Office for Applied Project Sense · Appendix
Sources of thought
Six sources have shaped our thinking. We list them here so that you can understand where our terms come from, even if you have not read the books.
Two sentences up front. These are sources of ideas and not evidence. Only one of them rests partly on experimental research, and even there with limitations. Where we describe something as backed by evidence, we rely on studies and not on these books; they are listed under “Evidence, theses and open questions”.
Jim Collins: Good to Great
Was das Buch sagt. Collins untersuchte Unternehmen, die über Jahre den Sprung von guter zu herausragender Leistung schafften, und verglich sie mit ähnlichen Unternehmen, die den Sprung nicht schafften.
What we adopt:
- the idea that technology accelerates and does not trigger,
- the climate in which the truth is heard, with the four habits that go with it,
- the logic of comparison, that is, the habit of saying what something was compared with. (Chapter 8)
What we do not adopt. The method as proof. According to the critics, it lacks scientific rigour, the design is susceptible to confirmation bias, and the selection was made on the basis of the outcome. Several of the companies studied later failed. Collins explains this by their departure from the principles, which is plausible but not an independent confirmation.
Stephen Covey: The Speed of Trust
Was das Buch sagt. Vertrauen ist kein weiches Thema, sondern ein Geschwindigkeitsfaktor. Wo es fehlt, wird alles langsamer und teurer. Wo es vorhanden ist, geht vieles ohne Absicherung.
What we adopt. The idea that trust arises from experience and not from assurances. It underpins our approach of making a collaboration tangible in practice early on, in a clearly limited first work step.
What we do not adopt. The claim to measurability. It is a management book of the same kind as Collins's.
Steve de Shazer: solution-focused brief therapy
Was der Ansatz sagt. Wer eine Veränderung will, muss das Problem nicht zergliedern. Er beschreibt stattdessen die Lösung. Die Wunderfrage lädt dazu ein, sich eine Zukunft vorzustellen, in der die Schwierigkeit gelöst ist.
What we adopt. The attitude that the means for the solution are already present, and the second direction of looking in Chapter 12.
What we do not adopt. Doing without understanding. De Shazer works with people on change. These pages are aimed at people who decide on an investment, and that decision needs an understanding of the connections, otherwise it is not their own.
The potential view
What it says: you look at what exists and ask
- what is good and should be preserved,
- what is good and could become very good,
- what is weak and deserves strengthening,
- what may go or is missing.
What we adopt. The first direction of looking in Chapter 12 and the basic attitude of the whole Office: we do not begin with what is missing.
What we do not adopt. Nothing, but we do not claim any evidential force either. It is an attitude.
Simon Sinek: the Golden Circle
Was das Buch sagt. Wirksame Organisationen denken von innen nach aussen, vom Warum über das Wie zum Was.
What we adopt. The basic idea of the sequence. (Chapter 5)
What we do not adopt. The breadth of the terms. We define them more narrowly; our How is governance. The exact distinction is in the glossary. There is no strong empirical basis for the Golden Circle.
Daniel Kahneman: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Was das Buch sagt. Menschliches Urteilen folgt Mustern, die in vielen Lagen nützlich und in anderen systematisch irreführend sind.
What we adopt:
- The inside view versus the outside view, and the planning fallacy.
- The conditions under which intuition is reliable, from the joint work of Kahneman and Gary Klein. Projects meet these conditions poorly, because every undertaking is different and feedback comes late. That is not a weakness of experienced people but a property of the task.
- Sunk costs.
- The observation that confidence is read as competence. (Chapter 8)
What we do not adopt:
- The chapter on priming. A review of the studies cited there arrived at a very low estimated probability of replication, and Kahneman publicly admitted to having placed too much trust in underpowered studies.
- The pair of terms System 1 and System 2. We do not use it; it is worn out in consulting language.