These are my learning notes from https://www.meetup.com/Beliminal-Virtual-Agile-Meetup/events/272661618/ with Tobias Mayer
Among all the agile sessions, I’ve experienced the most flow in Tobias’. Today another one of those experience where Tobias shared with us the meta practices of agility. I totally enjoy this concept since this came from an emergent process and deep understanding in the essence of agility. Here are my learnings.
Here 5 meta practices, beyond the doing part, more the BEING part.
- Listen — take time to hear the needs and ideas of others; ask open, exploratory questions; practice dialog beyond discussion.
- Reconceive — embrace conflict, rise above compromise. For this I also would connect to the art of improvisation theater, where one builds his/her actions/ideas on another person’s actions. This is an emergent process.
- Collaborate — cultivate a yes-and, because-of-that, help-me-to-see-it mindset; learn to play. What really touched me was “collaboration is about letting go of your own ideas, especially the good ones. It’s about releasing”
- Radiate — visualize the work, share openly, raise concerns early. My take on this is also about creating a space to show your work, so you’re able to attract interests. Transparency is automatically there when we start radiating our work.
- Pause — be still; maximize the amount of work not done; breathe. This reminds me again of “无为而治” mastering by NOT doing. In the world dominated by busyness, the space to pause is so precious.
The sequence of it emerged just before the meetup said Tobias, and I dare say this is not a fixed sequence, and even more so as it is a circular process. We can possibly constellate the different energy of each element depending on specific situations.
I’m so happy to see many disciplines connecting with each other. The essence of agile connecting with the essence of human collaboration. And beyond all this, the absence of ego seems to permeate these meta practices. As a scrum master, letting go of our own ego will create beautiful spaces wherever needed.
The book where many of the insights came from is: Artful Making by Devin & Austin
Thanks Tobias for the spaces you create, as always I love them! You’re a gift to bridge many worlds!
Here some resources shared
Quote: Don’t believe anyone who tells you there is an “art of compromise.” Compromise is about laying down one’s convictions, putting peace above the work itself and failing to push for a better path (and there is always a better path). There are times, to be sure, when one should trust a colleague’s depth of experience and judgment, but that is a different animal—a leap of faith, not a compromise.
The “compromise” quote is from Hillary Johnson’s article “The Lost Art of Disagreement”
https://medium.com/@hillaryjohnson/the-lost-art-of-disagreement-f48bee13ff0e
https://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/meta-practices-for-agility/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Slack-Getting-Burn-out-Busywork-Efficiency/dp/0932633617
