Category: insight
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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The Paradox of Automation
This post from Marc Rubinstein (which was shortlisted for this month's Post of the Month vote) on the lessons from the tragic crash of Air France Flight 447 ten years ago gathered together a number of interesting concepts. One of these was the so-called 'paradox of automation', which is the idea that: '…the more efficient…
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DogEarThis
So I was having a Twitter chat with Nick Childs and Gerad Petherbridge a while back and we were talking about how Twitter is such a good place to come across great books that you haven't read, and great concepts from great books that you haven't read too. Planners on Twitter seemed to be particularly…
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Evolving Client Agency Models
I posted last week about a fascinating research project that I'd done with AAR on the shifting corporate innovation landscape and the resulting report which is free to download. Over the past months I've also been conducting a second piece of research for AAR on the evolving picture for client/agency relationships and models, and that report…
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The Angel in The Marble
'Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it. I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.' Michelangelo I happened across this Michelangelo quote via this Hidden Brain podcast on the subject of marriage, and I rather liked…
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The Buxton Index, and the Rhythm of Business
'The Buxton Index of an entity, i.e. person or organization, is defined as the length of the period, measured in years, over which the entity makes its plans.' I came across the 'Buxton Index' via this Shane Parrish podcast with Patrick Collison founder of Stripe (which is really worth a listen). Seemingly originated by Professor John Buxton at…
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Culture at Stripe
I liked the way that Patrick Collison, co-founder of the hugely successful Stripe summarised the key attributes that they actively seek in the people that they hire. 'I think the three that really stand out to me are this rigor and clarity of thought, this hunger, appetite, willfulness, determination, and this … warmth and desire…