Profound Book Club August 24, 2023 (Morning Session)
Here is a more detailed summary of the key points from the conversation:
Importance of getting feedback from friends/networks rather than publishers when writing a book. Publishers have schedules and agendas; friends will give honest feedback to improve the book.
The story of writing the book "The Leader's Handbook" by Peter Scholtes. Statistics for Experimenters book by George Box took over 21 years from start to publishing due to extensive revisions. Books take time.
Discussion about operational checklists: They need to be living documents that are continuously updated, not static procedures. Understand why steps are included.
Ensemble/mob programming can reduce the need for extensive documentation - everyone is focused on top-priority items together.
Occam's Razor vs. Hickam's Dictum - the idea that complex systems can have multiple root causes, not just a single one. They were related to systems thinking.
Insight that most problems (95%+) stem from the system, not individuals. This was wisdom from Deming, Peter Scholtes, and others.
Issues with blame, simplistic root cause analysis, and not taking a systemic view. Examples include the movie Stand and Deliver not capturing the full system/history.
Documenting the reasoning behind steps in checklists and processes is essential so it isn't lost over time as things change.
General themes around systems thinking, understanding complexity, and interrelated nature of problems and taking a nuanced view vs. simplistic.
Additional Research
Systems Thinking:
Systems thinking is a holistic approach to analysis that focuses on how components in a system interrelate and how systems work over time and within the context of larger systems. It is the opposite of reductionist thinking (isolating smaller and smaller parts of a system).
Key works in systems thinking include books by Donella Meadows, Peter Senge, Russell Ackoff, W. Edwards Deming, and Jay Forrester. Various frameworks include system dynamics, soft systems methodology, and the viable system model.
Core concepts include feedback loops, stocks and flows, system archetypes, leverage points, emergent properties, and system boundaries. It provides a lens for seeing interconnections and root causes of problems.
Complexity:
Complexity theory deals with the behavior of systems with many interacting agents/parts that lead to emergent and often unpredictable behavior—chaos theory and cybernetics fall under complexity.
Key researchers include Stuart Kauffman, John Holland, and Murray Gell-Mann. Concepts like fitness landscapes, edge of chaos, and self-organization. They are used in fields like computer science, biology, and economics.
Complex adaptive systems are complex systems with agents that learn and adapt based on experience. Creates non-linear behavior. Applicable to things like organizations, technology, and evolution.
Blame Culture:
Blame culture in an organization focuses on blaming individuals rather than examining systemic causes of failures. It is related to a fundamental attribution error in psychology.
Creates fear of failure/punishment, discourages surfacing problems, and stifles learning and improvement. The alternative is a "just culture" that looks at systems issues.
Requires leadership commitment, psychological safety, failure tolerance, systems analysis skills, and focus on process improvement vs. punishment. Healthcare is a sector working hard on this issue.
