In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.
For a number of reasons, the world of Agile borrows thinking from the world of Martial Arts. An example is Shu-Ha-Ri, the phases of learning called copy, adapt and master. While this is an approach to learning, there is a more fundamental concept called ShoShin, or as it was explained to me “Always recall your beginner’s mind” and to approach learning as an infant would.
A beginner’s mind so powerful! When you explain agile to someone, do you still talk from the feelings of your initial excitement? Remember they do not have the benefit of your experience, and they need to experience the joy of discovery.
Learning is key in agile, but learning isn’t always a straight path. It is the lessons learned on the way that create our understanding. These lessons are not always obvious, but experience is how you learn. You keep building your experience, you move from Shu to Ha as you learn to adapt the lessons to your environment.
In agile we start this process with a beginner’s mind. We use retrospectives to adjust our practice to our needs, eventually achieving Ha skill. In the martial arts this takes decades, and in agile it also takes time. But this is a journey and when you believe you have finished, you will be.
Trying to move to Ha levels without the humility of the beginner’s mind is running before you can walk. You go into a business that has yet to practice agile and you find the “agile experts”. Agile will not work here as written, I know better. So, remove retrospectives and have standups once a week. I will size stories because the team is not able to. But this is our agile and I love it. Over time they usually find it does not work, and therefore agile is a bad technique and it wasn’t my fault anyway. In these cases a little humility often goes a long way.
Using your beginners mind means that you possess the many possibilities rather than the one. Experiment and learn. Realise you don’t know the answers, and that you have many questions. As you conduct your PDCA loops don’t forget to celebrate your successes, and admit your lessons. Using techniques such as A3 thinking to amplify your thinking and communicate your learnings.
In this case business, as the martial arts, makes use of coaches, or Sensei’s. They act like guides on this journey. They may not know your vision, but they will recognise some of the pitfalls on the way.
The martial arts do have an advantage here in that a person who skips the shu stage and doesn’t have the humility of a beginner’s mind tends to experience a very short feedback loop. Businesses that take this approach also have a feedback loop, but it tends to be longer, and cost more than their good looks.
Some Key points here:
- Start at the beginning and evaluate as you go
- Keep a clear Vision in your mind, and in the mind of everyone involved
- Keep your options open
- Allow yourself to explore with your infants mind
- Enjoy the discoveries and successes on the way
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