Complexity at the Workplace

Reading Management 3.0 is a departure for me. I've never been enthused by the thought of being a manager or been interested reading books about management. Despite my reservations, I picked it up and started reading it because it's a Mike Cohn series book, has a forward by Robert Martin, and explicitly mentions "agile leadership" in the subtitle. When I saw that it had a section explaining complexity theory, it jumped to the top of my reading queue.
 
I've sprinkled Management 3.0 with copious post-it notes and highlighted sections. I think I'll have to read the book at least 2 more times to fully digest the material. There are several main points I've taken away so far and I want to more fully explore and understand:

1. Management and leadership can be interesting. I thought the subject of project management was as dull as particle board until I read "Agile Estimating & Planning" by Mike Cohn. In agile, I  found planning and scheduling tools that were useful and practical to my daily life as a software developer. Management 3.0 seems to provide the same for leadership and management: how to empower teams, develop competence, facilitate communication, etc.
2. "Agile" is a memeplex. I'd heard about "memes" but hadn't heard the term "memeplex." Memeplexes are groups of memes. Memes grouped together in a memeplex because they are more successful when "teamed up." A lot of the elements of "agile" development and management aren't new or magical, but they reinforce each other when combined. I find "agile" and "lean" development subsume a large number of useful tools and ideas that work well together. For me, they have been more easy to understand, remember, and communicate when grouped together.
3. Leadership isn't just the domain of managers. Reading Management 3.0 has helped me untangle the big ball of elements subsumed by "leadership"and "management." I have a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of managers and the difference between "governance" and "leadership." I haven't been a supervisor with direct reports for much of my career.  However, I have been a leader. I have acted as an adviser, architect, coach, mentor, and "competence leader" frequently over the years. I will be much more effective and confident as I gain a better understanding of management, leadership, and authority.
4. "Management 1.0" pervades my thinking. Somewhere my brain wiring has equated strong leadership with telling people what to do and placed faith in  "command-and-control" management (Management 1.0). Despite all I've learned through study and experience, those biases still linger. Those biases feel young and immature. Management 3.0 is helping clear up the muddle and gain a better understanding of the nature of complex systems. It's a much bigger deal than I imagined, and I understand why it's at the core of the book.
5. Practices not processes. I like studying, thinking about, and designing processes. However, I've never liked the idea of being the "process guy" whose job it is to impose rigid processes (thinking in these terms relates to #4 above). I was delighted to learn about this article, Enough of Processes: Let's Do Practices. I've found the best way to implement Agile processes is to do it our own way at the studios I've worked at. I've also noticed that places that supposedly do agile "by the book," make (what are to me) obvious mistakes and run into problems.
6. Manage the system, Not the people. As a person who loves to think about and manage systems, my favorite sentence in Management 3.0 so far is, "Manage the System, Not the People." My (not fully formed) understanding is that the core of the book is to treat teams as self-organizing systems and the job of management is to develop, protect, and direct the system. Before I read this, I told a person that I have experience as a development director and project manager, "managing projects and not people." I don't think I'll say it that way again, and I have yet to finishing putting together my pitch. Whatever the job titles are called, my interest is definitely in managing systems (it was also my interest when I was a software engineer).