Öredev 2011 - beyond method - tobias fors

Citerus - Tobias Fors, 2011 - tobias.fors@citerus.se, @tofo

Beyond Method

Tobias Fors, Citerus AB

tobias.fors@citerus.se

@tofo

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tobiasfors.seciterus.se scrumtips.se

Using Systems Thinking to Deepen Your Mastery of Agile

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1. Why systems thinking?

2. A brief history of thinking

3. Using systems thinking to understand agile

4. Looking forward

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”Without changing our patterns of thought, we will not be able to solve the problems we created with our current pattern of thought.” – Albert Einstein

Quoted in Ackoff, Recreating the Corporation, Oxford University Press, 1999

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A brief history of thinking

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A system is …

… a whole consisting of several parts, where:

‣ Each part can affect the whole

‣ The way each part affects the whole depends on what at least one other part is doing

‣ Each subgroup of parts adheres to 1 and 2

This is Ackoff’s definition

Machine Age Thinking: Analysis

1. Identify the parts

2. Try to understand each part

3. Merge into an understanding of the whole

Systems Age Thinking: Synthesis

1. Identify the larger whole

2. Understand the larger whole

3. Understand our system based on the role it

plays in the larger whole

Att sälja och ta betalt för kunskap, Britt-Marie Ahrnell, Liber, 2002.

Using systems thinking

to understand agile

My hypothesis:

Understanding systems ➙

understanding agile ➙

better success rate

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!

Looking forward

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For more, see Ackoff, Idealized Design, Wharton School Publishing, 2006.

Thank you!

citerus.se

tobiasfors.se

@tofo

If you want to learn more

Idealized Design, by Russell Ackoff

Re-creating the Corporation, by Russell Ackoff

An Introduction to General Systems Thinking, by Gerald M. Weinberg

Becoming a Technical Leader, by Gerald M. Weinberg

Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making, by Sam Kaner