Learning to Learn

Learning is capital. If you don't make regular deposits, you miss the gains. The article argues that teams treat learning like a savings account, allocating consistent time instead of relying on occasional hackathons or fire-driven bursts. By making learning a habit, teams build up expertise that compounds over time.

Many organizations limit learning with budget boxes, hackathon quotas, or a culture of constant shipping. Senior managers often have the lowest learning time despite needing it most. This scarcity creates a gap between potential and practice, leaving teams stuck on the "Jira hamster wheel".

Practical tactics include forming group learning circles or book clubs that meet on a schedule, using retrospectives to spread new insights, turning personal fixes into recorded workshops, and tying learning directly to current work or dedicated innovation weeks. These habits turn isolated experiments into shared knowledge and keep learning aligned with delivery goals.

Leaders must model the behavior: senior staff should learn publicly and share their discoveries. When managers champion the habit, the whole organization benefits, turning learning into a competitive advantage rather than a side project.