Recently I was part of a workshop which foucsed on “Mindfulness”. I enjoyed the workshop because mindfulness is something I have been practicing for a while and it has helped me in difficult and challenging times.
I liked one of the quotes I learnt during the workshop.
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Viktor Frankl’s teachings
Throughout my practice, I have consistently engaged in questioning the intricacies of various situations, delving into the foundations of ideas, and observing the consequences of manipulating different elements. While I wouldn’t characterize my approach as exceptionally scientific, I’ve always pursued a dual focus – contemplating in a broader context while actively engaging in specific tasks, contemplating management principles broadly while actively managing, and so forth. Reflection on my actions and their outcomes is a constant, and I endeavor to discern ways to increase desirable outcomes while minimizing undesirable ones.
Indeed, mindfulness plays a crucial role, and without cultivating that practice, it’s likely that one won’t acquire as much knowledge.
We work together in an effort to align our perspectives and achieve a shared understanding of our objectives. The more comprehensively a developer grasps the business requirements, the more effectively they can construct the software. Similarly, a Product Owenr who has a solid understanding of the practicalities of development can more adeptly mold the concepts and queries essential for developers to address.
While crafting the Agile Manifesto, the authors, placed a strong emphasis on individuals, interactions, and collaborative endeavors. This focus arose from their shared experiences of attaining extraordinary levels of collaboration and comprehension, acknowledging the substantial influence it wielded in contrast to the prevalent mechanical, document-centric processes of that era. Unfortunately, even after numerous years, we continue to witness a prevailing mechanical approach in frameworks such as Scrum and SAFe.
We are aware that achieving effective collaboration provides us with the optimal path to success. We collectively acknowledge that face-to-face conversations are more effective than phone calls, which, in turn, are more impactful than emails. Furthermore, engaging in a direct discussion surpasses conveying information through a memo, and all of these methods are deemed more effective than simply instructing someone to read a book.
Therefore, robust collaboration remains pivotal for communication and success, and the agile manifesto has been advocating for this approach for more than two decades now.
The use of Retrospectives is a standard component in most “Agile” methodologies, and I believe those who argue that their close collaboration makes them unnecessary might be overlooking valuable insights. The Retrospective serves as a unique opportunity to collectively reflect on the recent past and take a more global perspective. It involves contemplating the events, assessing their outcomes, exploring the reasons for those outcomes, and brainstorming potential improvements.
In a formal Retrospective, this process is conducted collaboratively, bringing individuals together to share their perspectives and insights.
When we consider the integration of reflective moments at various scales, we’re essentially establishing what could be termed as milli and micro retrospectives. These instances often involve more than one individual, whether it’s a collaborative effort in a group, a pair partnership, or a small meeting with three participants. At times, it may even be a solitary exercise, such as reflecting on one’s own thoughts at the conclusion of writing an article—pondering, “How could that have been improved?”
This embodies mindfulness in practice. In situations involving more than one person, the combination of collaboration with the practice of reflecting on recent events fosters mindfulness.
When operating solo, collaboration is not applicable unless one possesses multiple personalities, but the habit of reflection is likely to extend into personal moments as well as public ones.
To cultivate the healing power of mindfulness requires much more than mechanically following a recipe or a set of instructions.
Be it any framework, do not follow the mechanical approach. Please!