Lunedi

I feel deep in my heart that drama skills are a perfect fit when trying to teach agile methods. I find it so obvious that I just can’t explain it. I just picked up Training to Imagine, by Kat Koppett from the pile of drama-related books at home and started reading. Let’s go aloud then!

[Agile?] people are starved for the kinds of interactions that improvisers take for granted. We get to express ourselves creatively, play together, have our ideas honored and our failures not only forgiven, but celebrated.

Wow, I like this. Improv not only brings about joy and creativity (which are always welcome), but also (and most important) collaboration, yes..andness and, someone praise Kat Koppett, celebration of failure! And this is just the introduction of the book. Mmmm, perhaps it ends up being like movie trailers: they show the best, you buy, and there’s few more chewy beef down the road. Let’s keep reading then. Ah, here’s a nice phrase:

The script is constantly being reinvented. The opportunities to plan deeply before acting are becoming fewer, shorter, and less reliable.

Interesting. Not that a regular play can be deeply planned either, but improv is, per se, more…err…improvised. Let’s go on.

In improv any idea is better than no idea

Ultimately saying “yes” is the foundation of all relationships

Say “yes, and…”: Accept offers and add to them

Spontaneity is a way of saying “yes” to yourself

We can come with all sorts of reasons to say “no”

Saying “no” (blocking) is a well-developed habit

Motivate through acceptance

And “offer” can be anything [..] Before an offer can be accepted, it must be recognized

80 percent of what wee experience as true, we make up

Our ability to receive complete and accurate information can be enhanced through practice

Increasing listening and awareness skills, is less about sensing more things, and more about sensing things more consciously [..] What the best improvisers are able to do is widen their circle of consciousness to include more information

There are three things that we can listen for when we listen: facts, feelings and intentions [..] facts are the simplest to perceive [..] unless the emotional content is addressed, all the data in the world will not result in clear commmunication [..] Understanding the point of a message qualifies as the most important aspect of listening

So far so good. Time to put the book down, digest ideas and cook dinner. I’ll keep reading later.