Flexibile working means choosing the places and times of your working as meets folks’ needs – each and every single day. Needs change, sometimes daily. And it’s not just about you and your needs.
And while we’re at it, how about we swap out the idea of “working” for “playing”? #DoNothingThatIsNotPlay #SeriousPlay #Schrage
To celebrate the launch of The Quintessential Group, our new software delivery startup, we’re making copies of my most recent book “Quintessence” – free for just one week <- coupon link. A $35.99 value! (And worth many more $$$ when applied).
If you’ve been curious about what’s the next big thing in the world of CKW (collaborative knowledge work) in general, and Software Delivery in particular, it’s all mapped out in detail in Quintessence.
Whether you’re a developer looking for revolutionary ways of working (we choose rather to call it playing – and we’re inviting applications) or a business person looking to solve the software delivery crisis in your own organisation, there are many awesome things in the book for you.
Tell your friends, peers, teammates, co-workers and higher-ups. This is likely a one-time special offer!
– Bob
PS. I’ve just published a new version of the book (v1.5 – minor corrections and updates).
Play is for adults, too
John Seddon regularly uses the phrase “the way the work works” in referring to the “system” or “processes” that actually get followed within organisations. In contrast to the way “processes” or “the system” describe how the work should work (but rarely bears any relation).
For organisations such as The Quintessential Group, where play’s the thing, “work” has become a term, and an idea, that no longer has much relevance. The phrase “the way the work works” serves as one more reinforcement of that outmoded idea.
So we’ve chosen to replace the phrase “the way the work works” with the phrase “the way the play plays”. Which, although poorer grammar, helps us train ourselves to expunge the word – and idea – of “work” from our consciousness.
See also: POSIWID.
– Bob
Schrage, M. (2008). Serious Play: How The World’s Best Companies Simulate To Innovate. Harvard Business School Press.
It’s not that different folks have inherently different attitudes to work. It’s that different folks work in different environments* – environments that shape their attitudes to “work”.
*Including, but broader than physical environment (offices, cubes, studios, etc.); social environments a.k.a. culture, community, needsscape; and systems environments (both belief systems and the way the work works).
In these changing and uncertain times, is play as an alternative to work still an undiscussable topic?
Think Different