Building Self Managed Teams: Object Oriented Organizations

WE (HUMANS) ARE AT THE PEAK OF OUR CIVILIZATION IN TERMS OF ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL COOPERATION AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATION

THE GWP (GROSS WORLD PRODUCT) IS AT ITS HIGHEST AND GROWING THE FASTEST IN RECORDED HISTORYSOURCE: HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/GROSS_WORLD_PRODUCT

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY IS QUICKLY ADOPTED AND MAKES THE WORLD SMALLER AND MORE EFFECTIVE. THERE ARE NOW ALMOST 7 BILLION MOBILE CONNECTIONS AND OVER 3 BILLION INTERNET USERS.

THIS SMALLER AND BETTER WORLD WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY MANY THINGS. BUT ONE STANDS OUT, THOUGH NOT CLAIMING THE SPOTLIGHT.

IT’S MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY AND KNOW-HOW.

WE’VE BUILT A MORE PRODUCTIVE, MORE CONNECTED WORLD BECAUSE WE’VE BUILT

BIGGER AND BETTER ORGANIZATIONS

AS THE MILITARY HAS BEEN THE SINGLE MOST ENDURING FORM OF HUMAN ORGANIZATION THROUGHOUT HISTORY (SECONDED ONLY BY RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS), IT SEEMED LOGICAL TO APPROACH ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT BASED ON MARTIAL MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES.

THE LARGEST ORGANIZATIONS ARE ORGANIZED AND BEHAVE JUST LIKE ARMIES. TOP DOWN COMMAND WITH INTEL GOING UPSTREAM AND ORDERS GOING DOWNSTREAM. THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES “CONQUER” MARKETS, “TARGET” CUSTOMERS AND “SECURE” MARKET SHARE.

AS COMPANIES NEED EFFECTIVENESS TO STAY PROFITABLE, STRATEGY IS DESIGNED BY A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE (THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS) AND IMPLEMENTED TOP-DOWN BY AN EXECUTIVE STAFF.

TO DO SO – THE EXECUTIVE STAFF USES COMPANY PROCESS DESIGN AND PROCEDURES THAT ARE FOLLOWED BY THOSE LOWER ON THE HIERARCHY.

BASICALLY, THAT’S HOW LARGE ORGANIZATIONS

WORK TODAY:

THE PROBLEM: THIS STRUCTURE IS NOT WORKING ANYMORE.

WE SEE THE EFFECTS IN GLOBAL DEBT, WORKING CONDITIONS AND INEQUITY.

US FEDERAL DEBT 1965 -2010

HTTP://WWW.IMF.ORG/EXTERNAL/PUBS/FT/FANDD/2011/03/PDF/PICTURE.PDF

BAD BOSSES

HTTP://WWW.INC.COM/MAEGHAN-OUIMET/REAL-COST-BAD-BOSSES.HTML

INEQUALITY

HTTP://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/BUSINESS/ARCHIVE/2012/12/A-GIANT-STATISTICAL-ROUND-UP-OF-THE-INCOME-INEQUALITY-CRISIS-IN-16-CHARTS/266074/

INEQUALITY

HTTP://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/BUSINESS/ARCHIVE/2012/12/A-GIANT-STATISTICAL-ROUND-UP-OF-THE-INCOME-INEQUALITY-CRISIS-IN-16-CHARTS/266074/

SO LET’S GET THIS STRAIGHT: EVEN THOUGH WE ARE MORE PRODUCTIVE THAN EVER, WE, AS A

SPECIES, ARE ALSO:

- MORE INDEBTED- LESS HAPPY WITH OUR WORK

- EARN LESS THAN EVER

WE HAVE OUTGROWN OUR MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

IN A WORLD WHERE ORGANIZATIONS GROW BIGGER AND REACH FARTHER THAN EVER, WE NEED A SYSTEM WHERE SUCH ORGANIZATIONS

CAN SELF-MANAGE

CAN WE FIND ONE?

SIMPLE: SOFTWARE

THERE ARE MANYSIMILARITIES

BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS AND HARDWARE-SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS:

THE PRINCIPLE WE USE TODAY TO MANAGE ORGANIZATIONS WAS ALSO USED IN THE BEGINNINGS OF COMPUTER PROGRAMMING.

PROGRAMS WERE FED INTO COMPUTERS TO COMPUTE DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS FOR THINGS SUCH AS THE TRAJECTORY OF A SHELL, A BLAST RADIUS OR WEATHER PREDICTIONS.

THESE PROGRAMS WERE FED INTO A GENERAL PURPOSE MACHINERY (THE COMPUTER) AND BASED ON THESE INSTRUCTIONS COMPUTATIONS WOULD BE MADE.

BUT AS THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY GREW, SO DID THE COMPUTERS’ CAPACITY TO RUN PROGRAMS. WITH THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION COMPUTERS BECAME MORE THAN SIMPLISTIC MACHINERY BUILT TO OUTPUT SPECIFIC DATA. PROGRAMS COULD BE NOW WRITTEN TO ANSWER MATHEMATICAL QUESTIONS BUT ALSO TO OUTPUT IMAGERY, SOUNDS, ALLOW USERS TO PLAY GAMES AND MORE.

TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE, A NEW PARADIGM IN COMPUTER PROGRAMMING CHANGED THE WAY PROGRAMS WERE WRITTEN. INSTEAD OF THE PREVIOUS FUNCTIONAL (PROCEDURAL) PROGRAMMING, THE CONCEPT OF BUILDING A PROGRAM STARTED WORKING WITH THE CONCEPT OF “OBJECTS”.

TECHNICALLY, OBJECTS ARE A COLLECTION OF DATA AND FUNCTIONS.

CONCEPTUALLY THEY ARE THE BRIDGE BETWEEN MACHINE PROCESSING AND HUMAN CONCEPTUAL THINKING.

WE INTERACT WITH THE WORLD AROUND US WITH THE HELP OF THIS SIMPLE CONCEPT: THE OBJECTS. OBJECTS ARE A COLLECTION OF DATA (FOR EXAMPLE A BALL MAY BE ORANGE, TEXTURED AND A

SPHERE) AND BEHAVIORS (IT BOUNCES, IT FLOATS IN WATER)

TO IMPLEMENT OBJECT ORIENTED ORGANIZATIONS WOULD MEAN THAT

INSTEAD OF THIS:

…ORGANIZATIONS WOULD BE BUILD BY NETWORKING INDEPENDENT, SELF-CONTAINED,

SELF-MANAGED ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTS. LIKE THIS:

HERE’S HOW A COMPUTER MANUFACTURING

ORGANIZATION MIGHT LOOK LIKE

(SIMPLIFIED)

NOTICE THAT ORGANIZATIONAL OBJECTS ARE NETWORKED, RATHER

THAN HIERARCHICAL

TEAMS ARE ORGANIZED AROUND PURPOSE AND

INTERACT WITH ONE ANOTHER

SO … WHAT ARE THE BASICS OF OOO

(OBJECT ORIENTED ORGANIZATIONS)?

HOW DO WE BUILD SELF-MANAGED TEAMS?

JUST THREE THINGS:

ENCAPSULATIONPOLYMORPHISMINHERITANCE

WHY BUILD OBJECT ORIENTED ORGANIZATIONS?

1. WE NEED A BETTER SYSTEM

WE CANNOT HANDLE THE COMPLEXITY OF GLOBALIZED ORGANIZATIONS WITH PROCEDURAL, TOP-DOWN SYSTEMS

2. USING AN OOO APPROACH ORGANIZATIONS BECOME MORE EFFECTIVE, MORE PRODUCTIVE, HAPPIER

THERE ARE OBVIOUS FAILURES IN TODAY’S MANAGERIAL APPROACH. USING A PURPOSE BASED, NETWORKED

APPROACH, MANY OF THESE PROBLEMS MAY BE SOLVED.

3. GLOBAL ORGANIZATIONS ARE MAKING THE WORLD

SMALLER AND BETTERLARGER ORGANIZATIONS, BUILT TO NETWORK AND CREATE

RATHER THAN EXECUTE MAY BE THE NEXT STEP IN OUR SOCIAL EVOLUTION

QUESTIONS?

CONTACT ME AT [email protected]

DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION ATWWW.NETONOMY.NET