Eastern Philosophy and Scrum
To reach a broader audience, this article has been translated from Japanese.
You can find the original version here.
Introduction
#Hello, I'm Ishida from the Agile Group. I joined Mamezou in October last year. First, I'd like to introduce myself and lead into the title of this time.
I encountered Scrum quite recently, in the spring of 2022. The opportunity came when I was entrusted with the role of Scrum Master for a PoC of agile development in a project at my previous employer's company. While studying Scrum, I read the Scrum Guide and several introductory books, and what struck me most was,
"Scrum seems kind of like Eastern philosophy."
I don't have deep knowledge about philosophy, but at that time, I was also reading an introduction to philosophy in parallel, which might have influenced my thoughts.
Western and Eastern Philosophy
#Philosophy is broadly classified into two categories: Western and Eastern philosophy.
The difference lies in that Western philosophy is interested in "what is the origin of the world" - something "outside of humans", whereas Eastern philosophy focuses on "what is the self (I)" - something "inside humans".
Both pursue "truth" (unchanging reality), but Western philosophy solves problems step by step in a "staircase" manner, while Eastern philosophy has a "pyramid" structure where the teachings of enlightened founders (such as Buddha, Confucius, Laozi, etc.) are interpreted by disciples and later generations. Philosophy is said to be the origin of academic disciplines, with Western philosophy leading to science and mathematics, and Eastern philosophy to religion and literature.
Rationalism and Empiricism
#In Western philosophy, what is gained as knowledge is considered as "known" as it is. If you can explain mathematical equations or scientific theories in order, it is acknowledged as known, similar to rationalism.
Quoted from Wikipedia
Rationalism (rationalism, English: rationalism) is a characteristic attitude prominent in Western philosophy since ancient Greek philosophy, which relies on "reason" as the source of firm knowledge and judgment (believed to be a function/capability innately equipped in all humans).
On the other hand, in Eastern philosophy, what is gained as knowledge is not considered "known" just by knowing it. No matter how much you talk about having reached the truth or comprehended everything in this world, knowledge without experience is not recognized as known. Only the enlightened founders truly know the truth, and no matter how much later generations contemplate and understand everything, they cannot know the truth unless they become founders themselves. Eastern philosophy is based on empiricism.
Quoted from Wikipedia
Empiricism, or empiricism (empiricism), is a philosophical or psychological stance that "all human knowledge comes from our experience".
Empiricism in Scrum
#The Scrum Guide states the following as the theory of Scrum:
Scrum is based on "empiricism" and "lean thinking". In empiricism, knowledge comes from experience and decisions are based on observation. Lean thinking focuses on eliminating waste and concentrating on the essentials.
I believe that this word "empiricism" contains Eastern philosophical thoughts.
The Scrum Guide is very short and gives the impression that it only contains abstract content. Even if you memorize the Scrum Guide, there are few who would claim to understand Scrum.
You need to chew over the content of the Scrum Guide, try it out first, and then, based on that experience, create a better form of Scrum with your team. In practicing Scrum, it is necessary to base it on this empiricism.
On the other hand, Waterfall, which plans all processes from requirements definition to release at the beginning and proceeds according to that plan, can be said to be rationalistic, Western philosophical.
Understanding Scrum
#Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, is said to have practiced "asceticism" after leaving home to overcome the suffering of old age, illness, and death. At that time, it was believed that to comprehend the suffering of the world, one had to experience and understand that suffering.
However, Buddha later changed his mind, considering asceticism counterproductive for enlightenment. Using how much suffering one has endured as an indicator for reaching enlightenment is wrong. Avoiding extreme thoughts and actions, the "Middle Way (a state that is not extreme)" is considered the optimal state for attaining enlightenment.
Quoted from Wikipedia
In Buddhist terms, the Middle Way is being away from the opposition of two things. It refers to the unbiased and just path away from the two views of annihilationism and eternalism, or the two extremes of existence and non-existence. It is also called the middle conduct, middle path, or simply the middle.
For more about Buddha's story, Tezuka Osamu's "Buddha" is recommended.
This aligns with the idea that Scrum teams must work in a sustainable pace environment. To understand Scrum, the work must not be an ascetic practice.
Conclusion
#As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm still a novice Scrum Master, and I'm in a position to gradually build my career from here. Even if I cannot become a founder of Scrum, I hope to accumulate experience and become part of the pyramid together with everyone.
