Developing the capability to adapt requires more than traditional top-down command and control leadership because it relies on people thinking and acting at all levels of the organisation. The challenges include:
The answer is a target operating model that supports the need to control both predictable and emergent value ways of working simultaneously.
It's not an Agile TOM, nor a traditional TOM. It's a combination that balances the unique value-adding activities of the organisation.
Digital age and technology-savvy firms developed out of collaboration and experimentation, which has given them an unfair advantage in fast-changing and highly regulated markets. In terms of the science of management, they recognise that value often emerges spontaneously, rather than assuming that value is always predictable and can be planned for.
Plan-driven control is appropriate for most activities, but fails horribly when applied to emergent tasks such as new product development, understanding requirements, and designing solutions. Design thinking, Agile ways of working, or research methodologies are needed in those situations but - and here's where most TOMs fail - they have to co-operate with plan-driven methods.
That is what the Taoist symbol of yin-yang represents; shifting forces that compete and oppose each other, yet combine to make something greater than either part.
Russ Lewis' book describes a simple model that reveals the parts of organisations that are normally hidden, but actually determine its performance.
It is one of the few books about Agile that was actually written for managers.
Contrary to popular belief, managers are not there to ‘make difficult decisions’. What makes a decision difficult usually, is a lack of information. What makes a decision dangerous is the lack of knowledge of how to use that information. If a manager selects one item from a list of choices or approves an initiative instead […]
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 […]
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 […]
