Last night, I went to Kuuraku for dinner. As is a ritual in most good Japanese restaurants, we were greeted by the host with “irrashaimasen” or welcome. What followed was beautiful - the entire crew of the restaurant including the cooks welcomed us. Over the next hour or so while we were there, I heard them do this over and over again every time a new guest entered the restaurant.
I would go so far as to say that I detest rituals of that sort. While it seems cute to me when it happens the first or the second time, pretty soon it starts to feel like I am a cog in a big machine. Plus, I am fairly cynical about the motivations of companies like Toyota and Amazon. Teams like basketball OTOH are different - I like those rituals within a 5 person team because they do bring out unique personalities. Watching "The Last Dance" reminded me that a team is still composed of individuals who bring different skillsets to the battle.
All that said, do I like ceremonies? yes, of course I do. I like weddings, birthday celebrations because they create a space in which to socialize with other members of the "family". Likewise, teams MUST have ceremonies (maybe not so much rituals) in order to get together. Whether it is Friday Bagel mornings or Friday evening beer or volleyball on Wednesdays or ultimate frisbee on Fridays. A favorite ceremony of mine is the retrospective. In that sense it is a ritual - at the end of every sprint we come together as a team to talk about what happened in the sprint that just passed.
Rituals (or as I read it - ceremonies) are wonderful for renewing the sense of camaraderie between members of a small team or a guerilla task force. Larger rituals such as military parades which bring together disparate teams seem only to enhance the feeling of being part of a machine (at least for me). So, if anything I would say - let the 2 pizza team decide its own rituals and ceremonies that fit best to it. The nerd guys and gals are probably already rubbing their hands imagining that late Friday session with the nerf guns.
I would go so far as to say that I detest rituals of that sort. While it seems cute to me when it happens the first or the second time, pretty soon it starts to feel like I am a cog in a big machine. Plus, I am fairly cynical about the motivations of companies like Toyota and Amazon. Teams like basketball OTOH are different - I like those rituals within a 5 person team because they do bring out unique personalities. Watching "The Last Dance" reminded me that a team is still composed of individuals who bring different skillsets to the battle.
All that said, do I like ceremonies? yes, of course I do. I like weddings, birthday celebrations because they create a space in which to socialize with other members of the "family". Likewise, teams MUST have ceremonies (maybe not so much rituals) in order to get together. Whether it is Friday Bagel mornings or Friday evening beer or volleyball on Wednesdays or ultimate frisbee on Fridays. A favorite ceremony of mine is the retrospective. In that sense it is a ritual - at the end of every sprint we come together as a team to talk about what happened in the sprint that just passed.
Rituals (or as I read it - ceremonies) are wonderful for renewing the sense of camaraderie between members of a small team or a guerilla task force. Larger rituals such as military parades which bring together disparate teams seem only to enhance the feeling of being part of a machine (at least for me). So, if anything I would say - let the 2 pizza team decide its own rituals and ceremonies that fit best to it. The nerd guys and gals are probably already rubbing their hands imagining that late Friday session with the nerf guns.
on that note I started thinking about how it would be if each Japanese restaurant was free to customize the greeting according to its team lol
The Ultimate Frisbee Japanese Restaurant - Come on in, get ready to be cuttered
The Older guys Japanese Restaurant - Welcome, beautiful people; mi casa tu casa
This I like:)
100% agreed with the benefits of rituals. It also inculcates discipline.