Inner Space

The start of the new rugby season is always exciting and for Topsham RFC it is even more so as we have been promoted to the Cornwall and Devon league (the highest we have ever reached). Watching the two pre-season friendlies against Exmouth RFC and Sidmouth RFC (both in higher leagues than us) and seeing the new coach (Chris Whitehead, former Exeter Chiefs hooker) and players starting to work together as a team was great. Our first league match is tomorrow away at Falmouth, so fingers crossed.

The Way
Agile project management is all about empowering the team and that is very much in line with the way. When the members of a project team work together on a project there is a concept of an inner space created by the team. This defines how they work together and even the mood of the team. It is the context for everything which happens within the team.  

Poor project managers tend to focus and concentrate on what the members of the team are doing and saying. They are also concerned about what is happening and what people are saying outside the team. The wise project manager knows that it is what is happening inside the team that is important. The silences and inner space reveal the team’s essential mood. Therefore the wise project manager pays attention to the silences.

The Tao  
Lao Tzu tells us:

Thirty spokes join the wheel’s hub,  
It is the center hole that makes the cart useful.  
Shape clay into a pot,  
It is the space within that makes it useful.  
Cut doors and windows to make a house,  
It is the space within that make it useful.  
Therefore advantage come from what exists,  
Usefulness comes from what is not there.