Articles
Most of these articles are from the Management 3.0 book (or about the book) and published on other websites, or in off-line publications.
De manager als goedaardig monster met zes ogen (Dutch interview)
Bits & Chips, 13 September 2011
De invoering van zelfsturende teams wordt alleen een succes als het management zich een nieuwe manier van leiding geven aanmeet, zo betoogt de Nederlandse Agile-evangelist Jurgen Appelo.
Agile leadership: A conversation with author Jurgen Appelo (interview)
TechTarget, 24 May 2011
Gone are the days of “command and control” management and hierarchical organizations. In this interview, you’ll learn more about Jurgen Appelo’s Management 3.0 and how it’s being used to bring organizations to higher levels of performance and productivity.
How Software Teams Are Complex Adaptive Systems (login needed)
Cutter E-Mail Advisor, April 2011
Every software team is a complex adaptive system. There are several system theories that can help to better understand how they work. The combination of all these theories is the Body of Knowledge of Systems.
Agile Management Matters (not available on-line)
AgileRecord, April 2011
The biggest obstacle for agile to become effective is, mostly, (line) management. Not because managers are bad guys, in fact 80% of Agile transformations are initiated by managers, but because they don’t know how to adapt to it.
Complexity Theory for Software Developers
Methods & Tools, Spring 2011
An introduction to complexity theory for software developers and their managers. Or, to be more precise, an introduction to complexity sciences which together form a body of knowledge.
The Competition of Agile
StickyMinds, 16 March 2011
Arguing for the sake of arguing is always a bad thing, but different opinions and styles can be a good thing, also in agile. What various approaches to agile development are there and what do they bring to the table?
Agile (Line) Management
StickyMinds, 9 February 2011
Evidence shows that agile development done well can positively affect your return on investment. But in order to work well, we have to determine what the role of line management is in agile organisations.
The Seven Levels of Authority (part 2)
InformIT, 3 February 2011
For managers to optimize self-organization in their business, they need to distribute control and delegate authority. There’s a scientific reason behind this and there are simple mechanisms like the ‘authority board’ to help managers to make the best of it.
Veel vooroordelen over Scrum (co-authored, Dutch, login needed)
Automatisering Gids, 28 January 2011
Een nadeel van de populariteit van Scrum is dat veel bedrijven slechts elementen ervan gebruiken en zichzelf vervolgens Scrum noemen. Naast zeven misverstanden over Scrum geeft dit artikel zeven vragen waarmee makkelijk gecheckt kan worden hoe Scrum-proof een organisatie daadwerkelijk is.
Choose Your Organizational Style
InformIT, 27 January 2011
Cross-functional teams without management coordination are a great idea. But they can both solve and introduce problems. Good managers need to be smart enough to think of their own best approach to an organizational style that is both adaptable and safe.
The Seven Levels of Authority (part 1)
InformIT, 26 January 2011
For managers to optimize self-organization in their business, they need to distribute control and delegate authority. There’s a scientific reason behind this and there are simple mechanisms like the ‘authority board’ to help managers to make the best of it.
The Seven Dimensions of Agile Software Projects
StickyMinds, 10 January 2011
Every agile software project contains the seven fundamental dimensions of agile: people, functionality, quality, tools, time, value and process. And for those who disagree, there can be added an eight dimension that brings its own value to agile: conflict.
Three Improvement Strategies (not available on-line)
AgileRecord, January 2011
An agile software project can be viewed as a two-dimensional image, the so-called “fitness landscape”. Continuous improvement gives you three important strategies: noise, cross-over and broadcasts.
Adaptation, Anticipation, Exploration
Analytical Mind, 16 December 2010
For a complex adaptive system to survive it needs to adapt things that work well, to anticipate in order to get more effective and to explore in order to learn what works best. Just don’t make the mistake - no matter what - to leave out on of those three.
The Agile Blind Spot
LeadingAgile, 16 December 2010
A weakness in the Agile Manifesto is that it doesn’t explicitly recognize that all software projects need people being smart, disciplined, and attentive. In other words, agile is great only when the team is great. It’s the task of management to figure out how to address that blind spot.
The Achilles’ Heel of Agile
Curious Cat, 14 December 2010
To prevent self-organization to result in the Tragedy of the Commons, a situation in which multiple self-organizing systems overexploit a shared limited resource, there’s the four I’s to consider by managers. Institutions, Information, Identity and Incentives.
The Fear of UncertaintyNotes From a Tool User, 12 December 2010
Although uncertainty is found in the tiniest parts of reality - and the sensitivity of complex system to uncertainty can have far-reaching consequences - don’t make the mistake to see uncertainty automatically as a threat. Because mostly it isn’t.
Personality Assessments by Jurgen Appelo
Technology, Strategy, People & Projects, 9 December 2010
Diversity in your team, within a certain amount of cohesiveness, is good. In order to create a perfect team, you have to know the people in it. No method theretofore is perfect, but what works best is getting to know yourself, share that with your team and ask them to be open as well.
The Shape of Change
Agile Journal, 7 December 2010
Change is a strange and complicated thing. A scientific approach teaches us what change is all about. The conclusion: do not try to change the team in order to change their behaviour. Change the environment and the team will automatically change with it.
On Agile Management: An interview with Jurgen Appelo (interview)
InformIT, 29 November 2011
Matt Heusser, leading light in the Agile community, interviews Jurgen Appelo to find out whether there’s a role for management in Agile organizations.
Agile Goal Setting
InfoQ, 26 October 2010
Agile goal setting works by giving people a shared goal, a higher purpose that transcends the goals of all stakeholders. It doesn’t have to conform to a whole range of criteria and it should not be connected to rewards or incentives.
In Search of Complexity (login needed)Cutter IT Journal, March 2010
Self-organization easily plunges into anarchy instead of complexity. That’s why self-organization does need a little governance (group alignment) to steer it in a direction that is valuable for everyone in the system. Just make sure it’s managing the system, not the people.