Agile - Scrum

So I went to my first-ever scrum masters' user group in CT last night. I've been hearing a lot about the use of agile project management/development methodology in web work. Though we don't really have a team of developers at MPOW, we do have a lot of projects, particularly digital projects. I've personally found it challenging to run some of these collaborative efforts and have been searching for ways to improve my own processes.

If you've never heard of agile, here's a few starting references:

• The Agile Manifesto - http://agilemanifesto.org/ (I've always thought we should have an agile library manifesto... but maybe someone's done that already...)
• Agile software development on wikipedia
• Scrum, a particularly effective agile methodology that uses specific predefined principles & rules - conducted as sort of a game in a way, with rituals, rules, and roles that I'll try to describe (from my own layperson's perspective) in future posts
• An introduction to scrum

I think today's librarians have to increase the speed of technological adoption and adaptation. How do we do that? How do we run complex and collaborative projects efficiently in ways that are user-centered? These are the questions that make me seek out the professional developers. They've learned how to deal with the fast-changing world of technology. They've come up with strategies for developing services and software that are game changers. They've transformed their organizations into machines that innovate and evolve with the times. So I'm trying to glean what I can from them & bring it back to the world of the library and the governmental agency.

Yes, there's a lot of work to be done. The question becomes, how do we get it all done before the point is moot?