Virtual Verde
Desk-friendly plants for home offices
Featured image courtesy of Rawpixel and used only for display purposes.
Context
Office Green, LLC, a commercial landscaping company specializing in interior plants for office buildings, identified a market shift during the COVID-19 pandemic: increased demand for home office products. In a VUCA environment, the company faced volatility from sudden market changes, uncertainty about future demand, complexity in adapting their B2B model to direct consumers, and ambiguity around customer preferences. In response, Office Green launched Virtual Verde, a new service delivering desk-friendly plants directly to remote workers’ homes to enhance air quality and workspace aesthetics. As scrum master, I led an Agile team to develop and launch this service, navigating this rapidly changing environment.
Note: In this coursework scenario, I assumed the role of scrum master to apply Agile PM principles in a realistic business context.
Methodology
The project adopted Agile methodology using the Scrum framework to address market unpredictability and changing customer needs. This iterative approach allowed the team to remain flexible, respond quickly to feedback, and deliver incremental value through sprint cycles. Scrum’s collaborative structure—with defined roles, sprint planning, and regular retrospectives—enabled us to adapt the service offering as we learned more about home office workers’ preferences.
Process
Market research confirmed the shift to remote work and identified home office workers as a new customer segment. The team formed with a Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team to conduct an initial test run and create the first sprint plan.
We developed a prioritized product backlog with user stories, acceptance criteria, and effort estimates. Each sprint focused on specific features, with the team maintaining a sprint backlog to track progress toward sprint goals. After Sprint 1, we held a retrospective to identify improvements, capturing insights and action items for subsequent sprints.
As we approached releases two and three, the Content Manager and Vendor Manager flagged issues requiring release plan adjustments. The team evaluated each request, proposed solutions, and updated the plan accordingly. By maintaining our Definition of Done and following Scrum rituals, we successfully delivered Virtual Verde to market.
Artifacts
- Product Backlog – Prioritized user stories with acceptance criteria and effort estimates for all planned features.
- Sprint Backlog – Sprint-specific user stories and tasks with effort estimates and assigned owners.
- Sprint Retrospective Notes – Documented team insights, challenges, and three actionable improvements implemented in Sprint 2.
- Sprint Retrospective Email – Recapped key takeaways and action items distributed to stakeholders.
- Release Plan – Multi-sprint roadmap outlining feature delivery schedule and milestone dates.
- Release Plan Update Emails – Change communications addressing Content Manager and Vendor Manager concerns with revised delivery timelines.