ENEDOS 2023 week 52
Agility in public sector; megaproject leaders; ideas running headlong into institutions + contagion tracking, productivity in the non-profit sector, digitalization in manufacturing
Agile public sector
WHAT? A British study of the challenges of introducing agile practices in the public sector.
It’s INTERESTING that:
There is an inherent tension the values of agile practices (embracing uncertainty and learning iteratively) and traditional demands on development work (predictability, deterministic)
Five themes were uncovered, namely “Agile / market alignment”, “State / market transition”, “Agile / corporation conflicts”, “State / corporation conflicts”, “Agile as a driver of culture change”, and “The Agile Profession”.
Two decisive transitions were “From commodity supplier to mission collaborator” and “One team culture.”
AND SO?
This study goes a long way toward disspelling the fairly fixed paradigm that the public sector does not lend itself to agile practices.
I suspect that each public institution must blaze its own trail, but these findings provide some guidance.
Leaders for megaprojects
WHAT? Study by Dutch, Norwegian, Australian, and Canadian researchers about how leaders for so-called “megaprojects” develop, and what characteristics they have.
It’s INTERESTING that:
Five themes emerged: the leaders’ attributes; turning points in their lives or influential mentors; values associated with their family, their home, or their religion; their relationship with the project team; and professional development through hard-won experiences.
As in many other studies, a long list of leadership attributes, but it became apparent that the needs were context-dependent. The most persistent ones were diligence, personal ambition, intelligence, self-sufficiency, problem-solving, and the ability to deal with paradoxes.
With values and their relationship with the team, idealism was important, leading to trust and faith in teamwork.
Previous experience needed reflection, i.e., that leaders had gotten used to learning along the way.
AND SO?
So-called megaprojects are rare events, which is a good thing. Large and complex projects are more prone to failure, so splitting them into smaller pieces is a good thing.
Still, extreme cases present good learning opportunities. What works under extreme circumstances may be helpful under normal conditions.
Ideas and institutions
WHAT? A Norwegian study that describes the meeting between innovative ideas and the institutions where they find use.
It’s INTERESTING that:
What enables and what inhibits innovation is complicated. Conditions that favor innovation under some circumstances have the opposite effect in others. Hence, there is a need for better models.
This is why looking at the progression of ideas as they meet and make their way through organizations
The model presented here suggests four forms for such meetings: resistance, maturation, negotiations, and transformation. Understanding these patterns allows leaders to develop better and realize ideas.
AND SO?
This involves a process that keeps better track of ideas throughout an entire lifecycle to understand how they fare in organizations.
This also requires some way to measure the value of ideas, maybe something like “real options”?
Bonus
Study of acceptance of the contagion-tracking app in Norway.
Economic analysis in the United Kingdom about production growth and productivity in voluntary and ideal organizations
Swedish study of opportunities for digitalization in production