The first time I heard the phrase 3rd person teaching I wasn't sure what the presenter was talking about. It was in a Covey Principle Centered Leadership class and I'm pretty sure I was the only person in the class who didn't know what it meant. Or maybe some of the others weren't brave enough to admit they didn't know and they breathed a soft sigh after I asked and the instructor answered. The simple idea is that someone teaches you, then you take what you've learned and teach someone else. When you do this your depth of knowledge increases. So why not try this with agile?
What's a little bit odd, is I really haven't heard the phrase 3rd person teaching since attending the class. Stephen Covey may have used it in his books or audio tapes, but I did a quick search and didn't find much, other than how to teach English students when to use I, we, you, he, she, it, they, ... That's not what I was looking for at all.
Back when I played a lot of volleyball, we had a sanctioned USVBA (old name) team that regularly played tournaments in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Each year we conducted a volleyball clinic for beginner and intermediate level players. This was our way of raising money for our team. It covered uniforms, entry fees, travel expenses and other miscellaneous costs. Normally I would just help by shagging balls and giving brief instruction to students as they practiced passing, setting, blocking, and serving. That was all fine with me until one day, we were planning our next volleyball clinic and our coach asked if I would like to teach spiking. I said sure, no problem.
Pause - I should have thought this through. I personally knew how to spike the ball, but I had never thought about what it takes to teach someone else. I can't say, just watch me and do what I do. The students wouldn't get anything out it. What if I had a left handed student, everything is just the opposite? Which foot do I start with when I approach the ball to spike it? How many steps do I take? Yikes - I didn't really know as much as I thought and I clearly wasn't ready to teach.
I didn't back out of teaching, instead I started paying attention to how I played. I also purchase a couple of volleyball coaching books and read them preparing myself to teach beginners how to play volleyball. As I presented spiking for the first time I was a little bit nervous, but I was able to teach the students a methodical way for them to learn to spike a ball. For me I was taught volleyball by my coach - 1st person. I started as the student (2nd person). Then I became the teacher and our volleyball clinic attendees became the 3rd person now being taught by me.
This can be applied to anything. When you learn something about agile values, principles, methods, processes, or practices teach it to someone else. If you teach what you've learned and add nothing new to it, you'll sear the knowledge solidly in your mind. Then if you go a little farther and do some additional research you'll learn even more.
Find ways to present short topics on a individual basis with someone on your team or at your company, where you share what you've learned. In the process you'll learn more than you might think. Look for opportunities to present agile topics when a project is kicking off and the team is doing an agile refresher for team members. Teach a new team member the agile approach your team is using. Do a lunch-n-learn presentation for a group that is interested in agile topics. Don't wait, do it soon after you've learned the material, so it's fresh in your mind.
Use 3rd-person teaching any time you want to learn more about what you just learned.
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