Your product team is a professional Esports team

Your product team is a professional Esports team

Image for postThe League of Legends Map

This is a very nerdy attempt to compare a Scrum team to a League of Legends professional team ? At least we?re all professionals, right?

A quick note about League of Legends (LoL) if you don?t know what it is already:

?League of Legends is a fast-paced, competitive online game that blends the speed and intensity of an RTS with RPG elements. Two teams of powerful champions, each with a unique design and playstyle, battle head-to-head across multiple battlefields and game modes. With an ever-expanding roster of champions, frequent updates and a thriving tournament scene, League of Legends offers endless replayability for players of every skill level.? ? League of Legends website

I?ve been playing since 2012 (season 2) and love to watch the world championships, in the company of friends.

The professionals specialise in their respective roles, have their strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately are team players.

There is so much pressure placed on these individuals, but when they work together as a team, they make wonderful things happen.

Now, let me introduce you to the Scrum team:

Top: Developer

Image for postIrelia ? My favourite top laner

Master of their lane, their ?island?. The top laner prevents the world from falling apart, from their lane. They are often battling the tankiest foes, fighting their hardest to prevent issues from creeping through, causing havoc in the late game.?Yes, it will be ready in time. Let me just push this first??

Jungle: Scrum Master

Image for postXin Zhao

Always feels like they may be slightly lacking in resources, but needs to keep the team together, through thick and thin. Is often a shot caller for the team and is definitely a facilitator.?Time for morning standup, let me just grab my coffee buff, then let?s gather mid lane by the scrum board??

Mid: Product Manager

Image for postEkko

Has the largest vision of the team and has direct access to the bottom and top lane, they just need to push the senior stakeholders into their towers, so they can roam around the map.?I must carry this team through the fires of hell, to success!?

Marksman: Visual Designer

Image for postTristana

Needs to remain consistent throughout the entire game, they cannot fall behind otherwise the game could be lost. Can sometimes be one of the squishier members of the team, but does their best in a position where they can safely have the biggest impact.?Don?t ask me just to make it pop??

Support: UX Designer

Image for postBraum

Always begin their challenge in the bottom lane but communicates, to support the rest of the team. Bravely explores the dangers of the jungle to provide vision for the rest of the team, and makes suggestions based on the information learned.?Before we push ahead, we need to focus on??

Other LoL players will agree with me; when one of the roles isn?t filled, or someone is trolling (I?m looking at you, mid Nunu), the game becomes so much harder.

It is identical with Scrum teams; if one of the ?roles? isn?t working to the best of their ability, the rest of the team suffers.

This circles back to working collaboratively with our colleagues, to achieve the same goal.

Am I suggesting that playing computer games all the time makes me a better team player?

Maybe.

Thank you for reading.

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