Triumph of the City
The ultimate cause of Athenian success may seem mysterious, but the process is clear. I’m reading TRIUMPH OF THE CITY by Edward Glaeser. The aforementioned quote comes from this book. Friends are...
View ArticleManagement Is a Function, Not a Role
Management Used To Be a Role. We’re now DONE with that. In the days of Frederick Taylor, management fit neatly in a role. A single skilled person directed the work of largely unskilled labor throughout...
View ArticleCulture Hacking
Culture hacking is almost the same as software hacking. Culture hacking modifies culture, instead of modifying software. Software hackers in the 1970′s created code for personal use and for others to...
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Agile: Gateway Drug to the Learning Organization
This post is how Agile is really just a gateway drug than can lead to a hard-core habit of Organizational Learning. However, that progression from merely ‘playing Agile’ to becoming a full-blown...
View ArticleMoving Beyond IceBreakers!
If you are an Agile coach or Agile practitioner, YOU NEED THIS BOOK. Not too long ago, in Boston, we discovered TEEN EMPOWERMENT. This non-profit is in the business of mediating conflict and violence...
View ArticleThe Genius Organization
Is is possible to create a “genius team” using off-the-shelf Agile techniques like Kanban and Scrum? Can ANYONE create a genius team, assuming they and the team members are willing? Can McCarthy’s Core...
View ArticleAgile Coaching Thought Leaders
The Agile Coaching world is waking up to the issues in and around so-called ‘embedded’ or ‘integrated’ coaching, Agile Coaching Ethics, and the important issue of authority as it plays out in each and...
View ArticleKeith Ray: Thought Pioneer
The following is printed with permission from Keith Ray. It originally appeared here. The post is preserved here in unadulterated form. In this post he makes certain assertions that start to link Agile...
View ArticleThe Intentional Learning Organization
There is absolutely nothing automatic where group learning is concerned. As a group, we either intend it, or we don’t. Look no further than the current (low) learning levels of typical groups: teams...
View ArticleSoul-Sucking Death Marches from Hell
I just examined Jeff Patton’s post on backlog grooming and his total discomfort with it as typically implemented in typical agile adoptions. Backlog grooming is implemented as a very bad meeting in his...
View ArticleTribal Leadership: Is It a Game?
The book TRIBAL LEADERSHIP lays out 5 stages of culture. The 5 stages are basically stories that people tell themselves…and others. Here are the 5 progressive stories: Life Sucks My Life...
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Open Agile Adoption: Why It Matters Now
This is a note to some of my friends in the Open Space community, folks who want to bring Open Space to every organization that is stuck, and every organization that needs help in getting movement...
View ArticleManagement Is a Function, Not a Role
Management Used To Be a Role. We’re now DONE with that. In the days of Frederick Taylor, management fit neatly in a role. A single skilled person directed the work of largely unskilled labor throughout...
View ArticleGenerosity, Thrivability and Self-Organization
Harrison Owen is the formulator/composer of the Open Space meeting format. Harrison is fond of saying these two things: All systems are open All systems are self-organizing In this essay, I am...
View ArticleMicrogenerosity
Can large acts of generosity be harmful? Yes, they can. Consider the potlatch, a ceremonial event in the lives of certain Pacific Northwest indigenous tribes. According to the history of potlatch,...
View ArticleBeing Generous With Your Gift
Everyone has some innate talent, some “thing” they have. That “thing” is available in nearly endless supply, since it’s part of every person’s essential nature. Some people are helpful. Some are just...
View ArticleMy Guru is Google
It’s a natural human instinct to be sensitive to authority. To want to be led. Most of us are only too happy to have someone else tell us what we want, what we think and what we feel. If you poke...
View ArticleBroken Promises
We are at a tipping point in the Agile story. For almost a decade now, highly authoritative “agile enablement firms” have been telling management that it is perfectly OK to mandate the use of agile...
View ArticleAuthority Distribution in Open Space
Open Space is a most interesting meeting format. What exactly is going on in Open Space? (NOTE: If you are new to Open Space, see the links at the end of this essay to get oriented. Open Space is a key...
View ArticleReturn On Attention
Random thoughts bring random focus; intentional thoughts bring intentional focus. Your attention- that which is being focused- is a scarce resource. We spend attention over the course of our day. In...
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