Food for Agile Thought #139: Self-Organization at Haier, Fear and Trust, Contra Metrics, Sunk Costs

Food for Agile Thought’s issue #139 reports on Haier’s organizational principles that encourage self-organization and entrepreneurship lifting the company at one level with Zappos, Patagonia or Semco.

We also analyze how fear prevents psychological safety, we address the metrics fetish and learn why even these fail to avoid sunk costs in product development.

Lastly, we ask: Is the manifesto of agile software development in need of an overhaul?

Have a great week!

?? The Tip of the Week

(via Knowledge @ Wharton): Self-Organization: For Haier’s Zhang Ruimin, Success Means Creating the Future

Haier’s CEO Zhang believes that the Rendanheyi model — a concept that encourages entrepreneurship and empowers every department to operate like a micro-enterprise — is a crucial pillar of its success.

In this process, we eliminated 10,000 middle-level managers who didn’t create value for the users.

Source: Knowledge @ Wharton: For Haier’s Zhang Ruimin, Success Means Creating the Future

Self-Organization, Agile & Scrum

Michael Küsters: Want trust? Deal with fear!

Michael Küsters provides a causal loop diagram modeling the relationship between trust and fear.

Source: Want trust? Deal with fear!

Author: Michael Küsters

Jerry Z. Muller (via Aeon): Against metrics: how measuring performance by numbers backfires

Jerry Z Muller analyzes the ‘metric fixation’ and the resulting belief that the best way to motivate people is by attaching rewards and penalties to their measured performance.

Source: Aeon: Against metrics: how measuring performance by numbers backfires

Author: Jerry Z. Muller

Andrea Fryrear (via Marketing Insider Group): Agile Transformation: As Told By Gifs

And now for something completely different: Andrea Fryrear does not provide new insights. However, illustrating the dreaded topic with all the animated GIFs will make you smile.

Source: Agile Transformation: As Told By Gifs

Author: Andrea Fryrear

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Product & Lean

Andrew Evershed (via Medium): Sunk Cost Sinks Ships

Andrew Evershed of Shopify describes products that do not fail but lack focus and hang around because they are hard to kill.

Source: Medium: Sunk Cost Sinks Ships

Author: Andrew Evershed

Bob Marshall: How Well Does the Agile Manifesto Align with Principles that Lead to Success in Product Development?

Bob Marshall reports on Tom Gilb’s recent article why the Agile Manifesto needs an overhaul.

Source: How Well Does the Agile Manifesto Align with Principles that Lead to Success in Product Development?

Author: Bob Marshall

Itamar Gilad (via Hackernoon): The Tool that Will Help You Choose Better Product Ideas

Itamar Gilad explains a product or feature prioritization model created by Sean Ellis: ICE scores.

Source: Hackernoon: The Tool that Will Help You Choose Better Product Ideas

Author: Itamar Gilad

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Food for Agile Thought #139: Self-Organization at Haier, Fear and Trust, Contra Metrics, Sunk Costs was first published on Age-of-Product.