Kallokain

Thanks to Mario López de Ávila Muñoz for posting about this in the cmsig group at Yahoo: Here is a link to the original page . There is a good point here: People will change their behavior if it is fun to do so. It is something to remember.

I wrote the following list of traits of agile organizations in a discussion at LinkedIn. I decide to preserve it here until I figure out what to do with it.  Is there anything you think should be added or removed from the list? Are there any organizations beyond those mentioned in the list that you beleve are also agile? Comments are very welcome. Likely to focus on core values instead of core business  Likely to be network structures  Likely to limit node size to 100-200 people (Virgin is an exception nowadays)  Likely to have nodes responsible for complete revenue flows  Likely to have decentralized command structures (in order to reduce response times and be more opportunistic)  Likely to emphasize self-organization  Somewhat likely to be democratic (W.L. Gore and Semco)  Unlikely to emphasize economics of scale (though they use it when appropriate)  Unlikely to standardise procedures across nodes. (Quite obvious why. Virgin Ga...

I have been involved in a discussion about the importance of context when solving wicked problems in a LinkedIn group. (The thread didn't start out that way.) Here is a little story for everyone who believes problems can be solved without understanding their context: A small car company had great success with a car model, so great that they decided to build a factory in a country new to them and open up a new market. Because this particular model was such a great success, they decided it was the best car they could hope to build, and that their way was the best way to build it. Therefore, they decided that their new factory should be an exact replica of their existing factory, and that it should build cars exactly the same way. Unfortunately, cars made in the new factory did not sell very well. Sales were abysmal. Worse, cars from the new factory were involved in several accidents. Cars from their old factory had excellent safety records. Management decided to ship half a d...