Uncategorized Computers and Cars and Complexity 10 April 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment Ran writes, “I think computers and the internet are going down. And I won’t change my mind until I see new computers and new ways of connecting them that are simpler and more resilient than the ones we have now. […] These innovations are possible in theory, but I don’t expect them. I expect cars […] Read more »
Uncategorized Refactoring Civilization Created 8 April 2010 / Updated 12 November 2011 by adamf | Leave a Comment I recently read Clay Shirky’s eloquent article The Collapse of Complex Business Models. Shirky summarizes Joseph Tainter’s The Collapse of Complex Societies, relating societies to businesses. According to Tainter, Jared Diamond, Ran Prieur, and many dystopian science fiction writers, when societies shed complexity, it happens in a catastrophic fashion. As part of the science fiction […] Read more »
Uncategorized Mifos documentation sprint: help us create a user manual in one day! 2 April 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment You can help us end poverty by participating in the Mifos manual sprint tomorrow, Friday 2 April. As Adam Monsen posted, at my work, Grameen Foundation, we’re going to do a “high-tech barn-raising” and assemble a user manual for our Mifos Open Source banking software tomorrow. We’re using a collaborative editing tool called FLOSSmanuals, which […] Read more »
Uncategorized Will your tribe change the world? 22 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment We all form tribes – people we associate with, co-workers, friends, family. Great tribes change the world for the better. Most tribes don’t, though. David Logan’s TEDx talk summarizes a hierarchy of different kinds of tribes, and asks, “How can we form more tribes that do great things?” “What are the characteristics of those tribes?” […] Read more »
Uncategorized Boot Camp 2 21 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment Just finished my second Boot Camp at Grameen Foundation. This time most of the participants were from the software development team I lead at the Mifos Initiative. The training was fun and hard, we learned a lot, the work product was great, and we created an amazing amount of art, some of which you can […] Read more »
Uncategorized Live In Greatness 21 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment I haven’t posted here lately because I’ve been busy at work and also building a new website, Live In Greatness. Right now the main content is the Core Protocols in a web-accessible form. Over time I hope it will become a source of lots of information on how to create great teams. If you have […] Read more »
Uncategorized Resolution Avoidance 6 March 2010 by adamf | 2 Comments on Resolution Avoidance A few days after Boot Camp we were all asking ourselves, “Why doesn’t work feel like Boot Camp every day?” The rush of energy, the uncomfortable and exhilarating feeling of personal growth, the constant flow of hard realizations about oneself, ones’ team members, and ones’ team, the way everything is new again. We missed it. […] Read more »
Uncategorized Private Currencies 4 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment Slums are the future. If you need more evidence that real innovation is coming out of poor countries, check out the new electronic currency systems. Also called mobile payment systems, John Robb gives a quick nod to these new private currencies in a recent post. (Robb left out at least one other new system, Zain […] Read more »
Uncategorized Scaling startups 3 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment TechCrunch reviews the Kauffman Foundation’s ideas about making entrepreneurs and scaling startups. Very interesting: “One of the findings of Kauffman research is that of the appx. 600,000 businesses that are started every year, less than a fraction of 1% become high-growth “scale” businesses. These new firms, especially the “scale” firms, have added all of the […] Read more »
Uncategorized Unanimity 2 March 2010 by adamf | Leave a Comment Coincidentally apropos to my last post on Lean Startups, today Jim writes: Majority Rule or Boss Decides: both are ineffective on a team. Dissenters will actively or passively resist, it can’t be helped. Things have to be unanimous. On average teams unanimity is a recipe for disaster. But with a shared vision, Booted teams can […] Read more »