KATANATION

The Kata Process

 

Kata Culture provides a learning template that applies theories of Learning Behaviorism, techniques of deliberate practice and the establishment of toolsets to facilitate effective learning of simple and complex behaviors/theories.  Applied Kata Culture gives developers the scaffolding within which they can take a new concept, apply/adapt/experience/extend it effectively, expediting the difficult transition from newly introduced theory to a handy tool.  This technique, applied regularly, greatly increases developer skill maturity, team collective consciousness and in some cases doubles developer and team productivity.

 

Nothing listed below should be new to anyone.  Most of us have learned and used these techniques since childhood and throughout our schooling.  Somewhere along the way, we forgot the how and the why around how to practice our professional career skills.  What we outline below is full of decades of insights, experiments and countless hours of self-reflection.  The outline is simple...it's the experience, the wisdom, and the knowledge behind the bullet points that turn this into awesome.

 

Purpose:

To help developers discover a path that will give them learning techniques to effectively grow and perfect their craft throughout their career.

 

Kata Pillars:

• Learning-Performance Distinction: behaviorism stresses the difference between learning a behavior and the actual performance of the behavior.

• Deliberate Practice: intentional, absolute perfection, immediate feedback, repetition

• Creat Proficiency and drive it to Fluency

 

An object becomes a tool as soon as you stop thinking about how to use it - Michael Polanyi 

 

 

Kata Rules:

1. One primary focus point

2. Simplest solution (think quick and dirty)

3. Anything goes, as long as you are following 1 and 2

4. Working software wins, prove it

 

Progression:

• Kata Foundations (first 4 hours of day 1, end at lunch) 

  • Goal: Emergent learning: learn how to effectively practice writing code within the Kata Structure setting, and become proficient with the Kata Rules.

  • 4 hours of structured learning

  • Make the Kata Rules into a tool

  • Practice focusing on intentional learning and deliberate practice

  • Learn how to kata effectively

• Kata Core (next 1.5 - 2.5 days or regular 1 hour weekly practice.  Making tools of Quality Software Development Practices)

  • Goal: Use Kata Structure to learn, and become make tools out of the Kata Tools

  • Kata Tools:

    • Test Driven Development

    • Collaborative Development (pair/mob)

    • Refactoring

    • 4 Rules of Simple Design

• Kata (Instill a culture of exploration and learning.  A kata mindset that comes with great responsibility to continuously learn, become a mentor, remain coach-able and not only make yourself better but to raise others to be awesome around them.)

  • Goal: Use the Kata Structure, Kata Rules, and Kata Tools to get better at crafting code

  • Design Patterns

  • Extreme OO

  • Emergent Design

  • TDD legacy code

  • Refactor legacy code

  • Fellows at Phase 3 are now able to continue to learn, grow and expand the Culture of Kata.