Shu Ha Ri Skeptic
Last year it seemed like I couldn't turn around without hearing someone talking about shu ha ri and its applicability to Scrum (it was usually Scrum, probably because other Agile techniques are less ceremonial). There's a good summary here. Although I don't practice martial arts, I do meditate and practice yoga, which I feel gives me a way toward understanding how the idea is supposed to work. When you first start practicing, after all, it takes all of your attention just to get into the poses or to glimpse a moment of still attentiveness. Why you're supposed to do a specific pose or follow a particular sequence won't fit in there until you've been doing it for a while, until the physical part has become automatic.
That said, something about that metaphorical connection, about the idea of "just do the Scrum ceremonies as prescribed, and why will come later" didn't sit well with me. After a fair amount of rumination I've finally identified why: it comes down to feedback loops.
When you are doing something with your body, whether that's sitting to meditate or moving through a martial art form, you are the feedback loop. Your brain, your body, are doing this activity, and whether or not you consciously intend for it to happen, patterns are forming in your nervous system that will affect you the next time you perform that action. When I sit down to meditate now, I don't have to consciously relax my body or think about my posture. I've performed this sequence of actions hundreds of times, and every time I do it, my nervous system informs itself about what's comfortable and useful. (This doesn't mean that I'm particularly good at meditating, in case you were wondering.)
Scrum ceremonies aren't the same kind of activity; the feedback loop can exist -- has to, if the forms are to be effective -- but it's voluntary, not built-in. You can follow the form of stand-ups for years and up no wiser about the process than you were the first time you did it. You can certainly learn a lot in the course of years doing stand-ups, but you have to set out to deliberately do so. Far from happening whether or not you want it to, the feedback loop takes a lot of conscious effort in order to be efficacious.
I think that means that you actually have to start with why, not start with what and let the why wait until later. Scrum is not going to ingrain itself in a team by performing the motions because the motions, by themselves, don't tell them anything about what to do next time.
That said, something about that metaphorical connection, about the idea of "just do the Scrum ceremonies as prescribed, and why will come later" didn't sit well with me. After a fair amount of rumination I've finally identified why: it comes down to feedback loops.
When you are doing something with your body, whether that's sitting to meditate or moving through a martial art form, you are the feedback loop. Your brain, your body, are doing this activity, and whether or not you consciously intend for it to happen, patterns are forming in your nervous system that will affect you the next time you perform that action. When I sit down to meditate now, I don't have to consciously relax my body or think about my posture. I've performed this sequence of actions hundreds of times, and every time I do it, my nervous system informs itself about what's comfortable and useful. (This doesn't mean that I'm particularly good at meditating, in case you were wondering.)
Scrum ceremonies aren't the same kind of activity; the feedback loop can exist -- has to, if the forms are to be effective -- but it's voluntary, not built-in. You can follow the form of stand-ups for years and up no wiser about the process than you were the first time you did it. You can certainly learn a lot in the course of years doing stand-ups, but you have to set out to deliberately do so. Far from happening whether or not you want it to, the feedback loop takes a lot of conscious effort in order to be efficacious.
I think that means that you actually have to start with why, not start with what and let the why wait until later. Scrum is not going to ingrain itself in a team by performing the motions because the motions, by themselves, don't tell them anything about what to do next time.
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