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Monthly Archives: August 2021

Great Expectations

August 14, 2021
Article, Organisational effectiveness, Psychology
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Great Expectations

Dickens’ novel “Great Expectations” explores the idea that affection, loyalty, and conscience are more important than social advancement, wealth, and ambition. In passing, it also takes a look at continual (self) improvement through the eyes of Pip, the main character.

Pip has many “great expectations” of himself and his future. Dickens shows us how such attachment to the future can blind us and rob us of simple happiness, and how an attachment to the past can similarly skew our perceptions of ourself and others.

Expectations are very familiar to us in the world of software development. Expectations of others, and our own expectations, too.

In a very different book, “The Power of Now”, Eckhart Tolle also explores the question of “how do men know who they are?” and warns of the hegemony of the mind:

“Pain is inevitable as long as you are identified with your mind.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

“Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are cause by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

“Nothing out there will ever satisfy you except temporarily and superficially, but you may need to experience many disappointments before you realize that truth.”

~ Eckhart Tolle

– Bob

Automate All the Things!

August 12, 2021
Article, Automation, Customers, Emotioneering, Software development
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Automate All the Things!

Or not. I prefer not. 

As John Seddon states in his most recent book, it’s far more useful to fully understand customers’ needs, through e.g. simple physical means, like pin-boards, T-cards and spreadsheets, before considering any automation.

And even then, automation has at least two fundamental flaws:

Inability to Cater to Variation in Demand

Automation and automated systems, presently and for the foreseeable future, cannot encompass variety in demand. As we’ve come to relate to the Little Britain meme “ Computer says no”. Customer demand inherently has variation. Thus, automation leads to a poorer customer experience, as many customer needs are handled poorly, or not at all. I cite the British Gas website and customer experience as a particularly egregious example.

Employment 

Let’s also look at the bigger picture of social cohesion, of which people having jobs is a part. Jobs give people meaning, status, and something to do. As well as greasing the wheels of commerce – employed people have disposable income which contributes to companies’ revenues.

The idea of Basic Income is all very fine (I’m a fan) but that concept has some major wrinkles to iron out before it becomes a shoe-in.

In the meantime, how about we try to create businesses – and other organisations – that provide meaningful employment to more people, rather than fewer? Will that negatively impact profit margins? I doubt. And there’s always Deming’s First Theorem in any case.

More and more often, the Software Industry is being called upon to live up to its fine moral pronouncements. Automation is an item in the negative column on that balance sheet.

– Bob

Doing Things Properly

August 11, 2021
Article, General, Software development, Teambuilding
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Doing Things Properly

I’m a little prim and proper. In that I like to do things properly. And I find comfort and fellow-feeling in seeing others doing things properly, too. Some have suggested this looks a tad OCD-ish.

What is “properly”?

For me, “properly” means with intentionality, deliberateness, and a modicum of tidiness.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

~ Aristotle

Doing Software Development “Properly”

As regards software development, some folks conflate “properly” with some specific approach (waterfall, Agile, software engineering, software craftsmanship, w.h.y.). As if there’s “One True Way” and all other approaches are the work of the devil.

I choose to eschew faith and dogma, and focus on what works. Where “works” means “meets the aggregate and individual needs of the Folks That Matter™”.

“What works” can vary – depending on a multitude of more or less regularly changing variables. (Implication: the approach must be as flexible as the dynamics of these variables).

And then there’s all those folks for whom “doing things properly” offers zero attraction. Pirsig guesstimated that these folks number around 85% of the species (Cf. Classical vs Romantic understanding).

How do you feel about doing things properly? And the folks around you?

– Bob

Further Reading

Pirsig, R.M. (1980). Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values. Bantam Books.

Quickie: Edsger Dijkstra Excoriating Software Engineering

August 11, 2021
Quickies
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“Software engineering should be known as ‘The Doomed Discipline’, doomed because it cannot even approach its goal since its goal is self-contradictory. Software engineering, of course, presents itself as another worthy cause, but that is eyewash: if you carefully read its literature and analyse what its devotees actually do, you will discover that software engineering has accepted as its charter ‘How to program if you cannot’.”

~ Edsger Dijkstra

NB. More profound Dijkstra quotes at Wikiquote.

Think Different Weekly Drop-in

August 10, 2021
Article, Event
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Think Different Weekly Drop-in

Starting next Tuesday, August 17 2021, and every Tuesday thereafter, I’ll be hosting a drop-in meeting on Google Meet. From 11AM through 12 Noon London, UK time every Tuesday, feel free to drop in for a few minutes or the whole hour and chat about ideas from my blog, books, etc..

The focus will be on your issues and the actions you might take. Advice from me will be in short supply, questions for you will likely be numerous.

Make a repeating entry for Tuesdays at 11AM London, UK time (BST before November, GMT on and after Tuesday 2 November 2021) in your calendar now. 🙂

Add event:

Add this event to your Google Calendar

– Bob

Memeology Special Offer

August 10, 2021
Article, Memeology, Special Offer
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Memeology Special Offer

I just published the latest update (.epub, .pdf, version 1.8) to my book “Memeology” on LeanPub. This brings the book close to completion at, now, 85% complete.

To celebrate the occasion, and to invite your kind help in moving it closer to 100% complete, I’m making a special offer for all purchasers of the book:

A fifteen minute chat about the book, the application of Memeology, self-help Organisational Psychotherapy, and in particular the content that is still incomplete (i.e. a personal one-to-one preview of the unfinished sections).

Chat can be via POTS, video, email, or whatever channel suits you.

Just drop me a line to express you interest and we can arrange a mutually convention date and time.

– Bob

A Cook’s Tour

August 8, 2021
101, Article, Guides
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A Cook’s Tour

With over 650 posts on this blog, I hardly expect readers to have seen every post here. Nor, I expect, will you have time or inclination to read everything. Accordingly, I’ve put together a brief summary, with some links to key posts on various long-running themes.

In no particular order:

Antimatter Principle

Do you have worries over engagement (of staff) and with keeping those people who regularly go the extra mile for you? Are you trying to create and sustain an environment where joy, passion and discretionary effort are palpable, ever-present and to-the-max?

I propose the Antimatter Principle, “attending to folks’ needs”, as an effective, psychology-led and nonviolent means to creating an environment where relationships between people can thrive and flourish. And as the basis for a coherent approach to the engineering of products, too.

The Folks That Matter™️

The Folks That Matter™ updates the idea of stakeholders, and their needs. And promotes the question of “who actually matters?”, and how to decide. Related: The Cost of Focus.

Product Development

The theory and practice of product development, and in particular software product development, has been a major focus of mine for more than thirty years. FlowChain is an whole-organisation approach for product development. Subsidiary ideas include Prod•gnosis, Flow•gnosis and Product Aikido.

Rightshifting

Shifting organisations towards being more effective was the focus of my work when I started blogging (circa 2009). I’ve written much on the topic since. One entry point into this topic is “The Rightshifting Ethos“.

The Marshall Model

The Marshall Model emerged from my work with organisational effectiveness (cf Rightshifting). the model provides a formal model for organisational effectiveness – a model also useful for interventionists (consultants, enterprise coaches and the like) akin to the Drefus Model of Skills Acquisition.

Organisational Psychotherapy

What is the prime determinant of organisational effectiveness, productivity, quality of life at work, profitability, and success?

Rightshifting attributes these benefits to the things people, collectively believe about how organisations should work. Organisational Psychotherapy provides a means to “shift” the organisation’s mindset, its collective beliefs, assumptions and tropes, to a more healthy and effective place. One more aligned with the organisation’s desired results.

Emotioneering

Emotioneering presents an engineering approach to creating the emotional responses we wish to evoke in our customers and markets (and more broadly, in all the Folks That Matter™).

I hope this Cook’s tour helps you find you way around the various themes on this blog.

Do share any thoughts you might have which others might find useful.

– Bob

What is “A Decent Conversation”?

August 7, 2021
Article, Caring, Compassion, Dialogue, Listening, Nonviolent Communication
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What is “A Decent Conversation”?

Decent conversations have been front of mind for me for many years. Mainly due to my need for them, and for their conspicuous absence in most cases. Sure I get to have many interactions with people, but are those conversations? And moreover, are they “decent”?

Decent

In my most recent quickie I borrowed the term “decent” from the headline of the linked article.
Admittedly it’s a little vague. Let’s see if we can’t disambiguate a little.

For openers, a circular definition: For me, a decent conversation is one that meets my needs.

Which of course begs the question “What are my needs of a decent conversation?”. (Please prefix all the below with an implicit “For me…”).

A conversation is more that just two (or more) parties talking to each other. Or more often, at each other.

Conversations or exchanges involving simple assertions – for example “dogs are so cute” – fall short of “decent” conversations. Ditto for expression of opinion – for example, statements beginning “I think…”. I need interactions that involve supportive and mutual sense-making, not just airing of opinions.

While the word ‘sensemaking’ may have an informal, poetic flavour, that should not mask the fact that it is literally just what it says it is.

~ Karl Weick, 1995

Decent conversations must involve skilful listening, on the part of all participants. Expressly, listening for what’s “going on” with each other. Marshall Rosenberg describes this as “focussing on what’s alive, right now, in those participating”.

How often do you feel people are listening to you? That they’re interested in how you’re feeling and what you have to say? That by listening they’re connecting with you as a person? How often do you listen well enough that others feel that same way about you?

More than Listening

Decent conversations involve more than (NVC) listening. They involve empathy, compassion, and a desire to help participants evolve their understanding. To come together in reaching a deeper or more nuanced shared understanding. I sometime refer to this as “shared mutual exploration”.

Yes, that’s a high bar. But with practice and motivation – and yes, support – one that most people are capable of clearing.

Is there value in decent conversations? For me, absolutely. For others? Maybe we can have a decent conversation about that.

– Bob

Further Reading

Rosenberg, M.B. (2015). Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. Puddledancer Press.
Kline, N. (2010). More Time to Think: A Way of Being in the World. Fisher King Publishing.
http://www.skillsyouneed.com. (n.d.). Active Listening | SkillsYouNeed. [online] Available at: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/active-listening.html [Accessed 7 Aug. 2021].
http://www.psychologytoday.com. (2013). It’s Not Enough to Listen | Psychology Today. [online] Available at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/encountering-america/201303/its-not-enough-listen [Accessed 7 Aug. 2021].
Cordes, R. (2020). Making Sense of Sensemaking: What it is and what it Means for Pandemic Research. [online] Atlantic Council. Available at: https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/geotech-cues/making-sense-of-sensemaking-what-it-is-and-what-it-means-for-pandemic-research/ [Accessed 7 Aug. 2021].
Trzeciak, S., Booker, C., Mazzarelli, A. (2019). Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes a Difference. Studer Group.
Bohm, D. (2014). On dialogue. London: Routledge.
Rodriguez, C. (2013). “On Dialogue” David Bohm. [online] Carmen Rodríguez A. Available at: https://carmenrodrigueza.wordpress.com/2013/03/31/on-dialogue-david-bohm/ [Accessed 7 Aug. 2021].