One story at a time: a Scrum Master’s guide to healing
The surgery on Monday had gone well, they told me. A plate, some screws, and a pressure bandage for one day. The stitches should dissolve on their own.
But on Monday at 2 o’clock in the morning, I was sitting on the sofa watching a movie. Not by choice. The nerve block they had used to anesthetize my arm during the operation wore off around midnight, and the pain that replaced it was not something I could sleep through. So I went downstairs, put something on the television, and waited for the night to pass.
Tuesday afternoon, I finally peeled off the pressure bandage and admired my stitches. Since the wound is still healing, I needed a fresh compress and bandage. Thankfully, my wife stepped in. She’s been my right hand (pun intended) and an amazing support through all of this.
By Wednesday morning, I managed to put in my contact lenses as I usually do. Cutting ginger for tea with my right hand was almost a success. These are small wins, but I noticed them, and they mattered. It struck me how naturally I’d started breaking this recovery into bite-sized pieces, tracking progress, and celebrating every little victory. Classic Scrum Master move…
The work at hand
The Epic would be to recover from the accident and regain my health. That is my priority. Back to the life I had before a car hit my bicycle two weeks ago. Without pain and without extra effort. Full recovery as Product Goal.
But that’s too big to work with directly. So let’s break it down into Features:
- Getting to the hospital and being assessed at the ER. ✅
- Learn how to deal with a wrist in a cast ✅
- Have the operation to fix the complicated fracture ✅
- Recover after the operation. Work in progress…
Under that last Feature, I’ve got a handful of user stories that show me I’m actually moving forward. For example:
- I can put in my contact lenses. Done.
- I can cut fruit and vegetables with my right hand. In progress.
- I can brush my teeth with my right hand. Todo.
- I can open a package with both hands. Todo.
- I can grip a golf club. Not yet. It is on the backlog.
Each of these shares some common Acceptance Criteria: “I can do it without pain, without thinking about it, without it costing me effort, it never used to cost.” Fully functional and back to normal.
Getting it Done
In Scrum, the Definition of Done describes the quality standard every piece of work must meet before it is truly complete and part of the product, the vehicle to deliver value. It does not bend under pressure. It does not lower when the team is under-resourced or running behind.
Mine works the same way. My body is the product through which I deliver value to others. Whatever I do, I want to do it well, with care, and in line with my personal values. Those are my constants. They do not change because I am injured. What changes is my velocity. I can do less right now. Some things take longer. Some things need an entirely different approach. But the standard itself stays the same.
My velocity might drop, but my Definition of Done stands firm.
That difference really matters to me, especially on days when it’s tempting to feel like a lesser version of myself.
Know your territory
Before the accident, cutting vegetables was simple. No expertise required. Then, suddenly, the game changed. The same simple tasks moved into complicated territory. Suddenly, I had to think about every step. Brushing my teeth, opening packaging, and getting dressed all needed new techniques. It wasn’t that I forgot how; it’s just that the context had shifted.
The hospital operates in the complicated domain, too, but from the other direction. What looked chaotic in the first seconds after the crash quickly moved into expert hands. Paramedics and doctors who knew exactly what they were looking at. A surgeon who has placed plates and screws many times before. The right specialist, in the right domain, doing what they are trained for.
Figuring out which domain you’re in and responding accordingly is one of the most useful things I’ve learned as a Scrum Master. Turns out, it’s just as handy in life as it is with teams.
Lessons
Last week, I wrote about unconscious competence and what the accident had uncovered for me. That was the lesson from the crash itself. This week, it’s all about recovery after the operation. Once the chaos settles and the experts have done their part, it’s your turn. You break things down, decide what ‘done’ looks like for you, accept that you might move slower for a while, but you don’t lower your standards. And then you keep moving forward, one small story at a time.
This morning, I nearly managed to cut ginger for tea with my right hand. Tomorrow, I’ll give it another go.