Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile

5.4. Learning in Practice: Senge's View

The Fifth Discipline^[] is a seminal work in the application of organizational learning to the workplace. The next few pages very briefly cover the five 'component technologies' that Peter Senge believes help us understand and encourage learning. If you've read The Fifth Discipline, you might want to skip these pages.

^[] See Senge (1990).

5.4.1. Personal Mastery

" 'Personal mastery' is [...] the discipline of personal growth and learning. People with high levels of personal mastery are continually expanding their ability to create the results in life they truly seek. From their quest for continual learning comes the spirit of the learning organisation."

—Peter Senge (1990)

Personal mastery^[] is concerned with individuals' desire and ability to grow through learning. Those who have the discipline of personal mastery are actually 'masters of personal learning'; people who value learning and who act on what they learn.

^[] Think mastery as in 'master of' rather than 'dominate'.

This kind of mastery implies a more active form of learning, a desire to find out more and to act on what we find out, turning it into knowledge, and in the process improving our lives and moving us closer to our objectives.

Achieving true mastery involves a constant search for priorities. Prioritizing is itself a form of learning, which requires awareness, honesty and continual questioning. We must be prepared to note changes in ourselves and our environment, and re-prioritize ...