Lean Mindset
Some time ago I read the book The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions by Mary & Tom Poppendieck.
The book isn’t very focused (either on Lean thinking on traditional sense or software development) but the book is a collection of interesting thoughts, stories & case studies related to lean thinking in a more broad scale. If you want an intro to Lean thinking on traditional sense, I recommend you to check out Lean Primer by Craig Larman and Bas Vodde.
I’ve collected here some interesting thoughts from or related to the book.
Two mindsets (dual processing theory: fast-thinking self vs. analytical part)
Dual processing theory is a model according to which our mind can be in two different modes: System 1 (Fast-thinking self, “auto-pilot mode”) & System 2 (Analytical part, slow)
- Keith Stanovich & Richard West: Dual processing theory
- Description can be found from Daniel Kahneman’s book Thinking, Fast and Slow
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X & Theory Y
- Theory X assumes that people don’t like work and will do as little as possible
- Theory Y assumes that most people are eager to work and want to do a good job
- Lean principle of Energized Workers is based on Theory Y
- Both theories can be self-fulfilling prophecies
- http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_74.htm
Full potential – Growth mindset etc.
- Garfield high school & ganas
- Fixed mindset vs. Growth mindset (Carol Dweck: Mindset)
- Fixed mindset: Talent is something that people either have or don’t have. (I people conclude they aren’t good at something, they abandon it quickly)
- Growth mindset: Talent is not fixed, with hard work you can become at whatever you choose.
- Check out Derek Sivers’ blog: Fixed mindset vs Growth mindset
- Expertise development, for example musicians and athletes:
- Challenge: They decide to pursue a challenging goal.
- Coaching: They practice under the guidance of a coach.
- Progress: They push their limits, fail, and receive immediate feedback.
- Perseverance: They repeat this over and over again, many times a day, for years
- Troy Higgins’ Regulatory Fit Theory: Two kinds of people (take with a grain of salt)
- People with promotion focus, kind of optimists
- Aspirations are strong motivators
- Take-the-company-to-next-level
- People with prevention focus, kind of pessimists
- Meeting obligations and fear of failure are strong motivations
- Save-the-company-from-disasters
- More at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/higgins/research.html#rfit
- People with promotion focus, kind of optimists
- Intuition
Delighted Customers
- Quote: The Westerner and the Japanese man mean something different when they talk of “making a decision.” In the West, all the emphasis is on the answer to the question. To the Japanese, however, the important element in decision making is defining the question. (Peter Drucker’s What We Can Learn from Japanese Management)
- Ask the right questions, solve the right problems (check out the book Are your lights on)
- Case Sphere of influence, Concept of Strong centers
- Mixing Product Design/Innovation and Agile
- Strong center to express the aspect of a products identity and wholeness
- Procter & Gamble approach to scientific planning, check out Bringing Science to the Art of Strategy
- Frame a choice
- Generate possibilities
- Specify conditions
- Identify barriers
- Design tests
- Conduct the tests
- Make a choice
Design Toolbox – some tools
- Establish empathy
- Journey map (check out for example Designing for Growth: a design thinking tool kit for managers)
- Adaption chain analysis (Ron Adner: The Wide Lens: A new strategy for innovation)
- Generate possibilities
- Press Release (Another possibility “fake ads”)
- Impact Mapping
- Run experiments
- Assumption testing
- Rapid prototyping
- Learning launch
How Spotify Builds Products
- Good stuff @ http://blog.crisp.se/2013/01/13/henrikkniberg/how-spotify-builds-products & https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1018963/Articles/HowSpotifyBuildsProducts.pdf
Disruptive innovations
- Success of established companies and products attracts competitors that often develop products that are less expensive, require less power, are smaller etc.
- Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave
- The Innovator’s Dilemma
