inclined to pick it up and poke at it, and I came in one day to find it in mangled pieces that no longer fit together quite so nicely!)
For our second iteration, we moved up to the more complicated Japanese Brocade modules. This is the origami pattern specified in the original requirement photo. Each module takes longer to fold, so this structure took slightly longer to complete. That turned out to be a good thing though, as we were folding the basic Sonobe modules faster than we were finishing the scrum tasks they were made from! With the Japanese Brocade modules, our origami velocity is now better aligned with our programming velocity.
Unfortunately, we failed to have a design review before we started assembling this one. After we had completed the module, one of our team members was looking at the original photo given to us by the product owner and pointed out that it didn’t really look the same. Apparently we had put the modules together wrong! This is a good reminder of the value of early technical reviews, since we now had to restart our work on this iteration. We considered disassembling this cube and reusing the pieces, but they now had creases in the wrong places that would make them harder to assemble in the re-architected solution.
After a bit of experimentation, we established the correct way to connect the Japanese Brocade modules and began again. It turns out that the proper structure is actually much larger than the one we had made and will require more modules and more time to finish. So far, we have finished the first of the three layers in the cube, but it looks much more like the model requested by the product champion:
When we eventually finish this structure, it will be time to move on to the final product: the Japanese Brocade Level 2 Menger Sponge.
Related posts:
Scrum Task Origami
Scrum Task Origami – Part 2: Changing Priorities
Scrum Task Origami – Part 4: Project Estimation
May 2nd, 2010 at 7:57 pm
Oh, I didn’t notice this page until now. Congratulations on completing your initial Menger Sponge, and the Japanese Brocade variation that followed it.
I could tell you about the difference between connecting Sonobe modules in the face-based and edge-based styles, but you seem to have worked out the key differences already!
I must admit that using modular origami as a source of parables for iterative development had me in stitches over here.