Creativity, Constraints, & Scrum: How Frameworks Spark Innovation
Sonnets, cartoons, and agile frameworks are great examples of how creativity thrives with constraints. 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