The Agile Scene in a Small-Town Theater

Roger Kent specializes in helping teams improve Project Management processes and communications. He has taught over 200 two- and three-day seminars to corporate, military and government clients throughout the world. Roger is a principle of the MARPOL Training Institute, authoring three computer-based training programs currently used on over 1,000 ships at sea. He has also developed Movies Teach Project Management, entertaining and informative programs for PMPs to earn continuing education units. He holds a B.A. (magna cum laude) in English from Cornell University and an M.A. in Communication Theory from Norwich University.

  Agile   Leadership   Scrum  

Iterative and incremental methods can be used outside software development. Here’s a challenge that arose in our small-town Shakespeare festival and the “agile” approach we took to meet it.

One of the Bard’s lesser known masterpieces, Henry IV, Part I, requires quite a gang of male actors. Anyone who vaguely meets that description can get cast. We even cast females for those roles, just to have a warm, speaking bodies (sorry, ladies). I have been in the company on and off for many years, but needed to sit this one out because of my project work. Or so I thought.

A successful Russian/Israeli business executive from Silicon Valley has contributed to our little festival for years and expressed a desire to join this year’s cast for a small part. He got a one-scene major role without an audition. Oy.

Sasha arrived for the last 10 days of rehearsals. The director called me the night after his first appearance on the stage, in a panic, begging me to take the role. I suggested to her that you don’t want to tick off a major donor. Besides I was really too busy. I told her I would come to the empty amphitheater the next afternoon and work with the beknighted thespian.

I realized, that, after three minutes of the first session, he was a disaster. What could we do with the limited time to get him to play the role so I wouldn’t have to …

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