foundations for self-organization long v5
DESCRIPTION
This is the long (first) version of my self-organization talk that I held at Software Passion Summit 2012. This then evolved into the more condensed and focused versionTRANSCRIPT
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Foundations for Self-Organization
www.ivarjacobson.com http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fugle,_%C3%B8rns%C3%B8_073.jpg
I no longer work here.
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Why this talk?
Self-organizing Teams?
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• Countless blog items, articles, papers...• Ph D Thesis: Self-Organizing Teams a Grounded Theory
5http://www.ericsson.com/res/thecompany/images/press/photos/mwc2012/ericsson_barcelona_janwareby.jpg
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1. Why do we want self-organizing teams?2. Complexity Science - A possible
misconception3. Intelligent agents4. People5. Psychology6. Goals, Planning and Governance7. The Research8. My GUT of Self-Organization
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Why do we want self-organizing teams?
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A team is a group of people with complementary talents and skills, aligned to a common purpose.
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It is a Powerful Management Strategy
• End-to-end ownership Motivation Higher quality results
• Local decision making Adaptability Results more fit for purpose
• No hand-overs Reduced time-to-market
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Guidance on Self-Organization
• Don’t assign roles• Don’t assign leadership• Don’t assign tasks• Don’t say how
http://http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stop_hand_nuvola_alternate.svg
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Complexity Science - A possible misconception
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Complex Adaptive System (Definition from Wikipedia)
• Complex, dynamic network of interactions and relationships
• Adaptive as behavior changes as a result of experience
• Key Principles– Self-Organization– Emergence
13 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/E-ticker.jpg
14http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Essaim_37_.jpg
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The Trap
• We want self-organizing teams• Groups of people left on their own show
emergent behavior• Hence you can understand a self-organizing
team as a complex adaptive system...or?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schlagfalle-Kunststoff-Maus.jpg
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Intelligent Agents
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Agent
What action I should do
now?
Condition-action rules
What the world is like now Sensors
Actuators
Environment
Percepts
Actions
Simple Reflex Agent Svante Lidman
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Agent
What action I should do
now?
Condition-action rules
What the world is like now Sensors
Actuators
Environment
Percepts
Actions
Agent with State
State
How the world evolves
What my actions do
Svante Lidman
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Agent
What action I should do
now?Goals
What the world is like now Sensors
Actuators
Environment
Percepts
Actions
Agent with Explicit Goal
State
How the world evolves
What my actions do
What it will be like if I do action A
Svante Lidman
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Agent
What action I should do
now?
Utility
What the world is like now Sensors
Actuators
Environment
Percepts
Actions
Utility –based Agent
State
How the world evolves
What my actions do
What it will be like if I do action A
How happy will I be then?
Svante Lidman
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Agent A
Environment
Percepts
Multi AgentSystem
Agent B
Agent C
Actions
Percepts
Actions
AgentProtocol
Percepts
Actions
Svante Lidman
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What agents need to self-organize
1. Knowledge and Learning– About the environment– About goals and utility– About how to do the job – or how to learn
it
2. Communication– Shared ontology
3. Decision Making
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People
24http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vertebrate-brain-regions.png
25http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RobertFuddBewusstsein17Jh.pnghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Descartes_mind_and_body.gifhttp://www.oddee.com/item_96602.aspx
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Psychology
Motivation Group Dynamics
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carrot_and_stick_motivation.svghttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hands_4_Holding.jpg
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Motivation
28http:// commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carrot_and_stick_motivation.svg
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Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
Self-Determination
Theory
Self-Determination Theory, Deci and Ryan Svante Lidman
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Group Dynamics
31Susan Wheelan, Integrated Model of Group Development
Inclusionand
safety
Disagreementand
conflict
Trustand structure Work Termination
Dependency Counterdependency Mutual Dependency
Focus on relations Focus on work
Svante Lidman
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Goals, Planning, Decision Making, Governance
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SMART is not always Smart
• Useless goals – Maximize shareholder value– Increase market share X %– Customer satisfaction to increase X %– Productivity to increase X %
• A useful goal should energize people and be a guiding star helping teams to self-organize– Commanders intent – the why– End state – the desired effect– The main effort – the most important what
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Basketball_Goal.jpg
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Examples of useful goals
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Planning, Decisions, Governance• More important when you scale up• Planning at the right level, with the right detail, at the right time
– Common backlog– Roadmaps – Focus areas for different teams– Clear sprint objective – main effort
• Decisions– Decisions at the right level at the right time
• Governance– Peer to peer coordination– Continuous integration is a
kind of coordination– Guardianship
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese_Wall.JPG
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The Research
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Self-Organizing Agile Teams: A Grounded TheoryRashina HodaDoctoral Thesis: Victoria University of Wellington
http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10063/1617/thesis.pdf
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Balance
• Freedom vs Responsibility• Specialization vs Generalization• Learning vs Delivery• Centralization vs Decentralization• Risk of Failure vs Urge to Succeed• Planning vs Improvisation• Analysis vs Action
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Balance_%C3%A0_tabac_1850.JPG
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Summing it up...
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My GUT of Self-Organization1. Knowledge and Learning
– About the environment– About goals and utility– About how to do the job – or how to learn it
2. Communication– Shared ontology
3. Actionability– Planning– Decision making– Asynchronuous governance
4. Motivation5. Group Dynamics
– Relationships– Shared memes
6. Balance
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Thank You!@svante_lidman
www.ivarjacobson.com
I no longer work here.
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Self-Organization(Definition from Wikipedia)
Self-organization is the process where a structure or pattern appears without a central authority or external element imposing it through planning. This appears from the local interaction of the elements that make up the system, thus the organization is achieved in a way that is parallel and distributed.
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Emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.
Emergence(Definition from Wikipedia)
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Complex Adaptive Systems(Definition from Wikipedia)
• The number of elements is sufficiently large that conventional descriptions are impractical
• …• Elements in the system are ignorant of the
behavior of the system as a whole, responding only to what is available to it locally
• …
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Complication
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Goals
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But...There is a Catch
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