Musing ~ Agile Dojo, Kaizen, Kanban, Poko-Yoke, and more. Ok, Sushi, too…

Japanese philosophy pervades-- and terms abound -- in Western industry practices. From learning techniques to continuous improvement they have much to offer.

However, East Asian and Japanese cultural practices have deep roots in the "Power of Ritual" and "Performing work" by taking it into a Spiritual Plane. Which is lost when done mechanically as is the case in most instances in the West.

Consider East Asian martial art forms, such as judo, jujitsu, etc., where before a duel begins, the two opponents take a deep bow at each other. Legend and lore has its antecedents as follows,:

1/ Given their Samurai roots, the opponent by bowing bares their neck to the opponent implying that they trust the opponent with their life.

2/ Express respect to the opponent for giving them the opportunity to engage or practice the martial arts. Their respective masters and lineages.

3/ Convey respect to the martial art form itself, and consecrate the dojo space in which the duel takes place as sacred, including any weapons.

4/ Bring Focus and Attention to the event, the Present - Here & Now, by leaving the secular mundane world behind.

The East Asian bowing ritual is seen in other parts of the world as well. Boxers tipping gloves before a match, or in Fencing, the combatants salute, put on their masks, get into the starting stance, and wait for the referee to give the command. “allez” (Go!). Or, in my birthplace of Tamil Nadu, India, I have seen Kabbadi players touch the ground with their hand, and bring the hand to their lips and kiss it-- and then proceed on a “raid” against the opponents in the sand pit. This is more on the lines of consecrating and expressing gratitude to the mythopoeic Mother Earth on which the sport is played.

In a nutshell, the above practices are not so much about mastering a skill, but mastering oneself by overcoming the opponents within, such as greed, anger, fear, impatience and delusions. The martial arts' utility is simply to be found as a means to the above mentioned ends.

Here in the West, where rational, Cartesian logic (subject-object dichotomy), and Instrumented-materialistic measurement culture dominates -- innovation sessions, ideation, software coding or building something in a model shop are short changed in terms of their full capabilities — by not taking these activities into the spiritual realm by the power of ritual to bring focus, feel respect and respected, and consecrate the space and tools (white board or a needle file) as they would be considered woo-woo.

I think that misses the point completely.

So is the case with meditation, yoga and Qi Qong sessions that are provided by some companies to their employees.

And the rote performances of the aforesaid-- including mechanistic innovation and hackathon (I personally dislike the word "hack") exercises in industry -- may not yield the type of results when shorn off their spiritual roots.