In the comments to my post Music in Work of Scrum Masters, I was asked to publish my playlist, which I use for facilitating Scrum events. I am happy to share it with you, but I would like to warn you right away that this is not an advertisement for performers.

First of all I should say that I especially like the calm compositions of Robert Miles, the atmospheric and at the same time very gentle and fragile music of Claude Debussy. To my mind, they are perfect for almost all kinds of meetings.

So let’s go through it step by step. Here is one variant of my playlists:

Daily Scrum Meeting

I choose something more mellow to help us ease into the day, for example:

• “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John
• “Happy” by Pharrell Williams
• “Trick me” by Kelis
• “Fire” by Kelis
• “Get Up, Stand Up” by Bob Marley
• “I Got You” by James Brown
• “I Gotta Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas
• “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves
• “It’s My Life” by Bon Jovi

Planning

I play some energizing pop music to get everyone in the right mindset, for example:

• “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
• “The Final Countdown” by Europe
• “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor
• “Trick me” by Kelis

But if I feel from the general mood that something calmer would be better, then I choose music without words and most often it is Robert Miles’ “Fable” or “Children”.

Sprint Review

For the Sprint Review, I would recommend:

• “Celebration” by Kool & The Gang
• “Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey
• “Happy” by Pharrell Williams

For the Demo in my Stream in the bank, in which 17+ teams and our CJO participate, we have a definite tradition. About a year ago, our CJO said that he likes songs performed by Sofia Rotaru (София Ротару), they make his mood higher. And when we played one of her songs on our New Year’s Demo (the title of the song “White Winter”, in Russian Белая зима), questions began to appear in the Zoom chat, who is singing? Everyone liked the song and now it is our tradition to play her songs. I think many of you don’t know her either, as she sings in Ukrainian and Russian.Here you can read about this singer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofia_Rotaru.

Sprint Retrospective

The choice of music for the Sprint Retrospective depends on the theme and time of year. But usually, I prefer:

• “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen
• “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
• “I Want to Break Free” by Queen

If it’s a New Year’s Retrospective, then I play any Christmas music that’s available on YouTube.

For other meetings, I use music by Robert Miles, Claude Debussy or “Resurrecion” by PPK.

Well, be careful – not everyone on the team is a music lover that’s why pay attention to it.

It’s amazing how a few carefully chosen songs can bring a team together and make the workday go by faster.

There’s also scientific evidence that music can improve focus, creativity, and productivity. By incorporating music into our Scrum process, we’re not only having fun, but we’re also working smarter

So, the next time you’re feeling stuck during a Scrum meeting, try putting on some music. You might just be surprised at how much it can help. After all, as the saying goes, “Where words fail, music speaks”.

Hope you find my playlist usefull. Please share your playlist, it would be great to diverse the list.

Do not hesitate to contact me on Telegram or at LinkedIn – just click one of these words.