Which – Which Zen Practices to Avoid in Agile

If you apply Zen to Agile go easy.  Avoid the Zen Koens. 

They are difficult, confusing, and intended to lead to analysis-paralysis.

Agile is about action; Zen … not so much.

So use Zen where it is needed (see Were above); not beyond.

And always true-up to the Agile Manifesto.  It is our fundamental guide.

DONE.

Where- Where is Zen Useful to Agile

Zen is most applicable to Agile in situations and places where there is conflict, contention, strife, friction, discord, and lack of cooperation.

There, Zen is effective.  It can bring peace, calm, and harmony.

Therefore, if you walk into a contentious situation be prepared to be the calming element.  Center yourself.  Speak in a level, calm, slow, metered voice.  Ask everyone to take a couple deep calming breaths, and then assist the group in finding their center – where is it?  Typically, the center of the group is the vision that brings them together.  Remind them and review that vision.  That is their common ground for rebuilding positive relationships.

If that fails to calm the situation, try reviewing the Agile Manifesto.  If that fails, try reviewing the reasons they work in the first place.  If that does not work, ask everyone to take a time-out and reconvene the “after lunch” – food is great at making piece.

I will cover actual conflict resolution and management in a later post.

DONE.

When – When is Agile NOT like Zen

Much of Zen is about meditation, contemplation, and mindfulness.

But Agile is mostly focused on immediate action.

For new Agile activities we say “fail-fast, then learn”, “try it before you decide”, “inspect and adopt”, etc.

The Agile approach is to avoid procrastination at all costs by jumping into immediate action, then based on the results of the action (feedback), learning and adjusting the next iteration.

While in Zen, it is paramount to understand the current situation, environment, impacts, and future state, results, outcomes ... all to avoid any possibility of harm.

From this perspective, Agile and Zen are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

DONE.

Who – Who Needs to Understand the Zen of Agile

If you are reading this blog, you need to understand the Zen of Agile 
- the Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/). 

Please read it.  Please understand it and its history. 

Please add yourself to the list of signatories. 

And please share it with everyone who works with you.

DONE.

How – How are Zen and Agile Related

Both Zen and Agile promote balance, harmony, good will, and service, while pursuing self-development and self-actualization.

A minor difference could be that while Zen works mostly at the individual level, Agile is more focused at the group level, i.e. Teams, departments, and organizations of all sizes.

Yet, you do not need to know one to practice the other.  It is just nice to notice the alignment.

DONE.

Why - Why is Agile Important

Without getting philosophical and existential, Agile is important because it works at getting the job, any job, “done”.  People use Agile and keep using it.  Agile is successful because it helps people succeed.  There are other patterns, but why use them if you can use an Agile Pattern (see posts on Agile Patterns) and get your desired outcome better, faster, cheaper, and simpler.

As an Agilist, when using an Agile Patter make sure it is aligned with the Agile Manifesto.  Otherwise, it is just a pattern.

DONE.

What - What is the Zen of Agile

The Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/) encapsulates the Zen of Agile.  By Zen, I mean essence, basis, foundation, definition, core, etc.  In the Agile Manifesto the Zen concepts are: discovery (finding and learning), improvement (making things and processes better), empiricism (direct experience), sharing (helping and learning with others) and of course software development.  The first sentence of the Agile Manifesto encapsulates all these: “We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.” 

And please notice, the Agile movement is now evolving beyond just developing software.  It is going main-stream.

The rest of the Agile Manifesto, the 4 Agile Values and the 12 Agile Principles, then builds on these Zen concepts. 

FYI – I will explore these in future posts.

Live Agile to be Agile. 

DONE.

Which – Which Agile Patterns are Best

The best Agile Patterns are the ones everyone uses; i.e. selection by popular demand.  You can find and read them on the internet, but you still need to discuss them with Agile peers who used them to understand if those Agile Patterns are effective, efficient, and good.

And eventually you need to try them yourself and see how useful they are for your purpose.

DONE.

How – How to Describe an Agile Pattern

Agile Patterns can be described in many ways.  A good way is to break it down into two parts. 

1^st: Standards – the critical elements of the Agile Pattern; 

without these the Agile Pattern cannot exist

e.g. Scrum has 3 standard Roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Team; 5 standard Ceremonies: Sprints, Sprint Planning, Stand-ups, Sprint Reviews, Sprint Retrospectives; and 3 standard Artifacts: Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog, Potentially Shippable Increment.

2^nd: Guidelines – the suggested but optional elements that support 

the effectiveness of the Agile Pattern

e.g. Scrum has Guidelines for each standard part, for example the Potentially Shippable Increment needs a Definition of Done. 

BTW - If more detail needs to be defined for the standard elements or the guidelines, consider answering the seven questions: why, who, what, when, where, how, and which.  For more info see previous posts on this blog

DONE.

Where – Where to Find Agile Patterns

We share Agile Patterns with the greater Agile community through blogs, articles, conferences, training events, and eventually books.

DONE.

When - When to Define Agile Patterns

Most of us use simple Agile Patterns without knowing it.  The challenge is to occasionally retrospect, identify new Agile Patterns, write them down, and share them with others.

DONE.

Who - Who Needs Agile Patterns

Agile professionals, practitioners, novices, and anyone working with Agile use Agile Patterns.  Agile Patterns are the way we share our insights, learnings, and challenges in the Agile arena.

DONE.