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January 9, 2025
Levelling-up digitally disadvantaged public and third sectors: Tensions Management research

Ever wondered why managers struggle to overcome resistance to change? Why institutions consistently talk about improvement but cannot increase operational efficiency? And why do some sectors perform so badly when compared with others? Tensions Management is a better way to overcome resistance to change, as it addresses social and technical factors simultaneously. Dr Russ Lewis […]

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January 4, 2025
Explaining organisational resistance to change

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap, Chris Argyris, 2000 Social tensions in organizations prevent people from doing what they privately believe to be right. People espouse one model but employ another; they do not walk the talk. The gap between words and actions is compounded (by repetition) to become the infamous strategy – execution gap […]

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September 29, 2023
Ways of Working: 5 improvements for leaders

Most ways of working still rely on functional hierarchy, where managers make decisions and workers do the work. Managers know they can't change this work structure, but they can transform its effectiveness without asking for permission and without needing a budget. Before exploring the changes that transform the way people work, we need to recognise […]

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July 7, 2016
Shu Ha Ri: a Chef Metaphor for Agile Learning

The Shu Ha Ri Agile learning metaphor Agile learning is crucial to agile transformation. And, nobody tells the Shu Ha Ri learning metaphor better than Alistair Cockburn as I discovered listening to his Sushi-slicing version whilst in France last year. As I was in France, I was inspired to write a Chef version of Shu […]

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June 18, 2014
Developing Skills the Agile Way

Development Occurs over Time, not on a Training Course During our many combined years as trainers with Learning Tree International, the average instructor grade exceeded 3.8 of a possible 4.0. Attendees loved the training, and provided fantastic testimonials. But that doesn't mean they used what we taught them, or that they improved because of the […]

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May 19, 2014
Google Doodle's Working Rubik's Cube is Engaging

All rights for this image belong to Google Generations of Users Relate to Rubik Today the creatives at Doodle gave us something that perfectly matches its user generation that's interactive, colourful and engaging. A working Rubik's cube! Just last week I dared to ask why Google were paying their people to decorate the top of […]

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September 6, 2013
Agile Prototyping to Confirm Requirements

Delivering Value Early This post nails the value to customers of rapid, or agile prototyping. We first met the charming people at MECA on Tuesday afternoon, so we could hear directly what they wanted from their new information system. Why did we want to meet with them when we had a (very clear) 250 page […]

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December 7, 2017
Two Agile Metrics for DevOps Teams & their Managers

After almost two years of frustratingly slow progress, the DevOps transformation leaders at MIB (Massive Investment Bank, whose name is interesting but not important) are re-evaluating their choice of key performance indicators (KPIs). They’ve been using just two Agile metrics to measure DevOps progress, the number of releases made per month and the number of […]

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September 7, 2023
Manage tensions if you want an agile transformation

Today’s challenge is that traditional management approaches, where managers tell people what to do and how to do it, are not as effective as they once were. Agile transformation takes years, but changing management’s focus from people to tensions could be a better solution. It is simpler, faster, and considerably more cost-effective. Management is the […]

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March 26, 2023
What is contextual ambidexterity?

Contextual ambidexterity is a culture that expects exceptional performance in both innovation and operation, overturning the illusion that it is either/or. Contextual ambidexterity is agile for managers.

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Copyright Russ Lewis 1994-2025
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