Tag: Agile
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The Birthday Paradox
Answer this: How many people do you think need to be in the same room before two of them have the same birthday? We have a tendency to think of this question in a linear way and so most people approach this […]
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Context Switching
I wrote about the downsides of constant context switching (or the tendency we have to move from one task to another unrelated one) in my last book but it’s a subject that I keep thinking about when I talk to anyone about […]
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Scurvy, Scott, and understanding why something works
There’s a fantastic example of how the value of breakthrough innovation can so easily be lost in this Cautionary Tales podcast by Tim Harford. Tim tells the tale of how in the 18th Century James Lind (pictured above) became passionate about solving […]
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In defence of flywheels
My friend Mike Baxter had a good post on strategy flywheels (which I also talk about in my books on Agile Transformation and Agile Marketing), talking about two key concepts that underpin the whole idea of strategy flywheels: synergy and compounding. The […]
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On unquestioned legacy
I loved this example of the kind of legacy thinking that goes unquestioned for years (originally via). The standard size of wine bottles was formalised around the world for the 1973 vintage at 750ml. US sizes until that point had been a […]
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Einstein, simplicity, and focusing on what really matters
‘Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.’ Albert Einstein A not insignificant part of Einstein’s brilliance came from his ability to focus on the essential principles and information that sat at the heart of complex scenarios. When considering […]
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QWERTY, and lessons on user-centric design
Why are keyboards set out in the way that they are? Why aren’t the letters in alphabetical order? It turns out that the answer to these questions reveals a brilliant piece of user-centric thinking. After some early attempts at creating writing machines […]
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IKEA 365 Campaign
I'm rather intrigued by the concept behind this campaign (from earlier this year). To show their versatility, IKEA in Holland made a different TV ad for every day of the year. It's a wonderfully disruptive idea. But the thing I like most […]
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‘Two-Pizza’ Teams
Werner Vogels: Amazon and the Lean Cloud from HackFwd on Vimeo. “Amazon is a technology company. We just happen to do retail” So much insight in this fascinating talk from Werner Vogels, Amazon CTO, at the recent HackFwd event in Berlin. Werner […]
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*Real* Competitive Advantage
According to the Deloitte Centre for the Edge, under 25% of the workers it surveyed are passionate about their work. Worse, the level of passion in the workforce turned out to be inversely related to the size of the company. Unsurprisingly perhaps, […]