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How often do you ask ‘Why?’
Dedicated to FunkyProfessor
How often do you ask ‘Why?’
Now, back on track!
Not within yourself…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fresh_photo
but looking for an answer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter
Let’s do some user research…
Do you work in $big_company?
When did you ask ‘Why?’ last time?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djking
There was a time when…
You asked ‘Why?’ every time!
When you were a child.
Now, I have a question for you
Why you did you stop asking ‘Why?’
I will give you a simplistic answer
Because a company is regulated by…
The 3 principles
Blackmail

Threat

Corruption
They talk to your ‘crocodile brain’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/freetaalen
What the hell is a ‘crocodile brain’?
Paul D. MacLean
Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
Fight or flight?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/murasaki725
Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
and there’s one more thing…
We want to stay comfy!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/consumerfriendly
But… headed in opposite directions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94331264@N00
I’ll give you three (basic) examples
The reception desk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nihclinicalcntr
The visitor badge
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccajane
Waiting…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9619972@N08
These all speak to your croc brain!
They want you to feel uncomfortable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/an_untrained_eye
Both employees and guests.
Someone said…
A company is a place where adults
suffer from childhood traumas.
Walter Fontana
But, again, why?
We need to enter a time machine
http://www.flickr.com/photos/popculturegeek
Sometime around 1700
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mnassal
There was a huge shift
From houses
http://www.flickr.com/photos/enricoq
… to the factories
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mnassal
…and the first theories about
company organisation were born
Denis Diderot, France, 1713-1784
Dyeing factory, 1751.
Encyclopédie, 1751
Adam Smith, Scotland, 1723-1790
Henry Ford, U.S., 1863-1947
and this was the model.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/west_point
Peter Drucker, U.S., 1909-2005
http://ccdl.libraries.claremont.edu/utils/getfile/collection/dac/id/3583/filename/4033.pdf
This is where companies come from.
…and this is why you have a career!
Career… interesting etymology!
ca·reer

noun

kə-ˈrir

a : speed in a course.
!

b : a field for or pursuit of consecutive progressive
achievement in public, professional, or business life.
!
c: a profession for which one trains and which is
undertaken as a permanent calling.
Any clue?
The Romans, a long time ago.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xavitalleda
Reality is…
All of this is profoundly broken!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dublingurrier
We all became dummies
and copy cats
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foonk
and if it’s broken, it’s broken.
Seth Godin
This really starts very early…
From preschool to 1st grade
We need to stand up!
New organisational models
are possibile.
And the options are infinite!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/insecureproperties
Here’s a few examples
http://www.morningstarco.com
Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
Company Vision:
To create a company in which all team members will
be self-managing professionals, initiating
communications and the coordination of their
activities with fellow colleagues, customers,
suppliers, and fellow industry participants, absent
directives from others.
!
!
Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
Handbook for new employees

http://www.valvesoftware.com/jobs/index.html
Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.
http://blog.crisp.se/2012/11/14/henrikkniberg/scaling-agile-at-spotify
Is all of this new?
NO!!!
Lorenzo il Magnifico

Giorgio Vasari - Ritratto di Lorenzo il Magnifico - Circa 1534
Villaggio Crespi, Crespi d’Adda
Adriano Olivetti, Italy, 1901-1960
So, which is a winning model?
Startups, maybe?
maybe…
but just because they are
forced to change
Why?
Three main reasons
They are short on money

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05
They are on to something new

http://www.flickr.com/photos/marlenek
They are small

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50956221@N04
Yes, but…
They suffer from being stretched

http://www.flickr.com/photos/50956221@N04
How should they cope with that?
#include	
  <iostream>	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
!
class	
  Company	
  
{	
  
	
  	
  public:	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  CEO();	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  CFO();	
  	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  CTO();	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  CMO();	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
	
  private:	
  	
  	
  
	
  	
  void	
  run_business();	
  //	
  As	
  per	
  our	
  model	
  :-­‐)	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
};	
  
!
	
  //	
  constructor	
  of	
  CEO	
  
Company::CEO()	
  
{	
  
}	
  
!
//	
  destructor	
  of	
  CEO	
  
Company::~CEO()	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  	
  
{	
  
	
  	
  	
  	
  delete[]	
  ;	
  //Something	
  went	
  wrong	
  :-­‐)	
  
}
My (Personal) Recipe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23
Openness

http://www.flickr.com/photos/loop_oh
1

Atoms and Bits

http://peoplemov.in/
2

Products

http://www.mpetroff.net/archives/2012/09/14/kindle-weather-display/
2
Everywhere you look, there are devices for free
that have everything you need to make anything
do anything.
!
...the world is full of capacious, capable,
disposable junk and it cries out to be used again.
!

Cory Doctorow - Makers - 2009

Is this a moral imperative?
3

Products

Nabaztag - Karotz
Education

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrismetcalf
1

Coding and Making

http://www.codedojo.com
2

Sharing and Mentoring

http://www.damentors.com
3

Cross Pollination

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vcrown
Organisational models

Modern Times - 1936
1

No mahogany tables

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wingatestatearena
“De qua!”

L’armata Brancaleone - Speech to the troups - 1966
2

Stay away from the water cooler

http://www.flickr.com/photos/75950411@N02
3

Forget all what you hear
through the grapevine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75950411@N02
4

Stop with GROWTHISM!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhodes
5

Don’t use the word innovation

http://www.flickr.com/photos/masondan
A personal story.
No BS, please.
Ron Finley:Bring your shovel

http://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html
and finally…
ask ‘Why?’!!!
Thanks!
http://about.me/alessandro.galetto

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Failure is not an option, or, why you need to ask 'Why?" more often.