Need Feedback on doing vs being
On Agile teams we use the phrase “Shu-Ha-Ri” almost daily, but some people may not know the roots of this powerful concept. Shu-Ha-Ri is a Japanese martial art concept that defines the stages a student progress through in the journey from learning to mastery.
During the Shu stage, the student copies techniques without adapting them. We all start here when learning something new. (Like when you attended your Agile 101 Bootcamp!) Initially there is a lot of teaching, and little experimentation. We receive training and begin to exercise the basics. In Agile we start with the practices. Things such as attending a daily standup, walking the Kanban board, or writing user stories. At this stage we’re learning to “Do Agile”.
For example, imagine you’re learning to cook. The first time you start with a recipe you don’t want to deviate. You follow the recipe exactly, because you don’t know what you’re going to get yet. Over time once you’ve mastered the recipe you start to improve it. Adding new spices, changing ingredients, etc. That brings us to the second stage - Ha.
During the Ha stage, the student reflects on what they learned and breaks free from traditions. At Ha, we start experimenting with different practices & techniques to find out what “works” for the team to become more Agile. At this point we know the techniques inside and out. We know what the technique intends to accomplish and when our implementation of that technique gets in the way of its intention. This is when we change the recipe and try new things. Sometimes we fail miserably, but each time we learn from our mistakes and improve for next time. In Agile this could be changing how we do our stand ups, how we estimate, or our sprint length. We are still in a heavily regulated industry. But within those bounds we have the authority to experiment, push the envelope, and help us reach the final stage – Ri.
In Ri, the student is now a practitioner extending the art. We seek to extend and improve upon disciplined agile techniques sharing our learnings with the rest of the organization. Our Agile mindset becomes natural. We excel at quality, deliver continuously but relentlessly seek improvement. We developed mastery for what we learned and focus on finding ways to be even better. We share our learnings with others, and pride ourselves in team and organizational craftsmanship. At this point we can say we are “Being Agile”.
Being Agile is about how we react and relate to each other. How we behave and what we value. It is about mastering the core values, championing the principles and creating a physiologically safe environment where we are not afraid to experiment, innovate, and learn. Its how we master our craftsmanship while still having fun at work. We make each other AWESOME, we make our products Awesome and we make Express Scripts an AWESOME place to work for.
The journey is long, but definitely worth it in the end.
IAs you said, doing Agile is just following the Scrum/Agile rules and recommendations. People are quite particular about which rule where, who is responsible for what, who "has to" attend what meeting.
I view being Agile is to use the Agile/Scrum recommendations, but using it in a way not to impede on productivity, moral and through-put. Intrinsic motivation is one of a company's core assets that many companies are not aware of. This is similar to the saying "being right or do the right thing". For example one can insist on adherence to a rule or process, but by doing so productivity / effectiveness is impeded.
I just wrote a post about this aspect here .
Let me summarize.
Agile as such allows free experimenting with anything based on the ideas of :
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. ...
Working software over comprehensive documentation. ...
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation...
Responding to change over following a plan.
Scrum guide is also stating that "While implementing only parts of Scrum is possible, the result is not Scrum."
Altogether it means that if "changing the core design or ideas of Scrum, leaving out elements, or not following the rules of Scrum," is possible, if it is serving "creating of working software", and is done as a "response to the change", or for a sake of better interactions. And it should be complimented, if its successful.
We need to accept the fact that there are some versions of Scrum, which are not based on "Scrum guide" like SAFe Scrum, Spotify Scrum, or strange "Ceremonies Scrum" which I have described here above, Eventually ANY RULES METRICS can be used by the "Scrum team" operating outside the boundaries of the Scrum guide...
But to avoid confusion, it is better to call such teams some different names, not just "Scrum teams". Like for example "SAFe Scrum team", "Spotify Scrum Squad", or "Ceremony Scrum team".
It is neccessary to establish better understanding about the process and practice and to have clear agreement between practicers who are experimenting with a new, own version of Scrum, those who practice the Scrum based on the Scrum guide, and those who are simply the victims of poor teaching and and bed coaching....
On Agile teams we use the phrase “Shu-Ha-Ri” almost daily, but some people may not know the roots of this powerful concept. Shu-Ha-Ri is a Japanese martial art concept that defines the stages a student progress through in the journey from learning to mastery.
During the Shu stage, the student copies techniques without adapting them. We all start here when learning something new. (Like when you attended your Agile 101 Bootcamp!) Initially there is a lot of teaching, and little experimentation. We receive training and begin to exercise the basics. In Agile we start with the practices. Things such as attending a daily standup, walking the Kanban board, or writing user stories. At this stage we’re learning to “Do Agile”.
For example, imagine you’re learning to cook. The first time you start with a recipe you don’t want to deviate. You follow the recipe exactly, because you don’t know what you’re going to get yet. Over time once you’ve mastered the recipe you start to improve it. Adding new spices, changing ingredients, etc. That brings us to the second stage - Ha.
During the Ha stage, the student reflects on what they learned and breaks free from traditions. At Ha, we start experimenting with different practices & techniques to find out what “works” for the team to become more Agile. At this point we know the techniques inside and out. We know what the technique intends to accomplish and when our implementation of that technique gets in the way of its intention. This is when we change the recipe and try new things. Sometimes we fail miserably, but each time we learn from our mistakes and improve for next time. In Agile this could be changing how we do our stand ups, how we estimate, or our sprint length. We are still in a heavily regulated industry. But within those bounds we have the authority to experiment, push the envelope, and help us reach the final stage – Ri.
In Ri, the student is now a practitioner extending the art. We seek to extend and improve upon disciplined agile techniques sharing our learnings with the rest of the organization. Our Agile mindset becomes natural. We excel at quality, deliver continuously but relentlessly seek improvement. We developed mastery for what we learned and focus on finding ways to be even better. We share our learnings with others, and pride ourselves in team and organizational craftsmanship. At this point we can say we are “Being Agile”.
Being Agile is about how we react and relate to each other. How we behave and what we value. It is about mastering the core values, championing the principles and creating a physiologically safe environment where we are not afraid to experiment, innovate, and learn. Its how we master our craftsmanship while still having fun at work. We make each other AWESOME, we make our products Awesome and we make Express Scripts an AWESOME place to work for.
The journey is long, but definitely worth it in the end.
So what is the Feedback you needed?
Best is to leave ShuHaRi in Aikido and not in Agile coaching, because it is a Martial Arts concept of an Art that lost its Martial ways. Or to be honest was designed from the beginning as an add-on to Judo or Ju-Jutsu.
In Martial Arts (and Combat Sports) you go from ShuRi to RiHa to ShuRi to RiHa to ShuRi....etc, because it is a circular principle, not a linear principle.
Being Agile is about how we react and relate to each other
Being agile means being able to change direction quickly. And at low cost, for that matter. It's as simple as that. Commonly known (agile) practices are designed to help you with that, but you don't need to use them. The only concepts you probably can't do without are iterations and self-managed teams.
You can "excel at quality, deliver continuously but relentlessly seek improvement" without being agile. You can "master our craftsmanship while still having fun at work" without being agile.
On the other hand, if a team is forced to have, say, daily standups and they don't know why, then they are not "doing Agile"; they are just wasting their time. In the words of George Michael: "If you're gonna do it, do it right." Then you already ARE more agile.