If you wait for perfection, ...

If you wait for perfection, you might wait too long.

There are some similar quotes, but so far as I know, this quote is mine. As the father, I kind of like it. But most parents love their own children. (If I am not the father, tell me now.)

This applies to all of life. And to Scrum and Agile and Lean. As the guy said to Jack Lemmon in that famous movie, "Nobody's perfect." In fact, not a single thing is perfect. So, my advice is: Don't wait for perfection.

Still a big problem out there. Too many people doing it. I usually don't do it more than 3 times per day.

Use this quote to work on 'em. Make life better now, before it gets to 'perfect.'

One of the biggest business problems we have.

A re-write....

I have taken an article out of context, and re-written it below. Here is the original:
http://www.only-positive-news.com/archives/1232

See how you like the re-write:

If social psychologists have proven anything during the last 30 years, they have proven that the actions we take leave a residue inside us. Every time we act, we amplify the underlying idea or tendency behind it. Most people presume the reverse: that our traits and attitudes affect our behavior. While this is true to a certain extent (though less so than commonly supposed), it is also true that our traits and attitudes follow our behavior. We are as likely to act ourselves into a new way of thinking as to think ourselves into a new way of acting.
There is a practical moral here for us all. Do we wish to change ourselves in some important way? Perhaps get better at Scrum or convince people of the principles behind Scrum? Well, a potent strategy is to get up and start doing that very thing. Start doing Scrum. And ask them, as Coleridge said, to willingly suspend disbelief. Don’t worry that you don’t feel like it. Fake it. Pretend that you want to do it. Feign optimism. Just do it. Do it as an experiment.
In doing Scrum, they typically find that all the fears of how it won't work melt away, or at least become much less. And they also experience all the good things about Scrum (one example: the building of trust between the technology side and the business side).
Yes, telling people to act or talk positively sounds like telling people to be phony. But, as usually happens when we step into some new role–perhaps our first days “playing” parent, salesperson, or teacher–an amazing thing happens: The phoniness gradually subsides. We notice that our uncomfortable sense of being a parent, for instance, no longer feels forced. The new role–and the new behaviors and accompanying attitudes–have begun to fit us as comfortably as an old pair of blue jeans.
The moral: Going through the motions can trigger the emotions. Surely you’ve noticed. You’re in a testy mood, but when the phone rings you feign cheer while talking to a friend. Strangely, after hanging up, you no longer feel so grumpy. Such is the value of social occasions–they impel us to behave as if we were happy, which in fact helps free us from our unhappiness.
Granted, we can’t expect ourselves to become adept at Scrum overnight. But rather than limply resign ourselves to our current practices (waterfall?), we can stretch ourselves, step by step. Rather than waiting until we are utterly and completely confident that we *know* Scrum will work in our new special situation, we can begin. If we are too anxious, modest, or indifferent, we can pretend, trusting that before long the pretense will diminish as our actions ignite a spark inside–the spark that will lead to happiness.
* * *

Changing people (that would include you)

I am involved with Scrum as a coach and trainer. And occasionally (well, more or less daily), I get the question: "I would really really like to do Scrum (better), but I need to change X, Y, and Z." And X, Y and Z are people or groups of people at that person's organization.

And, just to remind us of how utterly impossible it feels, let me add. "People don't resist changing; they resist being changed." ("Zen master, why such an impossible koan today?")

(We must also remember that it is not only "they" who must change. We must change also, starting with our blindness to our own need to change. Arrogance is not charming.)

And I totally sympathize. I too would like to see Scrum used more and better (or better and more). And to me the key impediment is in the mind of man (or particular people).

Or is it in the mind?

I take Hapkido, and I truly like and greatly greatly respect the master of the dojo. An American. One of his favorite phrases is: "Fake it until you make it." And of course that has many applications.

Then, look at this article: http://www.only-positive-news.com/archives/1232
Or maybe better, look at this re-write of that article: http://agileconsortium.blogspot.com/2010/03/re-write.html

I am not all into some of the touchy-feelly stuff in the original article, but the basic point rings truer and truer to me. The action teaches the mind what the values and principles really are. Well, it would if they were paying more attention. And, even when not, it does teach them some. Reality is a great teacher. And then the wiser teacher can teach based upon experience, not upon mere ideas in the mind.

So, today I heard this saying: "We do not think our way into a new way of acting, we act our way into a new way of thinking." (A version of this saying is used in the article.)

Surely this saying needs some explanation, especially for those who are strongly (and only) rationalists. And surely it is not complete. But I can tell you from my experience that a man who is only convinced in the head will do the practices of Scrum in a very weak manner, while a person who "gets it" will do them so much better. ["Gets it" is the simple, opaque and yet totally obvious phrase some of us coaches use. If you have not experienced it, apologies, because it will sound totally stupid.]

I call Scrum a "drama-in-real-life". By which I mean that in enacting the drama, the people will learn. All the parties. And, with a wise teacher, over time many good things will result. Many good things will be learned in enacting the drama.

So, one answer to "how do I change those people?" is: start the drama-in-real-life of Scrum, and use that to enable them to change. Wait for the teachable moment, and show them what they are almosting in their knowledge of agile. You can observe a lot just by looking, Yogi said. And learn a lot just by acting, Kert said.