The Delegation Checklist
In their book Behind Closed Doors Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby published a handy checklist that you can use for delegation of tasks. ...
Choosing Authority Levels for Team Members
Empowerment is often incorrectly perceived as a binary choice. Either you empower someone, or you don’t. In reality, your options are m...
Reduce Your Fear, Increase Your Status
Some managers don’t like the idea of empowering people. They fear a loss of authority, power, and control. They also fear competition w...
Why We Delegate: The Darkness Principle
From a complexity perspective, there is a good reason why teams in an organization must be able to make decisions together. This follows ...
Self-Organization vs. Evolution
I sometimes notice a bit of confusion about evolution and self-organization, leading to such silly remarks as “Our team evolved to a te...
Self-Organization vs. Anarchy
Jim Highsmith and David Snowden think that self-organization is different from anarchy. They say that self-organization (in a social cont...
Self-Organization = Anarchy (Part 3)
In part 1 and part 2 of this multi-post article I told you that self-organization does not distinguish between valuable and harmful resul...
Self-Organization = Anarchy (Part 2)
In part 1 of this multi-post article I explained that self-organization has built the universe and everything in it, from quarks to straw...
Self-Organization = Anarchy (Part 1)
In the beginning there was nothing. And then something formed quarks. And the quarks organized themselves into composite particles, like ...
Empowered, Whether You Like It or Not
Today a decision had to be made. We have three big new projects, and we have two locations in which to execute these projects. Obviously,...
The 2nd Law of Software Development
In a previous blog post I wrote about the 1st Law of Software Development. This law deals with each manager’s concern to make sure that...
A Team of Leaders (and No Manager)
Every year, in late October or early November, I enjoy a one-week vacation with seven friends in a cottage in the Belgian Ardennes. (OK, ...
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