12: Reflection

I’ve been working on a chapter on Scrum for the new book this week, quite heavy going as I’ve not used it myself. Fortunately I know someone who has so I hope he will check it out for me (thanks David ;-). I also received a copy of Project Management in easy steps printed for India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Shri Lanka and Bhutan. Same as the regular one but printed in black and white rather than full colour, interesting.

The Way

Scrum works on rapid development sprints and some project teams can become quite frantic when the pressure is on. This is not helped if the project manager creates a lot of noise and begins to lose their way. When that happens the team looses its way as well.

The wise project manager is guided by what she or he feels and not by what they see happening around them. Stay still and calm and be guided by your inner feelings, not what you are being told. When we take time to reflect, the way becomes clearer. The rest of the team picks up on this and stays centred. I know this for this is the way of the project manager.

The Tao

Lao Tsu tells us:

The five colours blind the eye.

The five tones deafen the ear.

The five flavours dull the taste.

Racing and hunting madden the mind.

Precious things lead one astray.

Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.

He lets go of that and he chooses this.