Management didn’t dictate. Instead, executives were servant-leaders and facilitators focused on getting obstacles out of their teams’ way rather than telling them what and how to do product development. — 33: 577-579
In the martial arts you learn a concept called Shu Ha Ri, which points to different levels of mastery. In the Shu state you know all the rules and the forms. You repeat them, like the steps in a dance, so your body absorbs them. You don’t deviate at all. In the Ha state, once you’ve mastered the forms, you can make innovations. Put an extra swing in your step down the dance floor. In the Ri state you’re able to discard the forms, you’ve truly mastered the practice, and you’re able to be creative in an unhindered way, because the knowledge of the meaning of aikido or the tango is so deeply embedded in you, your every step expresses its essence. — 38: 658-663
An intuitive physicist might explain why a rock falls by saying the rock itself has the intrinsic quality of gravity, rather than saying that gravity is part of a system of forces acting on the rock. In the same way, when we talk about others, we talk about their inherent properties, rather than see those properties in relation to the external environment. In fact, it’s those interactions with our environment that drive our behavior. It’s the system that surrounds us, rather than any intrinsic quality, that accounts for the vast majority of our behavior. What Scrum is designed to do is change that system. Instead of looking for blame and fault, it rewards positive behavior by focusing people on working together and getting things done. — 64: 1051-1057
Ohno talked about three different types of waste. He used the Japanese words: Muri, waste through unreasonableness; Mura, waste through inconsistency; and Muda, waste through outcomes. — 87: 1391-1394
David Sanbonmatsu, told the NPR blog Shots in January of 2013, “People don’t multitask because they’re good at it. They do it because they are more distracted. They have trouble inhibiting the impulse to do another activity.” In other words, the people who multitask the most just can’t focus. They can’t help themselves. — 89: 1428-1431
The early step-by-step plans, laid out in comforting detail in Gantt charts, reassured management that we were in control of the development process—but — : 72
INVEST criteria: Independent. The story must be actionable and “completable” on its own. It shouldn’t be inherently dependent on another story. Negotiable. Until it’s actually being done, it needs to be able to be rewritten. Allowance for change is built in. Valuable. It actually delivers value to a customer or user or stakeholder. Estimable. You have to be able to size it. Small. The story needs to be small enough to be able to estimate and plan for easily. If it is too big, rewrite it or break it down into smaller stories. Testable. The story must have a test it is supposed to pass in order to be complete. Write the test before you do the story. — 137: 2118-2126