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THE LEARNING CIRCLE: Action, Reflection, Learning, Planning in light of guidance. An approach to learning for individuals and groups using Agile.

The Learning Circle is an approach to learning for individuals and groups, and is a generalized agile framework that you can use outside of software development. By using the Learning Circle, you follow a cycle of activities that flows through the steps of Action, Reflection, Learning, and Planning, all in the light of guidance.

The Learning Circle is a tool that can be used at several levels: moment-by-moment, day-by-day, every iteration, or at the level of the product release or project. It is a tool used for evaluating the process as well as the end result of the process. The retrospective in the Agile approach can be enhanced by using The Learning Circle. Synthesis and creativity are experienced and made conscious through successive applications of The Learning Circle. The relationships of inner synthesis and outer creativity are mirrored in the group and in each individual within the group. It is a memorable and usable model for a variety forms of capacity building that makes synthesis and creativity conscious, thus providing a key to transformation.

In this session, I will present the Learning Circle, stories of its use, and lead the group through a participatory exploration of the Learning Circle.

Background Notes: Several years before I knew there was such a thing as Agile I begin to apply agile-like strategies as a director working in video production. It was a natural way of working with teams, tight budgets, and short time lines. When I began to understand how Agile methods worked my first understandings were naturally framed in terms of television production.

Agile methods raise questions about creativity in terms of the individual vs. the group. The retrospective can play an important role in addressing these questions. This part of a sprint or product release, is similar to doing a critique in art where several excellent critical methods have been developed. However, these methods are most often applied only to finished work. The Learning Circle is a method for developing a critique to tune the process of work as well as to critique the end result of the process.