SPaMCAST 434 - Big Bang or Not, Human Side of Flow, Fermi Questions

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 434 features our essay on Change Implementations - To Big Bang or Not To Big Bang? The knee jerk reaction amongst transformation leaders is usually a loud NO! However, the answer is not nearly that cut and dry.  Big Bang approaches to change have a place in bag of tricks every transformation leader has at their fingertips. The second column this week is from Steve Tendon. Steve Tendon brings another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The to the cast.  In this installment, we talk about Chapter 16, The (Super)-Human Side of Flow. In Chapter 16 Steve and Wolfram go into detail on in Kotter’s attributes of flow state.  A good discussion and a good read. Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses Fermi Problems. Fermi problems or questions are a tool to teach approximation and estimation.  These problems usually can be solved logically as a back-of-the-envelope calculation. The last time we talked about Fermi Problems was when we were re-reading How To Measure Anything (Hubbard). Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 7 of Carol Dweck’s : The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along).  Chapter 7, titled “Parents, Teachers, Coaches: Where Do Mindsets Come From? explores the impact of some of the most intimate and earliest relationships on our mindsets. Understanding how parents, teachers, and coaches affect mindsets helps us learn to lead change. We are quickly closing in on the end of our re-read of Mindset.  I anticipate two more weeks (Chapter 8 and a round up).  The next book in the series will be ). After my recent interview with Jeff Dalton on , I realized that I had only read extracts from Holacracy by Brian J. Robertson, therefore we will read (first time for me) the whole book together. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have “read” from the point of view of both someone pursuing an organizational transformation and using the material when coaching teams.   Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck’s and read along! Visit the to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our interview with Allan Kelly.  Our discussion touched on the concepts behind #NoProject.  Allan describes how the concept of projects leads to a number of unintended consequences.  Those consequences aren’t pretty. Shameless Ad for my book! co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book nglish and Chinese.