@cyetain

Towards Humanistic Flow-based Knowledge Systems

Formulating the Mess

@cyetain

blog http://jabe.coSend Anonymous Feedback

http://sayat.me/jabebloom

Joshua (Jabe) Bloom

&

CTO:

@cyetain

#reactor13@cyetain

@cyetain

To envision the the types technology that teams may reasonably be expected produce in 5-10 years and to prepare those teams to envision, create, produce, and support that technology.

@cyetain

Creating Space

Inspiration not Instruction

@cyetain

Creating Space

Inspiration not Instruction

@cyetain

•Definitions•Formulating the Mess•Some Potential Principles•Experiments•Towards Better Systems

@cyetain

Definitions

@cyetain

Systems

Term

@cyetain

DeterministicAnimateSocial

@cyetain

Interaction

@cyetain

Cars and Dogs

@cyetain

Ants & Murmerations

@cyetain

Adaptation

@cyetain

Environmental

@cyetain

OrganicSystems

@cyetain

Variety Increasingor

Variety DecreasingSystems

@cyetain

Humanistic

Term

@cyetain

WorkingPinCar

ArtifactsCode

HammeringCarryingThinkingCreating

Work

@cyetain

Humansare Rational

@cyetain

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could

support this.-Russell

@cyetain

Work != Working != Worker

PinCar

ArtifactsCode

HammeringCarryingThinkingCreating

HUMANSBounded:

PerceptionUnderstanding

RationalityFallible

@cyetain

If the parts of an entity do not interact, they form an aggregation, not a system. A crowd, as distinct from an organization, is a familiar example.

-Ackoff

@cyetain

The dynamic whole has greater degrees of freedom

than its components individually

-Alicia Juarrero

@cyetain

@cyetain

Not Computers

@cyetain

knowledge of psychology is incomplete without knowledge of variation. The

managers of people need to understand that all people are different.

~W. Edwards Deming

@cyetain

Knowledge

Term

@cyetain

Tangible vs Intangible

No Loading Dock

@cyetain

Tacit vs Explicit

@cyetain

Knowledge can only be volunteered it cannot be conscripted.

We only know what we know when we need to know it.

Everything is fragmented

The way we know things is not the way we report we know things.

We always know more than we can say, and we will always say more than we can write down.

Working software over comprehensive documentation

-Snowden

@cyetain

Information, skill and knowledge are embedded in networks and

relationships.

Individuals, instead of “owning” information, attract, translate and know how to and where to access to the information that emerges in the networks around them.

@cyetain

Flow

Term

@cyetain

Stagnation

@cyetain

Inaction

@cyetain

Inattentiveness

@cyetain

Flow Efficiency

vsResource Efficiency

Hakan Forss

@cyetain

Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety, when the challenges are just balanced with the person's capacity to act.

―Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

@cyetain

Mindful Decisions to Act

@cyetain

Whose

Decisions?

@cyetain

Formulating the Mess

@cyetain

The problem is people think they can

determine the PROBLEM

@cyetain

Mechanistic Atomism

@cyetain

Separating Head and Hands

@cyetain

Reverse Turing Test

@cyetain

Skill in a Vacuum

@cyetain

Durable vs Sustainable

@cyetain

Context FreeDurability

@cyetain

No man treats a motor car as foolishly as he treats another human

being. When the car will not go, he does not attribute its annoying

behavior to sin, he does not say, "You are a wicked motorcar, and I shall not give you any more petrol

until you go." He attempts to find out what is wrong and set it right.

-Russell

@cyetain

Who is In Control

Around Here Anyway?Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

@cyetain

Emergent Powers

@cyetain

Perhaps the most costly disassembly in which our culture has been engaged is the disaggregation of life itself into work, play, learning, and inspiration.

-Ackoff

@cyetain

Sustainability

@cyetain

The Problem of Expertise

@cyetain

Managers, Executives and Leaders are

Humans (not heros)

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. -Lord Acton

Humans tend to be fallible, and leaders are absolutely Human. -Jabe

@cyetain

The Intentional Stance

One of the issues with Hierarchical thinking & decision making is the implicit assumption that someone has

thought & decided.

@cyetain

The Box Packing Algorithm

@cyetain

InspectingOutput

(and Adapting Output)

@cyetain

Human beings exercise responsibilities within a social setting and a framework of

obligations which transcend the principle of intelligence.

-Michael Polanyi

@cyetain

Culture as a set of basic assumptions defines for us

what to pay attention to, what things mean, how to react

emotionally to what is going on, and what actions to take in

various kinds of situations.

-Edgar H. Schein

@cyetain

Tacit

Assumptions

Espoused

Values

Artifacts

&

BehaviorTangible

Observable

Intangible

Unobserved

@cyetain

Bring Work To Durable Teams

@cyetain

Some Potential Principles

@cyetain

Humans can and will learn if they are provided the resources and the necessary psychological safety.

~Edgar Schein

@cyetain

Joy in work comes from understanding why your work is important. Not from the work, but from knowledge of who’s going to use it... Motivation— nonsense. All that people need to know is why their work is important.

-W. Edwards Deming

@cyetain

If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?

-Rabbi Hillel

Agencyand

Communion

@cyetain

@cyetain

I have adopted the terms "agency" and "communion" to characterize two

fundamental modalities in the existence of living forms, agency for the existence of an

organism as an individual, and communion for the participation of the individual in some

large organism of which the individual is part.

-Bakan

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

Agency

Communion

@cyetain

What Option Can I Choose to Help The Team?

Agency is informed by Communion under conditions of uncertainty

@cyetain

Narrative

Strategy

Intent

Experiment

Task

Quarters

Month

Week

Days

Hourscompletes

validates

supports

Realizes

Pop the WhyStack

@cyetain

Distributed decision making enable faster

cycle times.

Faster cycle times enable more options and

therefore less “big bet” risks.

@cyetain

Individuals with Agency and Communion are more engaged in their work.

They notice and react to changes in context which

enables Continuous Adaptation

@cyetain

The temporal and social distance between

relevant information and those making decisions

impacts the quality, efficiency and timeliness

of those decisions

@cyetain

Diverse perspectives allow organizations to

detect weak signals and generate optionality

enabling the innovation required to solve novel

problems

@cyetain

More Options More Value

More Time More Information

More Information & Options Better Decisions

@cyetain

NOTICE DECISION POINTS

Before doing the right thing righter… there is simply noticing what you are doing and simply asking… why am I doing this?

DECISIONS are the result of

Interactions

@cyetain

System to Support Deferred, Distributed & Diverse Decision Making

Design Systems to be capable of choice

@cyetain

Rules Are Waste

So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work.

~Peter Drucker

@cyetain

Overly Constrained

@cyetain

Under Constrained

@cyetain

Experiments

@cyetain

Decision Economies

@cyetain

@cyetain

How Many?

@cyetain

How Interesting?Interesting! Why?

x?

x?

x?

x?

x?

x?

@cyetain

How Many Weak Signals

Did We Act On?

@cyetain

the best place to treat a problem is not

necessarily where it appears.

-Ackoff

@cyetain

Beyond Deadlines

@cyetain

We are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path

to a lesser goal. 

— Robert Brault

@cyetain

Kahneman is not

impressed by your

estimates

@cyetain

@cyetain

Box Packing Algorithm

@cyetain

More & More Information

Time

@cyetain

Fewer and Fewer Options

@cyetain

Date of Completion DeadlineStart

Cra

p

@ourfounder

@cyetain

5 Whys for Deadlines

@cyetain

Less Deadlines

More Slack

Higher Quality

Lower Cycle

Time

@cyetain

Removing Constraints is

HARD

@cyetain

Towards Better

Systems

@cyetain

Effective systems must produce both better

economic and sociological outcomes.

@cyetain

Equitable Outcomes

@cyetain

Out of Control Systems

(Ignoring Constraints)

@cyetain

Externalities

@cyetain

A system that requires certain environmental

conditions in order to carry out its defining function is

an open system.

-Russell L. Ackoff

@cyetain

Effective systems must produce both better

economic sociological and Environmental

outcomes.

@cyetain

Teach Individuals to

Create & Maintain Human Systems

@cyetain

ProcessAgency

GoalAgency

PurposeAgency

@cyetain

Technical Personal

Social

@cyetain

Technical Debt Metaphor

@cyetain

If you want truly to understand something

try to change it

-Kurt Lewin

@cyetain

blog http://jabe.coSend Anonymous Feedback

http://sayat.me/jabebloom

Joshua (Jabe) Bloom