Shu Ha Ri: – a martial arts term that represents the three stages of mastery. Scrum teams typically go through these same phases.
- Shu – Follow the rule
- Ha – Break the rule
- Ri – Be the Rule
Follow The Rules
Learning how to be agile begins with the what and why” of scrum. Why do we have the ceremonies? What are the responsibilities of the roles? What is a backlog and how do I create it?
Break The Rules
Then they can progress to modifying the rules of scrum to better fit the team. This stage is often marked by some turbulence in the team’s performance. Here the team is learning how, when and if they can break the rules.
Be The Rule
The final stage is where the team is agile, they automatically do and follow scrum.
What if the team forgets that they should only act on what they know? What if they forget that the value delivered is what is important? As a Scrum master how do you get them back on the path?
Coach the principles and why of scrum, reiterate the basics and ask the team where they might not living up to the scrum values. Prove empirically that there are problems using tools such as: velocity trends, bug rates and value delivered versus value promised graphs. Ask the team to come up with some ways that they can improve and give suggestions on ways that scrum can help the team accomplish its goals.
Even when teams have achieved mastery of scrum and agile principles doesn’t mean that their implementation of those principles is perfect or that they don’t need refreshers on the basics.