Science, technology, and economics focus on efficiency, but not effectiveness. ”’The difference between efficiency and effectiveness is important to an understanding of transformational leadership”’.
Author Archives: Martien van Steenbergen
Creativity and down time
Vincent Walsh talks about ”down time” that facilitates creativity and the emergence of new ideas. ”Down time” implies that the other part is ”up time”. I tend to reverse the perspective: our time awake is in fact ”down time” and when we are asleep or relaxed we are actually enjoying ”up time”. We are, however, …
Nonlinearity
One important source of [[uncertainty]] is a property known as nonlinearity. ”’Nonlinearity describes systems in which causes and effects are disproportionate.”’ Minor incidents or actions can have decisive effects. Major effort can have no effect whatsoever. Outcomes of endeavors can hinge on the actions of a few individuals. Issues can be decided by [[chance|chances]] and …
Uncertainty
An attribute of life is uncertainty. All actions in life take place in an atmosphere of increasing uncertainty, or the “fog of life.” Uncertainty pervades life in the form of unknowns about the what to create, about the environment, and even about your organization.
Philosophy Of Command
Centuries of battlefield-tested agility, leanliness, and maneuverability. How agile can you be? It is essential that our philosophy of command support the way we fight work. First and foremost, in order to generate the tempo of operations we desire and to best cope with the [[uncertainty]], disorder, and fluidity of combat work, command and control …
Improvement Board
Henrik Kniberg says that Squads at Spotify are using Big Visible Improvement Boards that focus on one to three Actionable Accelerators like: “What is blocking us?” Also, the board shows a Definition of Awesome that includes things like: Really finishing stuff. Easily ramping up new team members. No recurring tasks or bugs.
Goldilocks
Goldilocks is an interesting technique and basically doing the opposite of estimating: You shape the work into the desired sizes. Vote each item into one of three piles: “Too Big”, “Just Right”, and “Too Small”. Split any “Too Big” items into “Just Right”-sized ones. Group any “Too Small” items together into “Just Right”. The Goldilocks …
Context Map
Use a Context Map to: revisit the issues identified; draw out the drivers of change; and map them on a large chart showing the interrelationships.
Big Visible Two-Day Agenda
A Big Visible Two-Day Agenda is an excellent visual reference for a training, workshop, or conference. Each half day is based on a simple 3 × 3 grid with a title. Key: Yellow—theory. Pink—game or exercise. Green—video. 3″ × 5″ Post-it notes cut into 3″ × 1¼″ strips allow for a landscape text that fits …
Kanban Coaching Professional Masterclass
Martien’s notes from the Kanban Coaching Professional Masterclass with David J. Anderson in October 2013 in the Double Tree Hotel, Amsterdam. —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —- —-