{"id":325,"date":"2017-11-28T15:24:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T15:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/?p=325"},"modified":"2020-08-14T17:19:05","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T16:19:05","slug":"agility-qualia-the-black-and-white-room-of-agile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/28\/agility-qualia-the-black-and-white-room-of-agile\/","title":{"rendered":"Agility Qualia: the black and white room of Agile"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I started to learn about agile many years ago.<br>At the time agile was new. Books and articles were quite rare compared to now. And almost no-one around me was doing agile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I started to learn and experiment with the technical practices, to later move into collaboration and team practices, and so on.<br>Beside my observations of what was working and what wasn\u2019t, there was no other means for me to check if I was missing something fundamental, if I was practising things as intended, if I fully made the switch to the new paradigm and the new mindset, or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A similar situation was described by a philosopher in an interesting thought experiment also known by the name <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Knowledge_argument\" target=\"_blank\">Mary in the black and white room<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube aligncenter wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mary in the black and white room, part 1\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ll23VWiR32I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/center>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Mary is a scientist who knows everything there is to know about colour.<br>But she was born and raised in a black and white room, and her only contacts with the outside world are black and white television monitors.<br>One day Mary exits the black and white room and experiences for the first time colour.<br>Does she learn anything new about colour? What did she not know before?<\/em><br>The answers to these questions have a name: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.m.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Qualia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Qualia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few years later, just like Mary, I left my black and white room of agile&#8217;s rainbow, to find out and try to conquer my agility qualia.<br>I joined Scuderia Ferrari F1 racing team, a fast-paced and turbulent environment where I could put to the test my agile practice.<br>I learned and experienced a variety of agile frameworks and practices, in a variety of different teams, industries, and organisations. I joined ThoughtWorks, a longtime advocate and a leader in lean and agile.<br>During this time I collaborated and worked with many agile experts that invented some of the practices your team is probably still using right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A subtle but important consequence of Mary&#8217;s experiment, indeed, is that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center font-colorPrimary\"><strong>There are no other means to become a proficient agile professional, let alone an expert, <\/strong><br><strong>then a direct experience of what good *really* looks like in agile.<br>And for that, one needs to join a talented and experienced agile team <\/strong><br><strong>and be involved hands-on in the delivery, <\/strong> <strong>for long enough.<br>Books, conferences, training, and previous experiences, <\/strong><br><strong>are all necessary complements. <\/strong><br><strong>But they cannot, by any means, be a substitute.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nowadays Agile is mainstream. As a consequence, most organisations feel compelled to do agile because everyone else is doing it. Often without really embracing the mindset and the way of working.<br>Therefore the vast majority of those involved with agile in the last years, have been exposed only to a partial, watered down, and often fundamentally misunderstood, version of agile.<br>In these circumstances, almost no one has a chance to experience what good really looks like in agile, not even once.<br>Consequently, even the smartest, the most passionate, and the authentic and genuine practitioners, are held hostage in the black and white room of agile&#8217;s rainbow. This leads to an incredible amount of raw talent lost, lost opportunities for professional development, and for increases in organisations&#8217; productivity and competitiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there are ways you can try to escape the black and white room and experience all the colours of the agile rainbow. Here are a few ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>joint a team or an organisation well known for its excellence in lean\/agile, get involved hands-on in the delivery, experience what good *really* looks like in lean\/agile, for long enough (years)<\/li><li>research the history, and the original idea behind each practice from their authors, as a means to escape the watered down and misunderstood version that many teach nowadays<\/li><li>be patient and honest with yourself, learning new behaviours takes many years, becoming an expert takes even longer<\/li><li>prepare yourself to be amazed!<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And here the second part of the video:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center>\n<figure class=\"aligncenter wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper alligh\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Mary in the black and white room, part 2\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jY4a_oAG_t0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/center>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:41px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"420\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/boost.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2044\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<div class=\"text-ads\">\n\t<h3>Boost your Agile to a whole new level of mastery.<\/h3>\n\t<p>\n\t<br>\n\tSee how we can help.\n\t<br>\n\tYou, your team, your organisation.\n\t<br>\n\t<br>\n\t<\/p>\n\n\t<div class=\"local-scroll\">\n\t\t<a href=\"\/coaching.html#one_session\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" btn elastic-btn-mod btn-mod btn-dark btn-medium btn-round\" onclick=\"ga('send','event','Blog agile-ads','Click one_session button','Virtual Mentoring');\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\n\t\tVirtual Mentoring\n\t\t<\/a> \n\t\t<a href=\"\/coaching.html#assessments\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"btn elastic-btn-mod btn-mod btn-dark btn-medium btn-round\" onclick=\"ga('send','event','Blog agile-ads','Click assessments button','Virtual Assessments');\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\n\t\tVirtual Assessments\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You are trapped in the black and white room of agile&#8217;s rainbow. And you cannot be sure you are not, until you find out and conquer your qualia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lean-agile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2066,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/2066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smharter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}