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October 24 Semi-autonomous work groups thrive as digitalcore....Once upon a time I was into "semi-autonomous" work groups. At my paid work I engineered them and at night (paid work too as it turned out) I lectured to undergraduate and graduate students about them. These entities fascinated me then and they still do. In one sense these are the amoeba of organisations - they are single cells that split to form a new whole entity. So they are the simplest form of human organisation and because they are self-directed they need little management. Therein lies the paradox of these entities. They are simple to set up. They are simple to describe. They are simple to be a part of. They are highly productive. They are purpose built. They are low maintenance. They are heuristic and innovative. So what are they? Where would I see them working well? What they are is groups of five or more but not more than eight or nine people. They have a single purpose which they actively pursue together. Their process is transparent - everyone knows everything that is going on within the group. Their process is open to inspection at any time - there is usually a process of show-and-tell which presents progress of individuals and the group as a whole. Their process is innovative - there is an process of prototyping, testing, breaking, and reframing the prototype until a robust (and scalable) outcome is arrived at. If you want to read about groups like this that work well - go to the Saddleback Church site. Pastor Rick Warren has built and organisation that thrives on semi-autonomous work groups. Learn about them and learn to love them - they are the future of work! TrackbacksThe trackback URL for this entry is: http://richardlipscombe.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!1FBE9E28B4A1A9F!1508.trak Weblogs that reference this entry
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