Whenever we start something new, or want to do things in a new way, it can be pretty daunting. We have to learn new rules, change our mindset, adopt new principles, and take on different roles. Of course, this applies to agile, too. If you're feeling this way, there's a cool technique you can use to visualise for yourself and your team where you are, and where you're going. It's called Shu Ha Ri, and the idea comes from Japanese martial arts.

During the first stage, Shu, we need to really immerse ourselves in the discipline. Imagine we want to become musicians. To start with, we need to take lessons from a master, practice, and do exactly what they say if we want to improve. We mustn't change anything to suit ourselves during this stage because we're still learning the ropes and basically, we're not qualified to know what's best yet. After a bit of time, we'll be really familiar with our new way of working. At this point, we can start to question some of the things we've been doing, to make sure they're actually working for us. If we continue with the musician analogy, at this point, we would be able to start experimenting with the way we play. We'll still probably stick to the music, but maybe we'll start to play a little more arrowy and bring our own flair. We won't change anything too much, but we'll start to make a few small innovations and test how well they work for us.

Finally, we reach Ri, and we've become masters of our new way of working. Now, we can fully depart from the laws and rules we followed so closely in Shu, and create our own rules. As musicians, we are now fully in control of our music, and can write songs and perform as experts. We are masters of this new way of working, so we know what works for us, and what doesn't.

Now, this may not seem too complex, and it's not, but it's a great way of thinking about how your agile journey will probably progress. Expect a few hiccups along the way, especially during Shu, when you look to change the way you work. Agile might seem difficult, but as you keep at it, moving through Ha, and eventually Ri, you'll be in a new perspective, and become that much better at what you do.