Product Management & Bruce Lee

Jeet Kune Do is the fighting system of none other than the legendary Bruce Lee. It is translated as “the way of the intercepting fist”. At the heart of Jeet Kune Do are the principles of economy of motion, speed & power to the target and fluidity. Bruce saw all other martial art forms as limited because they were closed and finite; they were bound by hard rules of form. In the real world, on the street, there are no rules of engagement so if that is the contest you want to win, your form should have no boundaries either. Product management tactics are no different in their need to adapt to the current fight at hand.

This is Bruce Lee describing Jeet Kune Do…

I have not invented a “new style,” composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from “this” method or “that” method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see “ourselves”. . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don’t, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct, and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one’s feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case, anchored down to a reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one’s back.

The thinking behind Jeet Kune Do and the Agile Manifesto are very well aligned. My favorite part of the Agile Manifesto is this:

Simplicity is the art of maximizing the work not done.

Bruce Lee said this:

The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.

And Bruce also said this:

Simplicity is the key to brilliance

A core element of Jeet Kune Do is by jong, the ready stance. Everything about it is tied to the principles of Jeet Kune Do. In Product Management, our by jong stance is formed by our Vision Statement, Roadmap and Backlog. Like by jong, it is meant to stay fluid with the current situation and ready to strike when the opportunity arises.

Some things we do on a regular basis lend themselves well to maintaining our ready stance. Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) is something very powerful that helps us stay in a constant ready state. It naturally floats our strongest position to the top just like the lead hand in Jeet Kune Do. It is about the economical delivery of value or force to the right target.

When we decompose our roadmaps and backlogs and orient them around value and capabilities we are also following Bruce’s philosophy. Epics and stories with well defined outcomes and measurement & learning plans keep us ready to attack, especially when we have used WSJF. By executing targeted & meaningful spikes and constantly assessing the forces around us we form our guard against the unknown.

On the other hand, roadmaps and backlogs that read like a punch list of tasks to be done, one after the next, are rigid in form. This is identical in nature to what Bruce is describing as a fault of other martial arts. It is blind execution. In Jeet Kune Do as with product management, we have an objective — win the fight, accomplish the goal or deliver the value and we do so while adapting to the elements around us. When the line to the target forms, we strike regardless of plans. Simple, efficient, impactful and timely.

In my ADP List mentoring sessions I cover numerous ways to follow the principles of the Agile Manifesto and in fact Bruce Lee. There is an emphasis on highly efficient tactics that can be deployed immediately to deliver value where it needed with pinpoint focus.

A final word from Bruce Lee:

Absorb what is useful, Discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.

Yu Bay!

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