Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
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How often do you ask ‘Why?’
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We should answer a simple question: "Why companies are built and managed in the way we know?". In this presentation I will give my answer from an historic, scientific and economic perspective, and, at the same, I will try to show why other models are possible. Different organisational models are not only possible, but needed when the current models are causing so much pain in modern companies. We need to reinvent the way company works as well as we must reinvent the definition of career in the 21st century. We have so many tools and the higher amount of technology that we can use to shape the future of our companies. Which is the reason why we are not doing anything about it? Even if the presentation is definitely focused on the Italian market it contains elements and ideas that have a broader ranged of applicability. And, as always, it's not too serious. I used this presentation for my talk at the Better Software 2013 conference in Florence.
Transcript of Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
How often do you ask ‘Why?’
Dedicated to FunkyProfessor
How often do you ask ‘Why?’
Now, back on track!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fresh_photo
Not within yourself…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter
but looking for an answer.
Let’s do some user research…
Do you work in $big_company?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djking
When did you ask ‘Why?’ last time?
There was a time when…
You asked ‘Why?’ every time!
When you were a child.
Now, I have a question for you
Why you did you stop asking ‘Why?’
I will give you a simplistic answer
Because a company is regulated by…
The 3 principles
Blackmail Threat Corruption
They talk to your ‘crocodile brain’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freetaalen
What the hell is a ‘crocodile brain’?
Paul D. MacLean
and there’s one more thing…
We want to stay comfy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/consumerfriendly
But… headed in opposite directions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94331264@N00
I’ll give you three (basic) examples
The reception desk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nihclinicalcntr
These all speak to your croc brain!
They want you to feel uncomfortable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye
Both employees and guests.
Someone said…
A company is a place where adults suffer from childhood traumas.
Walter Fontana
But, again, why?
We need to enter a time machine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/popculturegeek
There was a huge shift
…and the first theories about company organisation were born
Denis Diderot, France, 1713-1784
Dyeing factory, 1751.
Encyclopédie, 1751
Adam Smith, Scotland, 1723-1790
Henry Ford, U.S., 1863-1947
and this was the model.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/west_point
Peter Drucker, U.S., 1909-2005
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/utils/getfile/collection/dac/id/3583/filename/4033.pdf
This is where companies come from.
…and this is why you have a career!
Career… interesting etymology!
ca·reer noun \kə-ˈrir\
a : speed in a course. !b : a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive achievement in public, professional, or business life. !c: a profession for which one trains and which is undertaken as a permanent calling.
Any clue?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavitalleda
The Romans, a long time ago.
Reality is…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dublingurrier
All of this is profoundly broken!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foonk
We all became dummies and copy cats
and if it’s broken, it’s broken.
Seth Godin
This really starts very early…
From preschool to 1st grade
We need to stand up!
New organisational models are possibile.
And the options are infinite!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/insecureproperties
Here’s a few examples
Company Vision:
To create a company in which all team members will be self-managing professionals, initiating communications and the coordination of their activities with fellow colleagues, customers, suppliers, and fellow industry participants, absent directives from others. !!
Handbook for new employees
http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/index.html
http://blog.crisp.se/2012/11/14/henrikkniberg/scaling-agile-at-spotify
Is all of this new?
NO!!!
Lorenzo il Magnifico
Giorgio Vasari - Ritratto di Lorenzo il Magnifico - Circa 1534
Villaggio Crespi, Crespi d’Adda
Adriano Olivetti, Italy, 1901-1960
So, which is a winning model?
Startups, maybe?
maybe…
but just because they are forced to change
Why?
Three main reasons
They are short on money
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05
They are on to something new
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marlenek
Yes, but…
They suffer from being stretched
http://www.flickr.com/photos/50956221@N04
How should they cope with that?
#include <iostream> !class Company { public: CEO(); CFO(); CTO(); CMO(); private: void run_business(); // As per our model :-‐)
}; ! // constructor of CEO Company::CEO() { } !// destructor of CEO Company::~CEO() { delete[] ; //Something went wrong :-‐) }
http://www.mpetroff.net/archives/2012/09/14/kindle-weather-display/
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Products
Is this a moral imperative?
Everywhere you look, there are devices for free that have everything you need to make anything
do anything. !
...the world is full of capacious, capable, disposable junk and it cries out to be used again.
!Cory Doctorow - Makers - 2009
2
Nabaztag - Karotz
3
Products
1
http://www.codedojo.com
Coding and Making
2
http://www.damentors.com
Sharing and Mentoring
Organisational models
Modern Times - 1936
1
No mahogany tables
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wingatestatearena
“De qua!”
L’armata Brancaleone - Speech to the troups - 1966
Stay away from the water cooler
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75950411@N02
2
Forget all what you hear through the grapevine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75950411@N02
3
Don’t use the word innovation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/masondan
5
A personal story.
No BS, please.
Ron Finley:Bring your shovel
http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html
and finally…
ask ‘Why?’!!!
