Japanese Bowling

The way Japanese people will hold a conversation with each other is very different from the way most Westerners converse. In Japan, a conversation is like a game of bowling. The most respected of the group will bring up a topic, and mention something about it. Then, the next person in line will take a swing at the same subject. Just like we take turns in bowling and do not directly compete.

Western conversation, however, is more akin to a game of tennis. One person will direct the conversation either at one person in particular hoping to elicit a response, or will throw a topic out for the another person to send back.

The Japanese lead a very structured and rules-driven life. It is not surprising that they would hold conversations differently than those of the west. It is also not surprising that the XP practice of Kanban came from the Japanese. Unlike the West who loves to "cowboy code," Kanban presents a very structured and detailed way to accomplish work which (no surprise) works better than the ways of the cowboy.

I think we should consider adopting the Japanese way of conversing for some situations.

I was in a meeting today with another part of our company, discussing integration points. I brought up a very simple question: how detailed do we want an invoice? It took literally 30 minutes to get this question answered. I threw the ball out there to be returned, but instead of it being returned to me it was stolen by my project manager, who went on to play his own game of tennis with other people in the meeting. It was only after no one was playing at all that I had a chance to ask my question again, and stay involved enough to get an answer.

When I go to a meeting I come with a set of a few simple questions that I would like to get answered. Once they are answered, I have no problem casually tossing the ball around to get a better idea of general topics. When I wanted the answers, though, I could not concentrate on what was being said. Instead, I was seeing when I could get the ball back in my possession. There has to be a better way to do meetings.

The military is another place we can see structure. Rank is strictly enforced, but all are given a chance to speak, albeit with respect and with a staunch time limit. The military must be trained to focus and move as a single unit. If they do not, they will fail in their tasks, or at least be much less effective.

Therefore, instead, we try the structured Japanese way of conversing. We all sit in a circle. The highest ranking member brings up a topic, and we all comment on it in turn until there is nothing more to be said about the topic. A time limit of a minute or so is placed on each person. Then the next person in line repeats the process. We do not ping-pong the ball back and forth between two or three people in a meeting of six. Everyone is given equal opportunity to speak, and no one leaves feeling they have unanswered questions. We increase focus and effectiveness.

You may recognize this meeting schedule; It is a derivative of the standup meeting.

Now the only problem is getting people to try it...