Category: Agile
-
Distribution vs Innovation
'The battle between every startup and incumbent comes down to whether the startup gets distribution before the incumbent gets innovation.' Saying that large, legacy businesses should act like startups is overly simplistic and lazy thinking. There is much that big companies can and need to do to step change innovation and agility (and I've written…
-
Data-as-a-Service
I've been writing a new report on marketing structures and resourcing and in the research process came across the concept of 'Data-as-a-Service' (DaaS) via Ashley Friedlein's annual trends post which I think is a useful way of thinking about how to set up data services to underpin a business. The idea of DaaS is that…
-
Agile Transformation – Some Key Themes
Key themes from the book ‘Agile Transformation’ by Neil Perkin
-
Scaling Agile Principles
I did some filming with my publisher recently to capture some of the key concepts from my new book on Agile Transformation. This short film is the first in a series but expresses the need to redesign organisational structures and working around ambidexterity, or the need to optimise for efficiency and business as usual whilst…
-
See One, Do One, Teach One
I'd not come across this before but thanks to Julian Cole for referencing one of his favourite methods of learning, often used in a medical context when trainee surgeons are learning new procedures. In See One, Do One, Teach One the student learns by observation first (for example watching a surgeon perform the procedure), then…
-
Choices About Time
How we spend our time and where we place our attention are two of the most important choices we make (and yet this often seems to be more arbitrary and reactive than it should really be). I loved this point made by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates about the importance of keeping time free for…
-
Possible Futures
Digital and networked technologies have brought dramatically different scaling dynamics to many markets, meaning that it has never been more important for businesses to have a point of view on the future whilst maintaining the agility to be adaptive to changing contexts. The future is rarely predictable (despite what some futurists would have you believe)…
-
Agile Transformation: Announcing the Launch of My Second Book
I'm delighted to officially announce the launch of my new book that deals with the intersection of business transformation and organisational agility: Agile Transformation – Structures, Processes and Mindsets for the Digital Age. When I wrote the first book it was something of a cathartic experience for me, and this one has been no different.…
-
Sweathead, with Mark Pollard
A while back I was holed up in a hotel room in Lisbon after running a leadership workshop for Vodafone and I recorded an interview for Mark Pollard's excellent Sweathead podcast. Mark's an excellent interviewer and has a lovely disarming style to his questioning so even though I was pretty knackered, Mark ensured that we…
-
Adaptability Quotient
The BBC had a great list of the 101 people, ideas and things changing how we work today. Lots of interesting thoughts in there – Jason Kottle picked out a few of the most notable. One of my favourites though was the idea of an 'Adaptability Quotient' (or AQ) which relates to your ability and…