This is the second in a series of posts going into more detail around my thoughts on remaining an effective practitioner in scaled Agile - Systems Thinking.
To get a wider context of this post, please refer to the original “Surviving Scaled Agile” post outlining the model.
This point is made clear in the SAFe documentation - it’s Principle #2 - but with little understanding of Systems Thinking, it’s hard to reap the benefits that come with it.
Need a refresher on Systems Thinking? Go watch some Ackoff:
One of the biggest challenges is recognising all the systems you’re involved with & invariably the “managers” & “doers” won’t see themselves as part of the same system…
Understanding the systems (including communities) you are part of will help you identify stakeholders & manage dependencies.
Having even a rudimentary understanding in Systems Thinking will help you with some of the other topics i’ll cover later…
What Next?
Seems obvious, doesn’t it?
- Thinking in Systems - a primer Meadows
- Making the jump to Systems Thinking
- Evolving your company using a System’s Thinking approach
- List out all the communities you are part of - where do they conflict? Where do they compliment?