Agile is not Rituals — Agile Heretic Episode 7
Agile isn’t rituals.
Three simple words that likely make a lot of people upset or at least uncomfortable.
Agile isn’t rituals.
If you are asking yourself and your team the same three, redundant, boring questions about status every morning, that means only one thing — you didn’t take the time to inspect the waste that involves and adapt your way out of it.
The doctrine teaches us that we Shu Ha Ri our way through these rituals, eventually coming to the time when we can improve our way out of them. I have yet to see a Scrum team that didn’t feel they were doing something “wrong” by not asking the three questions.
Don’t be an acolyte. Don’t follow someone else’s rituals. Have substantive conversations because you have created something else to broadcast status.
Interactions over report outs.
Jim Benson is the creator and co-author of Personal Kanban. His other books include Why Limit WIP, Why Plans Fail, and Beyond Agile. He is a winner of the Shingo Award for Excellence in Lean Thinking and the Brickell Key Award. He teaches online at Modus Institute and consults regularly, helping clients in all verticals create working system. He regularly keynotes Agile and Lean conferences, focusing on the future of work.
