Two more topics have been added to our Tuesday afternoon workshop agenda

Tuesday afternoon (30 july), in addition to the topics listed in our earlier post, we will also have the following, lead by Sally Nugent, former CEO of the Asset Management Council, now Director, Sallyent Pty Ltd, and currently working on a new book on asset management, culture and leadership,

1.  How and What to ask: do you know what decision model you are using for your project or plans, and what questions to ask? For example

• Why is it important to make decisions promptly? (The Consequences Model)
• How do we identify the ‘next big thing’? (The Hype Model)
• Why does the printer always break down just before a deadline? (The Results Optimisation Model)

Reference The Decision book Fifty models for strategic thinking

2.   Have you considered the context of your project or required solution with ‘open systems’ in mind. How does context influence the questions you ask?

Margaret Wheatley (2006, Leadership and the new science: discovering order in a chaotic world) points out that much of the current thinking in management science is based on Newtonian mechanics – an approach primarily based on reductionism – the best way to understand the whole is to break it up into smaller parts and understand those individual parts.  The premise being that if you understand how the heart works and the liver works, you will understand the entire body.  The problem is that two critical elements are missing

1. 1. understanding the individual parts doesn’t provide any understanding of how the parts interact.
   2. very few organisations operate in an environment where they are closed off from external factors.

Also

I am also hoping to add a discussion on real options analysis.

So if you find sitting and listening to others in conferences a bit passé, join us on Tuesday afternoon, where you get to take part in the entertainment!

Sign up in the comments, or better, write me at penny@TalkingInfrastructure.com

And I will send meeting details.