“For purpose-creating systems, everything has a purpose.“ (N. Luhmann) Meaning: Even apparent nonsense has some meaningful purpose. I recently read an article in the knowledge magazine SZ Magazin of the South German Newspaper („Dem Amateur ist nichts zu schwör“, Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Number 24/ 20120615), which discussed amateurs in the fields of politics, economy and … weiterlesen →
Category Archives: Manager
Communities are Communication Bridges
In my last post I made my case for describing organizations in terms of communication structures. Persons that are interacting much with each other should be in one cluster within the organization. Bridges between clusters are needed and are created by communication paths between at least one member of each cluster. By crossing multiple bridges … weiterlesen →
Agile and Organizational Structures
Putting up a Kanban board or holding daily Scrum meetings does not make an agile organization. Neither does the adherence to all the Scrum or Kanban – or whatever else – rules. You may even succeed in becoming really agile on a micro basis in your organization: The teams get a beautifully groomed backlog from … weiterlesen →
What is leadership?
“Leadership is when you take a step and everyone follows you! This saying is especially noticeable when training a horse. A horse has the inborn drive to walk behind a lead horse. This lead horse must be accepted by the other horse as ‘leader’. Even a human can be a type of lead horse, but … weiterlesen →
Only start an IT project, if you can afford a significant loss
It is frightening: The latest research shows that an amazing number of IT projects spiral completely out of control. So much so that entire companies and careers often are destroyed. The studies show, 67% of companies do not manage to stop unsuccessful projects, 61% of managers report that there are ‘major’ conflicts between the project … weiterlesen →
Mail from South Africa: Keynote “Scrum for Managers – Management by Constraints“
I just returned from a ‘Scrum Safari’ in South Africa. It was great to see and talk to old friends again, to brainstorm with them and to get new ideas about work. Although I am now off on another trip, I want to tell you about my keynote address at the Scrum gathering in Johannesburg … weiterlesen →
Now it’s out: Our Book about Scrum & Personnel Management
“Success with Scrum – Influential Human Resource Management. Finding And Retaining Employees In Agile Enterprises” is the title of my first book with André Häusling and – yeah- it is now available after some very intensive months of writing! Scrum has been evaluated from all possible angles. But it has always been from the point … weiterlesen →