Category: Organization

The Art of Intelligence

If you consider the C.I.A. as an example of a knowledge based
organization, this op-ed piece from David Brooks is worth some thought.
Here's the money quote from my parochial perspective:

But the problem is not bureaucratic. It's epistemological. Individuals
are good at using intuition and imagination to understand other humans.
We know from recent advances in neuroscience, popularized in Malcolm
Gladwell's “Blink,” that the human mind can perform fantastically
complicated feats of subconscious pattern recognition. There is a
powerful backstage process we use to interpret the world and the people
around us.

When we think about knowledge work processes, we need to be very
careful to ensure that we do not destroy those processes by mapping
them onto bad assumptions about the nature of knowledge work.

The Art of Intelligence. Many of the C.I.A.'s failures stem from its reliance on bureaucracy and analysis rather than humanism. By By DAVID BROOKS. [NYT > Opinion]

Go ahead, make them look bad

I've been enjoying Mark Brady's Fouroboros for a while now.

Here he gets at some important truths about those who propose change
inside organizations. There was a time when I thought this kind of
response was appropriate even when I was upset by it. Now, it simply
annoys me and Mark provides some ammunition to address the underlying
fear it ultimately represents.

When you do decide to run anyway, might as well run with scissors as well.

Take it easy. You're making us look bad.

“We ha…

Take it easy. You're making us look bad.

“We have to walk before we can run.”

Overheard that nugget being used to flog a really smart person today.

Bullshit.

Infants have to walk before they run. But they only run if their
parents let them; only if those parents remember that falling and
getting a boo-boo is part of growth and ambition.

But “walk before we can run” gets used by 45-year olds overseeing
30-year olds all working for 75-year old companies. Not too many
diapers in those boardrooms. Just plenty of “wubbies.”

No, “We” don't run because those who can grant permission–encourage
the running–prefer to walk. Walking is a higher percentage endeavor in
their eyes. A lower exertion one, too. Running is not their ambition, exposure makes them anxious. Horizons make them squint.

Problem is, people are hard-wired to run. And to admire the fleet of
foot. And to follow them. In business and evolution, running is a primary adaptation that allowed man to climb to the top of the heap. Running ahead too far has it's dangers
certainly, but those are issues of direction and purpose, not
speed–running just to run, to feel or look busy, not to get somewhere.
Too bad Darwin proves the “walk before we run” business people wrong.
Too bad, for all of us, that what “walk before we run” people really
usually mean is: I prefer camouflage to speed. And average over ambition.

Run. As soon as you can walk. You'll encounter more numerous
useful experiences. You won't get eaten as easily. And you'll like who
you become. [8Fouroboros]

Valuing specialist knowledge

While this has been true and will likely continue to be so, it's also
cause for concern. To be a specialist in anything implies we are at
best generalists in most everything else. If we don't learn to value
and appreciate specialist knowledge that we don't have, we will
continue to be at the mercy of those who can best pretend to expertise.

“The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who already have it.”

– William Tozier, On trivia and details and miscellanea: [Seb's Open Research]

Going Home – Our Reformation

This should certainly be on your short list.

It does provide much on the vision of what might be coming to pass. It
certainly represents much of what I would like to see come to pass and
what I think might be possible to bring into being. It won't, however,
come about simply because we would like it to or simply because we have
new enabling tools or concepts. It is going to take work and that work
will take place against the active and well-resourced resistance of
many who benefit from the status quo and are sorely threatened by these
visions of what might be.

Going Home – Our Reformation. If you read one thing this week, read this. One
commentator described it as “brilliant… and
beautiful… and inspiring.” It is all of that, and
more. It is a vision I support and that I and many other
people I cite in this newsletter are working toward. The
theme of coming home will likely
resonate in my work for a long time.

Robert Paterson writes, “Is not our great
problem that the great institutions of our time,
government, healthcare, education, arts and entertainment,
even business, no longer serve us but only
themselves?

“Is not their organizational doctrine based
on a dogma of control? Have they not divorced their
world-view from observable reality? Is not this split from
the laws of nature their dogma? Are they not prepared to
fight to the death to preserve this dogma? Do we not see
the entertainment industry as an Inquisition? Do we not see
the IP industry as the agent of the controllers and not of
the creative?

“Is not the new 'big idea' of our time to
disintermediate the institutional middleman and to enable
direct relationships? Are supermarkets eternal? Do we need
factory universities to learn? Is our health dependent on a
doctor? Is the news what we see on TV?”

Brave, brilliant, breathless stuff. If you miss
this article, you are mising the essence
of what this whole thing is about. By Robert Paterson,
Robert Paterson's Weblog, February 26, 2005
[Refer][Research][Reflect] [OLDaily]

Lippman and Reed on Viral Networking

Let me add my recommendation to Martin’s and add that the paper is authored by David Reed and Andy Lippman of MIT. I’ve mentioned David’s work from time to time and Andy is equally brilliant and insightful.

A fatal infection. I would urge readers to drop the baby, turn off the oven, sit down and read this MIT paper on viral networking. In a nutshell, it describes the future of mesh networks. There are two core results: Throughput increases with… [Telepocalypse]

More on the IT cultural divide

I agree. This is a pointer to an excellent piece on technology and business change, full of insight and good advice.

Spooky Action: Seldom updated, often re-readMi…

Spooky Action: Seldom updated, often re-read

Mike DeWitt is a guy who needs a kick in the ass. He writes such good stuff, then gets taken prisoner by work for 6 months at a stretch.
(Disclaimer: We chat from time to time, but I’m serious, this is not blogrolling.) This here
post alone will sort the boyz from the men, girlz from the women on an executive mangement team. And – gasp – it’s fun to read.

Spooky Action Predicts: Nick Carr has your number! (.8 probability)

If you re in IT management or consulting, your blood pressure is now 40 points higher than before you got here. If you re a CEO/CFO/CXO whose span of control includes IT, you may have one of those wry, one-corner-of-your-mouth-turned-up smiles on your face. If you re none of the above,

a) Hi Mom kids!, or

b) thanks for stopping by randomly; I hope I make it worth your while….

[8Fouroboros]

The perfectionist definition of “good enough”

I have worked for entirely too many perfectionists in my life. That includes times when I’ve worked for myself. In a world of potentially open-ended assignments, we all need to be giving a lot more thought to how we define and recognize “good enough.”

The perfectionist definition of “good enough”.
A while back I was working with a client who had a serious
perfectionist streak. One session, as we were talking about the lack of
satisfaction with anything this client did, I said, “Do you know what I
think your… [The Occupational Adventure (sm)]