Business Agility: What Got Us Here …

During the last months, I have run into several situations where folks outside of R&D considered this concept of agile a nice little toy for the propeller-heads in software, rather than something that is in service of the company. In many cases, these people are stuck in a waterfall mindset and feel that it’s perfectly … Read more

Why One Customer Is No Longer Enough

This week, I came across a concept from Karl Popper, the great philosopher of science, where he distinguishes human beings from other creatures in that we can create an idea in the theater of our imagination. We test the idea against other ideas that we have or others have or even against the world. And … Read more

Why Fast Feedback Cycles Matter

When studying software-intensive systems companies, one of the interesting observations is that they all evolve in the same way. In earlier research, we have referred to this as the “Stairway to Heaven”. In the figure below, the speed dimension of the Stairway to Heaven model is shown. This model is a descriptive model based on … Read more

Autonomy, Empowerment, Alignment and Coercion

The greatest accomplishments of mankind have been achieved by groups, often large groups, of people. From the pyramids and gorgeous cathedrals built in the past to the modern accomplishments such as putting a man on the moon or the creation of the internet, none of this could have been created by an individual but required … Read more