inauguration speech – the sprint planning meeting

It’s no wonder that most American films about wars, warriors and leaders include a powerful scene where the good leader talks to his soldiers, explaining how important the day’s war is, how hard it will be but that they will be glorious. If you’ve seen Braveheart, Gladiator 300 you know what I’m talking about.

Also, modern leaders use this tactics. One of the first that was really good at this was of course Abraham Lincoln. Winston Churchill also have these speeches that are rooted into at least Western Civilisation. We all know how much the new American president’s inauguration speech meant to people. Even here in Sweden, the content of his speech has been recited during social events I’ve attended since.

People like to be inspired before starting something new or when they are going to work hard on something.

Take that into consideration during the sprint planning meeting. If you act sceptical or look bored, why should the others care? Watch one of the films I mentioned or listen to Mr Obama and think if you can learn something about being an inspiration.

Also, keep it short. No one sane likes long meetings. Some good advice on how to hold an effective sprint planning meeting can be found in this excellent blog post by Peter Stevens.

(The picture depicts the Swedish cyclist Bernt Johansson. Professional cycling is a sport which is a team sport but also an individual sport. Often a team member must step back from his personal gains to enable the best for the team. That can mean loosing an individual sprint to make the team win the whole competition. This demand an inspiring leader which the individual team members trusts and will fight for. For more on this subject, read any book by returning professional cyclist Lance Armstrong.)