During my last two missions, I was involved in coaching a project team for Agile adoption. What struck me about these missions is that although both missions were very similar (same objective, same OCTO team, same team characteristics on the client side) we were able to significantly improve Agile adoption by our client by using “Shu Ha Ri”.
This article aims to explain “Shu Ha Ri”, to show how we have applied it and the benefits that it can bring.
Originally, "Shu Ha Ri" is a concept describing the different stages of learning martial arts. This concept was applied in the Lean approach at Toyota ("The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development", Jeffrey Liker, Gary L. Convis).
"Shu Ha Ri" consists in three steps that a novice has to follow to acquire a skill or master a technique:
We have successfully used "Shu Ha Ri" to structure our mission to support Agile adoption by the project team. We chose this model because it is simple and has proven itself in the Lean approach at Toyota. In the following sections, we will detail how we did it.
Before getting to what Shu Ha Ri is and how it works, we will give you some context about the two missions that we will use as examples. The first one was conducted without "Shu Ha Ri" and the second with it.
Considered missions are very similar:
The major difference between the two projects was the coaching approach that we adopted
In the first project, we agreed with the client to position his team members as decision makers. Each one was accompanied by an OCTO consultant to assist and coach him. For instance
In this configuration, it is the client's team which was responsible for the results of the project from the beginning.
In the second project, we managed to convince the customer to proceed incrementally by planning three deliveries of the application with intervals of 3 months. So we agreed with him to proceed as follows:
For the first delivery ("Shu" phase), Agile experts (OCTO consultants) are the decision makers of the project (project management, functional trade-offs, technical trade-offs) and Agile trainees (client's team) shall comply with decisions of experts. Therefore, OCTO team bears the responsibility for the results of this first delivery.
For the second delivery ("Ha" phase), the Agile experts transfer the decision making role to Agile trainees. Therefore, Agile experts position themselves as assistants to support trainees in their work and to advise them. Hence, the results of the second delivery are the client's team responsibility.
In the third and final phase ("Ri" phase), the consultants leave the project to let the client’s team manage it.
In the mission without "Shu Ha Ri", a perverse effect made the Agile Adoption particularly difficult. As they were under pressure for results, Agile trainees (client's team) had a tendency to cling to models and methods they knew best because it feels reassuring (which is quite natural!). Therefore, whenever we tried to introduce an Agile practice, it was followed by endless discussions where Agile experts (OCTO consultants) had to convince the client’s team of the benefit of such a practice for the project. What makes it complicated is that, for the Agile trainees, the benefit is theoretical in the sense that it is a promise when he needs certainty and immediate results. Therefore, in order to advance, the Agile expert had to seek a compromise by twisting the Agile practice (which is far from being beneficial!).
As for the project with "Shu Ha Ri", the perverse effect mentioned above was neutralized. Indeed, in the "Shu" phase, Agile experts bear the responsibility of the project success. Therefore, Agile trainees have less pressure and they have time to observe and understand the mechanics and the values of Agile. Moreover, they can see concretely how the Agile practices allow the team to deliver the project and achieve users satisfaction.
As a result, with this first success, Agile trainees were convinced of the effectiveness of Agile and were more confident to abandon their old practices in favor of those of Agile. This has greatly increased the efficiency of the phase of "Ha". Indeed, OCTO consultants noticed that Agile trainees were scrupulously applying principles and tools used in “Shu” stage. In addition, the client’s team began to want to push the model to see its limitations and propose process improvements. Obviously, the OCTO team remained present to answer questions and to provide support.
Finally, the phase of the "Ri" will soon take place and everyone is confident in its success.
Through the two experiences I have described, I was totally convinced by "Shu Ha Ri" effectiveness. Personally I'm going to use it for any situation requiring skills acquisition (being the trainee or the expert). I strongly encourage you to experiment it (even in a private context) to see the benefits.