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Agile Mastery
About the parallels between Martial Arts and Agile & Lean
There seems to be a relationship of some sorts between Lean, Agile, and Martial Arts. With Lean Six Sigma we even see the same belt system as in Martial Arts, with the colored and black belts. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_Six_Sigma
Shuhari
Being a licensed Martial Arts trainer and fourth-degree Black Belt Taekwondo, I can certainly relate to stories about Shuhari — which are often mentioned when team (member) maturity is discussed.
For those that don’t know, what it basically comes down to is that Martial Arts students, very much like Lean/Agile students, go through three stages of mastery.
· In the Shu phase, the student learns the fundamentals from a Master and practices those to the letter, over and over again.
· After reaching what you could call the Black Belt phase, the Ha phase, the student has come to a deeper understanding of the art and learns to break the rules and deviate from the prescribed ways of doing things.
· At the highest level, the Ri phase, the student becomes the Master and transcends what was learned and creates new ways — adapted to the personal situation.
