Many people have difficulty when they first encounter haiku in crafting a poem that’s aesthetically pleasing, with as few syllables as a haiku permits. (In Japanese, the “5-7-5” pattern is used, but in English some of us find that the haiku moment works best in about 12-13 syllables).

So, I thought I would give you some simple techniques for writing haiku, which should be well-aligned with your methodology of choice.

Scrum haiku

Start with a poem.
Remove the least important words, until the result appears pleasing. There is your haiku.

Kanban haiku

Start with nothing.
Add words carefully until the result is pleasing, then move on to the next haiku.

XP haiku

Start with a poem.
Halve it. Keep halving it until it is no longer pleasing. That was your haiku.