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Memeology

Second Time Around

April 22, 2022
Alien tech, Business, Buzz, Familiar, General, History, Memeology, News, Organisational effectiveness, Quintessence, Software development
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Second Time Around

Y’all may like to know that Ian Carroll (of Solutioneers fame) and I are launching a new venture named TheQuintessentialGroup, offering a range of services in the software delivery space. First out of the gate will be “Quintessential Teams“. You can find out more at our shiny new website: TheQuintessentialGroup.com.

Note: We’re looking to revolutionise the world of software delivery, along quintessential lines, and we’d love for you to consider joining us.

First Time Around

Back in 1996 we* found ourselves with the opportunity to demonstrate what we had been telling clients for years – that our** approach to software delivery was way more productive than:

a) the industry norm

b) their current approaches

c) what they could ever believe possible

*myself and some colleagues at the Java Centre within Sun Microsystems UK, along with some mutual friends.

**the company we named “Familiar”.

Second Time Around

Now, we*** find ourselves in the same situation once again. Our**** approach to software delivery is again way more productive than:

a) the industry norm

b) our clients’ current approaches

c) what our clients and prospects could ever believe possible

***Ian Carroll and myself

****the company we’re naming TheQuintessentialGroup

Nothing Like Agile

The first time around, commencing circa 1996, our approach could be described as an Agile approach (Scrum-like, albeit risk-based).

The second time around our – distinctly different – approach can be described as the Quintessential approach (nothing like Agile, Scrum, etc. – albeit still very risk-oriented).

Alien Tech For Human Beings

And this second time around, we again lead the industry in breaking the mould and demonstrating the validity and sheer awesome power of the Quintessential approach.

The Quintessential approach is no secret. It’s all laid out, in detail, in my book(s). And yet we defy anyone to replicate this game-changing alien tech. At least, until they have thrown off the shackles of outmoded and crippling beliefs about work and how work should work.

And that ain’t likely to happen any time soon. Although TheQuintessentialGroup.com can help with effecting such changes, too – see my book Memeology, for starters.

If you’re at all interested in the quality, cost, timescales, and predictability of software delivery, you might like to take a look at our newly launched website: TheQuintessentialGroup.com. We have big ambitions and big plans – and we’re hiring too!

Yes there’s more than a little déjà vu here at Sensei Towers at the moment. Familiar was an outstanding success, vindication, trailblazer and golden goose back in the late 90’s. We have every expectation that TheQuintessentialGroup will surpass even that outstanding benchmark.

Putting a dent in the Universe.

– Bob

Further Reading

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Quintessence: An Acme for Software Development Organisations. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub). Available at: https://leanpub.com/quintessence/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2022].

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Memeology: Surfacing And Reflecting On The Organisation’s Collective Assumptions And Beliefs. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub). Available at: https://leanpub.com/memeology/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2022].

Marshall, R.W. (2018). Hearts over Diamonds: Serving Business and Society Through Organisational Psychotherapy. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub). Available at: https://leanpub.com/heartsovediamonds/ [Accessed 22 Apr. 2022].

Quickie: Did You Read…?

April 5, 2022
Memeology, Organisational Therapy, Quickies, Quintessence
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Did you read “Quintessence” yet? Are you missing out on the exciting new field of Organisational Psychotherapy and its application in building the superior organisation?

How about “Hearts over Diamonds“? The foundational book for Organisational Psychotherapy. Read about this awesome new approach to changing organisational culture and achieving better alignment with your business aspirations and goals. Compare your existing organisation against the world’s best.

And then there’s “Memeology“. An innovative, breakthrough approach to Organisational Psychotherapy for organisations willing to help themselves, with a staggering 70+ memes listed and structured for productive discussions.

Buy each book now on Leanpub!

Or buy the bundle of all three books together at a discounted price.

Enjoy! Tell your friends!

Quickie: Success And The Role Of Collective Organisational Mindset

April 1, 2022
Culture change, Management, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Quickies, Quintessence
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It’s the collective mindset of an organisation that determines an organisation’s overall effectiveness, productivity and degree of success.

~ FlowChainSensei

What Determines An Organisation’s Strategies?

The collective mindset of an organisation determines absolutely the strategies (means, solutions) avaiable to the organisation – the strategies it applies to addressing its issues and problems.

Does your organisation have a strategy for shifting its collective mindset (i.e. its collective assumptions and beliefs)? If so, what assumptions and beliefs has shaped that strategy?

 

Further Reading

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Quintessence: An Acme for Software Development Organisations. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub).

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Memeology: Surfacing And Reflecting On The Organisation’s Collective Assumptions And Beliefs. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms. Available at: https://leanpub.com/memeology/ [Accessed 31 Mar. 2022].

Marshall, R.W. (2018). Hearts over Diamonds: Serving Business and Society Through Organisational Psychotherapy. Falling Blossoms (LeanPub).

 

 

Culture and Strategy

March 31, 2022
Business, Culture change, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Organisational Therapy, Quintessence
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Culture and Strategy

I’ve long paid attention to the things Roger L Martin writes and speaks about. I find his insights and perspectives both valuable and useful. So I’m always happy when he speaks or writes on a given topic and finds himself in agreement with what I’ve been writing (or is it vice versa?).

Recently, he’s spoken about the paradoxical relationship between organisational strategy and organisational culture.

For me any culture change is a retail, not wholesale, exercise.

Wholesale is when organizations make sweeping grand proclamations about doing things differently.

Retail is when they pay very specific attention to each, and every, interaction and use those individual interactions as a catalyst to do things differently.

~ Roger L. Martin

I’d love to hear what you find interesting or contentious in his interview.

Further Reading

Martin, R.L. (2022) A New Way to Think: Your Guide to Superior Management Effectiveness Harvard Business Review Press

A Key to Culture Change

March 29, 2022
Culture change, Language, Learning, Memeology, Organisational Therapy, Quintessence
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A Key to Culture Change

A long time ago (2012) I wrote

‘Whorfianism of the third kind’ proposes that language is ‘a key to culture’

(You might also like to read the full post wherein this appeared).

Which is to propose that the language we use, and the vocabulary we possess, influences and constrains the way we think. That if we lack words for certain concepts, then these concepts are inaccessible to and inexpressible by us.

Which in turn suggests that culture change, involving as it does discovering and adopting new terms, concepts, and the words to describe and label them, necessitates we acquire new language and new vocabulary.

I suspect Clean Language also has some relevance and utility here.

How does the phenomenon of Linguistic Relativity relate to your own experiences?

– Bob

 

 

Quickie: Good Luck With Not Shifting Your Culture!

March 10, 2022
Culture change, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Quickies, Quintessence
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So, you need to see improvements in your company’s approach to software development?

Improvements such as:

  • Quicker development and delivery.
  • More reliable due date performance and confidence in schedules.
  • Reduced costs.
  • Improved quality.
  • More responsiveness to changing business conditions.
  • Increasing hiring and retention of the best people.
  • Etc..

And you want to do all that without shifting your culture?

Good luck with that!

Culture Shifting

March 10, 2022
Article, Culture change, Dialogue, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Organisational Therapy, Quintessence
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Culture Shifting

For the past twenty years my work has been focussed on helping tech organisations shift their culture towards something more aligned to their aspirations and objectives. I have found that few indeed are the tech organisations that understand the role of culture, and its importance to their results.

The Role of Culture

Many business leaders over the years have emphasised the primacy of culture. Here’s a few:

The only thing of real importance that leaders do is to create and manage culture.

~ Edgar Schein

The thing I have learned at IBM is that culture is everything. It took me to age fifty-five to figure that out.

~ Lou Gerstner, CEO, IBM

If you get the culture right, most of the other stuff will just take care of itself.

~ Tony Hsieh, CEo, Zappos.com

What is Culture?

Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another.

~ Geert Hofstede

According to Ed Schein, culture is a shared set of basic assumptions and beliefs:

Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organisation’s view of its self and its environment… 

It’s a pattern of shared basic assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a given group. 

~ Edgar Schein

The Organisational Psychotherapy Viewpoint

Organisation Psychotherapy asserts that culture is no more, and no less, than a read-only manifestation of an organisation’s collective psyche – of its collective assumptions and beliefs. Read-only because culture cannot be manipulated directed, but only via changes to those underlying collective assumptions and beliefs. (Marshall 2021).

Organisational Psychotherapy provides the context, the means and the tools to address changing such collective assumptions and beliefs.

The Culture In Your Organisation Today

Here’s a few questions you might like to bring up next time your peers discuss organisational culture:

  1. What does the term “organisational culture” mean to the folks in your organisation? 
  2. Does everyone share the same meaning, or are folks “all over the map”? 
  3. What impact does your organisation’s culture today have on your ability to achieve your purpose, your goals?
  4. How might you describe your organisation’ culture, as it is, right now?
  5. If you decide you need to effect some changes to your culture, how might you go about doing that? 
  6. To what extent are your senior folks and decision-makers agreed on the relative importance or significance of organisational culture? And the rest of the folks in the organisation? 
  7. What’s the impact of culture on financial performance (your bottom line)? 
  8. What’s the interplay between culture and the way the work works? 
  9. What’s the interplay between culture and the structure of the organisation? 

– Bob

Further Reading

Schein, E.H. (2016). Organizational Culture and Leadership. John Wiley & Sons. 

Hofstede, G.H. (1991). Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind. Mcgraw-Hill. 

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Memeology: Surfacing And Reflecting On The Organisation’s Collective Assumptions And Beliefs. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms. Available at: https://leanpub.com/memeology/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2022].

The New Game In Town

February 28, 2022
Article, Culture change, Memeology, Quintessence, Software development
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The New Game In Town

For decades now, decision-makers have been faced with two quandaries in connection with software development for their organisations.

Quandary One

On the one hand, software – and software development – remains slow, costly, unpredictable and of poor quality. On the other hand, the need for software to support business initiatives, new products, and customer demands grow every day.

See: Software is Eating the World.

Quandary Two

Traditional approaches to software development have clearly had their day in the sun. No company today would consider a transition into e.g. Waterfall or the V model to be a viable way forward. Even though many, through inter, are still stuck in those relatively unproductive approaches. On the other hand, Agile – the natural way forward for many – has proven itself a busted flush.

Until now, these two options (remain with the untrendy and unproductive Old School, or adopt the faddish and unproductive new school) have been the only options available to companies concerned with reducing the costs, and increasing the speed and quality, of software development.

Until Now

I say until now, because there’s now a new game in town. Proven in over twenty years of diligent, practical, real-work application. Aligned to progress in e.g. psychology, sociology, neuroscience and group dynamics. Expressly designed for collaborative knowledge work (i.e. software and tech product development).

I invented this new approach, and I call it Quintessence. You can find it laid out in meaningful detail in my recent book of the same name.

There’s also a self-help book titled “Memeology” for organisation wishing to pursue Quintessence on their own terms.

And an earlier, foundational book titled “Hearts Over Diamonds” which puts everything into context.

So now, organisations of every stripe have a viable, and much more effective option for improving their software development efforts. A means to building quintessentially effective organisations. No longer is Agile the only game in town.

Chat in Confidence

If you’d like a brief, confidential and no obligation chat about how your organisation could benefit from wasting less time, money, energy and effort, please get in touch via e.g. LinkedIn:  – or via whichever channel you may prefer.

– Bob

The Organisational Psychotherapy Solution for Staff Attrition

February 11, 2022
Antimatter principle, Article, Attrition, Culture change, Memeology, Nonviolent Communication, Organisational Therapy, Quintessence
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The Organisational Psychotherapy Solution for Staff Attrition

What with The Great Resignation, record levels of disengagement in the workforce, and a decade and more of low productivity, management knows that losing staff – a.k.a. “attrition”, “turnover”, or “churn” – is a sure and quick route to disaster.

Why Do Folks Quit?

All the data (surveys, research, etc.) points to folks leaving their jobs because:

  • Feeling unappreciated.
  • Burn out.
  • Absence of flexible work options. 
  • Unable to work when and when best suits their needs.
  • Stress (distress).
  • Difficult relationships with colleagues _ and especially, management.
  • Corporate culture.
  • Bullshit jobs (lack of purpose, especially shared or common purpose).
  • Being bored.
  • Limited career development a.k.a. a feeling of being “stuck in a rut”.
  • Violence.
  • Lack of fairness.
  • (For folks in Collaborative Knowledge Work organisations) feeling like “order takers” or factory workers.

The Single Root Cause

All the above reasons are just aspects of one root cause: folks quit when their needs are not being met (or not even attended to).

Different folks have different needs, so any broad brush approach is unlikely to bear fruit. Better to talk with people individually about their specific needs, and how well – or more often, poorly – the organisation is doing in attending to those needs.

This is not an approach that is even possible, absent organisation-wide support for it.

The Organisational Psychotherapy Assist

Organisational Psychotherapy can assist in reducing employee attrition levels in a number of ways:

  • By helping your organisation build a culture that prioritises and actively attends to folks’ needs (see also: The Antimatter Principle).
  • By surfacing your organisation’s existing collective assumptions and beliefs – assumptions and beliefs which most typically lead to some or all of the above-listed reasons for folks leaving.
  • By identifying the cognitive biases which lead to folks feeling their needs are of no consequence.
  • By convincing folks that your organisation takes them and their needs seriously, and that you are determined to build an environment in which they can do their best work (see also: Harter & Buckingham, 2016). 
  • By adopting well-established organisational practices, best suited to CKW.
  • By awareness of Management Monstrosities and how to avoid them

– Bob

Further Reading

Harter, J., Buckingham, M. & Gallup Organization (2016). First, Break All The Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. Gallup Press.

Marshall, R.W. (2021). Memeology: Surfacing And Reflecting On The Organisation’s Collective Assumptions And Beliefs. [online] leanpub.com. Falling Blossoms. Available at: https://leanpub.com/memeology/ [Accessed 11 Feb. 2022].

I’m Done

January 28, 2022
Antimatter principle, Article, Emotioneering, Flow•gnosis, Flowchain, Improvement, Marshall Model, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Prod•gnosis, Productivity, Quintessence
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I’m Done

Memeology, Quintessence

I’m done with inviting folks to discover better ways to run collaborative knowledge work businesses and other organisations. 

The Antimatter Principle

I’m done with inviting people to build more humane, engaging organisations.

Rightshifting

I’m done with illustrating the gulf in performance and effectiveness between the average organisation or business, and the best. And how much productivity just goes begging.

The Marshall Model

I’m done with inviting people to understand the role of collective assumptions and beliefs in the effectiveness of their organisations.

Effectiveness

I’m done with even mentioning effectiveness. No one seems to need it or want it or even to understand what it is and its role in organisational success.

Emotioneering

I’m done with inviting organisations to consider the way people actually go about buying goods and service, and the role of emotions therein.

FlowChain, Prod•gnosis, Flow•gnosis

I’m done with providing food for thought on how the work in collaborative knowledge work organisations can work awesomely better.

Product Aikido

I’m done with inviting folks to look more deeply into the principles of product development and what makes for more effective product development.

The Giants

I’m done with mentioning the Giants such as Ackoff, Deming, Drucker, et al.

Software

I’m done with software and helping people improve software development, reliability, quality, predictability, etc.. #NoSoftware’s the thing.

Recruiters and the Job Market

I’m done with know-nothing recruiters only focused on their next commission. And a totally broken job market focussed on mediocrity and the status quo. Oh, and CVs too. #NoCV.

The Closed-Minded

I’m done with people that are happiest sitting on their arses (metaphorically speaking) and keeping their eyes, ears, and minds closed to possibilities. Which is everybody, AFAICT.

The Unreliable

I’m done with people that promise to do things, and then, silently, do fuck all.

Agile

I’m done with Agile. Actually, as you’re probably aware, I’ve been done with Agile for a decade and more. I’m just adding it here for the sake of completeness. Oh, and I’m SO done with ignorant people who continue to promote the Agile busted flush.

I’m Done With Better Ways

I’m done with it all. Given there’s zero demand for “better”, better ways seem entirely irrelevant.

And good luck with that status quo. 

– Bob

Quickie: No Need to Help Yourselves?

January 23, 2022
Culture change, Memeology, Quickies
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There’s a zillion self-help books out there, but there’s also a zillion people not reading them and probably not much interesting in helping themselves, either.

So it is with organisations. There’s a zillion organisations out there, and I see no evidence of any of them much interested in helping themselves. Although, in the case of organisations, I know of only one book specifically aimed at enabling organisation to help themselves: Memeology.

The Way Forward

January 16, 2022
Antimatter principle, Article, Business, Capability development, Culture change, Dialogue, Improvement, Listening, Management, Memeology, Needs, Organisational effectiveness, Organisational Therapy, Productivity, Quintessence
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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

What’s Holding Us Back

January 15, 2022
Article, Improvement, Innovation, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Quintessence, Reflections
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What’s Holding Us Back

It’s become painfully obvious to me that a whole raft of unhelpful assumptions and beliefs is holding us back. And has been doing so for at least fifty years.

And by “us”, I’m referring here to the software industry, businesses, and society in general.

In my most recent books (Memeology, Quintessence) I explore these beliefs in detail and at length, but in keeping with my preference for short(er) blog posts, I’ll summarise…

Here’s some of the major assumptions and beliefs I’ve recently seen holding back organisations back from the success they espouse:

  • Specialists are desirable. Generalist and generalising specialists offer no value.
  • Reorganisations are the way to effect improvements.
  • Change, if ever necessary, is better managed, and in large lumps.
  • Dialogue is a waste of everyone’s time.
  • The only needs that matter are those of the elite (CxOs, managers).
  • It’s best not to describe “success” as this would only expose the elite’s agenda.
  • Culture is what it is – it’s not amenable to intentional change.
  • There’s not other possible organisational structure than hierarchy.
  • Change, when it happens, happens in isolation, independent of existing policies and rules.
  • We must recruit and retain talent, specialist talent. Talent is indispensable.
  • Interpersonal relationships are messy, and have next to no relevance to business results.
  • High pay is the (only) way to attract and retain talent.
  • Productivity ensues from hiring talent.
  • Efficiency is top priority, effectiveness a meaningless and useless term.
  • Business problems are always the fault of certain individuals.
  • Breaking the organisation into parts and managing these parts separately is the only way to go.
  • Extrinsic motivation is much more powerful than intrinsic motivation.
  • Evidence and instruction (telling) are the only means to effect changes in people’s behaviours.

…and so on, and so on. 

All the above assumptions are, of course, false, and proven false by decades of research. Yet nobody is listening, nor interested in the science. Our ignorance is humungous.

– Bob

Win Organisational Psychotherapy Book Bundles!

January 14, 2022
Article, Competition, Memeology, Organisational effectiveness, Organisational Therapy, Product development, Quintessence, Software development
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Win Organisational Psychotherapy Book Bundles!

In my most recent book, “Quintessence”, I draw a blueprint for the quintessential software development organisation. It builds on the previous two books: 

I’d be super delighted to hear about your take on the following topic: 

What  does a quintessential software development organisation (or product development organisation) look like, feel like and work like – from your point of view?

Or put another way, if you have a picture of the ideal organisation you’d desperately want to work for, how do you imagine it to be?

The best (in my assessment) three entries will each receive a full three book Organisational Psychotherapy bundle, free, gratis, and for no charge (a $99.99 value).

There are extensive free samples of each of the books on the Leanpub pages (see links, above), in case you’d appreciate a “starter for ten”.

Please submit your entries before the 31 January 2022. I’ll be announcing the winners shortly after that closing date. Submissions via the comment section on this post, or more privately if you wish via email to: bob.marshall@fallingblossoms.com, please.

Thanks, and good luck with your entry!

– Bob

Quickie: Inconvenient Truth

January 10, 2022
Culture change, Flow•gnosis, Improvement, Management, Memeology, Product development, Productivity, Quickies, Quintessence, Software development
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It’s the system (the way the work works) that determines circa 95% of an individual’s performance in their job.

Are you still “managing the 5%” (through training, coaching, motivation, appraisals, etc.)?

#Deming