Kata - a Japanese word, describes detailed choreographed patterns of movements practiced repeatedly, either solo or in pairs. A kata is a karate technique where you repeat a specific form over and over and in each repeat, little improvements are made. An underlying presumption is that mastery of any skill results from persistent practicing - applying theory over and over again, identifying and learning incremental improvements and gaining feedback on results that can be applied to future practices.

Code Kata - A blog post by Dave Thomas brings this element of practice to software development professionals. He provides series of short (free!) exercise to practice certain skills. Some involve programming, and can be coded in many different ways. Some are open ended, and involve thinking about the issues behind programming. The point of kata is NOT arriving at a correct answer. The point is the stuff you learn along the way. The goal is the practice, identifying small problems that can be improved, not the solution. PM professionals, project staff and management, how much are we practicing to improve our skills? Maybe we need a PM and project staff set of Kata exercises to do the same?

Organizational Kata – Kata is also used to describe an organizational culture, its routines of thinking and practice. One meaning of kata is, "a way to keep two things in sync or harmony with one another." It requires leaders and managers to create and maintain the organizational culture through consistent role modeling, teaching, and coaching. As project leaders, how much do we think about our organizational Kata?

You can enjoy many more great "New Language of Project Work!" terms at www.cirdangroup.com/language!