FORT JACKSON, S.C. (March 26, 2015) -- The 193rd Infantry Brigade leadership is constantly focused on improving their systems and processes to maximize support to subordinate commands, sister units, the Army Training Center, and the greater Fort Jackson community.
Col. Milford Beagle Jr., the 193rd commander, always keeps his ears open for innovative ways to do just that. A couple of months ago, one of his staff officers, Capt. Trevor Shirk, shared a method he used to better manage the myriad tasks and projects in the brigade operations section.
Shirk is an advocate of using the "scrum" method.
"Scrum is basically about getting things done as quickly and efficiently as possible," Shirk said. "Incorporating the process into my staff work allows me to continuously assess how we can do things better, as well as identify critical sticking points."
Scrum is a term originally associated with Rugby football, where the team moves as a unit to advance the ball. Scrum, in its civilian form, was developed by software developer Jeff Sutherland as an aggressive method of managing software development projects. The scrum method uses a three-column model of laying out all of the project's requirements in a "backlog," and then working them to completion through "doing" and "done" columns.
Beagle said he was so impressed with the improvements within the operations section, he decided to bring the idea to his entire staff. He and his staff quickly adapted the model into a task and project management process that focuses on "turning" products and actions within two-week "sprint" time frames. So far, the model has improved the turnaround time for multiple brigade focus areas.
"The method provides a collective place to see what each section is working on, where possible staff overlap exists, and creates a 'contract to completion' for my staff officers," Beagle said.
Lt. Col. Alan Deogracias, the brigade's executive officer, serves as the "scrum master" by routinely synchronizing staff efforts and monitoring progress. Every two weeks, the staff meets with Beagle to update the commander on progress. The biweekly "sprint" sessions are strictly kept to 15 minutes, during which the staff members focus on what they have done, what they will do and what the obstacles are for any given task or project.
Doing more with less appears to be a near-term challenge for commanders at all levels on Fort Jackson. However, the 193rd has already proven up to that challenge. To date, the brigade has coordinated efforts to turn in hundreds of thousands of dollars in excess equipment, reduced missed medical appointments, which save Moncrief Army Community Hospital thousands of dollars, and leads the way in redesigning the Basic Combat Training field training exercise model to increase Soldier proficiencies.
Notwithstanding the recent successes, Beagle said he remains committed to improving the brigade's ability to impact positive change and increase the support to his most valued customer -- each of his Soldiers in training. For the near future at least, "scrum" appears to be the word that may assist greatly in that effort.
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