Rules of Jazz

My kids are both into jazz. They have a pretty good program at the high school they both attend. I heard someone talking about the rules of jazz recently;

1. Learn the rules
2. Practice the rules
3. Break the rules

The idea with jazz of course is to improvise, but that doesn't mean play which ever notes you want. However, it does mean you aren't just playing the notes written on the paper.

This is also the idea to having an adaptive project management approach. First, learn the rules. Get your Scrum certification, read some books, or attend a conference. Apply what you learn on your projects. I've talked to a number of folks that say the way to implement Scrum is to first do it by the book (rule 2).

Once you get to know what you're doing, move on to rule 3. Every project is unique, so figure out how to break the rules for your project. Again, it doesn't mean drop everything. It means knowing how to improvise without throwing the whole structure away. Have you had your jazz today?