If I could grow while delivering value to customers every day
At the Sean Ellis Conference, which I ended up attending by chance, I met agile coach Kim Chang-jun.
In a short time, I got his edits on my poster session slides and experienced a variety of feedback and coaching methods.
It was a hastily prepared session, but I finished well in front of more people than I expected and felt like I'd grown a step.
With gratitude, for my first read of the month I picked up the coach's book Hamkke Jaragi (Growing Together) (Korean book).
Growing: creating an environment for 'deliberate practice'
Just as brushing our teeth three times a day doesn't make us professional tooth-brushers, becoming an expert requires continuing 'deliberate practice' through constant metacognition.
It means continually changing the 'way' you work depending on the difficulty of the work in front of you, your skill level, and your work environment.
I reconfirmed that it's important to create an environment where you experience steady achievement and trial and error for yourself, rather than simply doing a lot of hard things at once.
Early-career workers in particular often find themselves handling one of two kinds of work: too easy and repetitive, or too hard and complex.
The former leads to stalled growth; the latter to helplessness and confusion.
Some people don't seem to break this cycle even after moving past the associate level.
That's why effort at the organizational and leadership level to do this together matters so much.
Together: using 100% of an 'all-star team's' capability
Even 'experts' who have built high-level skills through deliberate practice often produce below-expected collective results once they enter the collaboration stage.
It's almost strange that in some cases they perform worse than a group of non-experts.
That made me realize how important it is to discuss teamwork and ways of working up front and improve them gradually.
This part gave me hints about how I'd want to work if I become a leader someday.
Agile: delivering value to customers every day
In the final chapter, 'Agile', this feeling becomes even clearer.
I enjoyed the story of a master who can't pass on his secret technique and can leave his disciple only one teaching.
"Deliver value to customers every day."
Just doing this well is said to bring you closer on the road to agile.
Whenever someone explained agile to me before, it felt very vague and complicated, but to express it in such a simple, powerful message... I think it'll stay with me for a long time.
And I thought it'd be even better if this seeped into my daily life.
If I could add deliberate practice to the habit I'm building now of recording something every single day, that'd be even better.
If you want to grow into an expert, or you're curious about what it really means to become one, I recommend giving this book a read 😄
Thank you again, Coach, for writing such a good book.
