The Way Forward

By way of a counterpoint to my previous post “What’s Holding Us Back“, I’m interested in the way forward for the software industry, businesses, and society in general.

It’s become delightfully obvious to me that a whole raft of helpful assumptions and beliefs constitute that way forward.

In my most recent books (Memeology, Quintessence) I detail these helpful assumptions and beliefs at length, and again in keeping with my preference for short blog posts, I’ll just summarise, here…

Here’s some of the major assumptions and beliefs helpful to enabling organisations better achieve success:

• Generalising specialists form the core of quintessential organisations (see e.g. Paint Drip People).
• Continual small changes in assumptions and beliefs (kaizen), with occasional larger step changes (Kaikaku) are the way to effect improvements.
• Change is desirable, best left to serendipity, and better seen in small daily increments.
• Dialogue is at the core of improvements, in relationships and the way the work works, both.
• Everyone’s needs matter (at least for all the Folks That Matter). See also: the Antimatter Principle.
• Clarity and honesty on what constitutes “success” is the only way to align folks and see everyone’s real needs are being attended to.
• Culture is the visible by-product of the invisible set of prevailing assumptions and beliefs, and is amenable to intentional change through eg Organisational Psychotherapy (be that facilitated or via self-help).
• There are many possible organisational structures other than hierarchy. They have all be tried at one time or another. Most have proven more successful that hierarchy.
• Change always requires revisions to existing policies and rules. See: Innovation ALWAYS Demands We Change the Rules.
• Talent is unnecessary when we have thriving relationships, and a focus on the way the work works.
• Interpersonal relationships are core to success.
• Interesting work and the prospect of community, meaning, and other “soft” elements trumps high pay as a motivator and attractant, every time.
• Productivity ensues from optimising the way the work works, which in turn requires a focus on collective assumptions and beliefs.
• Efficiency is a distracting red herring, effectiveness is the path to productivity and success.
• Business problems are almost never the fault of certain individuals.
• Breaking the organisation into parts and managing these parts separately is a recipe for significant sub-optimisation and shortfalls in success.
• In collaborative knowledge work, intrinsic motivation is much more powerful than extrinsic motivation. The latter serves as a demotivator.
• The social dynamic and listening are the only means to effect changes in people’s behaviours.

…and so on, and so on. 

All the above assumptions have been proven time and again through decades of research. By listening, experimenting and being interested in the science and outliers, our ignorance can be assuaged and enlightened.

– Bob