Most of these books, web pages, and videos are about how to design better organizations. Some are about how to be a more effective individual within the organizations we currently have. The items are divided into three broad categories -- Organization and Motivation, Health and Wellness, and Software Development Specific.
As a caveat, such resources are a bit like signposts. They can point you in a direction, but whether that direction makes sense for you or your organization depends on your goals and priorities -- and where you are starting from. And whether you arrive at your goal given a direction of travel depends in part on whether you actually get started -- as well as how much effort you put into learning to deal with specific challenges along the way, and then acting on that learning. For example, reading a book about aviation written by people with years of piloting experience does not immediately make you a skilled pilot. But a good book on aviation might help you learn what to do (or not to do) as you get started training as a pilot. Or if you are a good pilot already, a good book on aviation -- and more practice -- might help you become an even better pilot who is more likely to successfully reach a desired destination even under challenging circumstances.
This list was discussed on Hacker News on 2021-09-13.
The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth
by Amy C. Edmondson
https://www.amazon.com/Stages-Psychological-Safety-Inclusion-Innovation-ebook/dp/B07Y3ZJ8B2/
Recent research at Google found that "Psychological Safety" is the single most important issue for sustaining highly productive teams (even as other factors also matter, including good managers). As Wikipedia defines it, "psychological safety is being able to show and employ one's self without fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career... It can be defined as a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking. In psychologically safe teams, team members feel accepted and respected." Psychological safety is "a condition in which human beings feel (1) included, (2) safe to learn, (3) safe to contribute, and (4) safe to challenge the status quo – all without fear of being embarrassed, marginalized, or punished in some way." A related idea in aviation safety is Crew Resource Management.
Edmondson's book explores this topic of psychological safety. That book builds on the author's previous work on the broader issue of productive teams called: "Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy".
by Tom DeMarco
https://www.amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burnout-Busywork-Efficiency/dp/0767907698/
There is a trade-off between efficiency (meeting previous well-defined needs with minimal effort) versus effectiveness (meeting newly emerging needs with flexibility and responsiveness through organizational learning). If you optimize only for efficiency in meeting previous needs from past opportunities, you will by necessity eliminate your organization's capacity to respond effectively to future needs from newly emerging opportunities. This ability to learn and grow as an organization requires "slack" time. Middle management has a vital role to play in organizational adaptability -- but only if they are not over-scheduled.
by Tom DeMarco and Tim Lister
https://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-3rd/dp/0321934113/
"Few books in computing have had as profound an influence on software management as Peopleware. The unique insight of this longtime best seller is that the major issues of software development are human, not technical. They’re not easy issues; but solve them, and you’ll maximize your chances of success."
by Mickey W. Mantle and Ron Lichty
https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Unmanageable-Insights-Software-People/dp/032182203X
"practical hands-on advice about management software people and projects"
by Isaac Prilleltensky and Ora Prilleltensky https://www.amazon.com/How-People-Matter-Affects-Happiness-ebook-dp-B095KFKMZY/dp/B095KFKMZY/
"Mattering, which is about feeling valued and adding value, is essential for health, happiness, love, work, and social well-being. We all need to feel valued by, and add value to, ourselves, others, co-workers, and community members. This book shows not only the signs, significance, and sources of mattering, but also presents the strategies to achieve mattering in our personal and professional lives. It uses research-based methods of change to help people achieve a higher sense of purpose and a deeper sense of meaning. Each chapter gives therapists, managers, teachers, parents, and healthcare professionals the tools needed to optimize personal and collective well-being and productivity. The volume explains how promoting mattering within communities fosters wellness and fairness in equal measure. By using the new science of feeling valued and adding value, the authors provide a guide to promoting happier lives and healthier societies."
by Jeff Conklin
https://www.amazon.com/Dialogue-Mapping-Building-Understanding-Problems/dp/0470017686
"In contrast to the use of agendas and restrictive structures, dialogue mapping is a facilitation technique that allows the intelligence and learning of the group to emerge naturally. Each participant can see how their comments contribute (or don't) to the coherence and order of the group's thinking. The first full-length book to bring dialogue mapping to a wider audience, Dialogue Mapping provides an exciting new conceptual framework that will change the way readers view projects and project management."
The book explains how we can visualize discussions on complex topics using the IBIS notation (Questions, Ideas, Pros & Cons) which provides just enough structure to aid a group's short-term memory without getting in the way. What might be arguments over the best way to proceed become collaborations in constructing a dialogue map exploring all the possibilities and their evaluations.
More on Dialog Mapping can be found at the author's website here:
http://cognexus.org/id41.htm
"Dialogue mapping has the same intention as facilitation: to help the group members hold an effective conversation on a complex topic. By “effective” we mean a conversation that both accomplished the objectives and built higher levels of shared understanding, respect, alignment, and transparency. But dialogue mapping uses two tools that are relatively new to the conference room. The first is to capture key elements of the conversation in a shared display. This could be whiteboards or flipcharts, but more often these days it's a computer projector. Shared display means that what is projected in the display is being crafted by the group actively. People's comments are somehow reflected in the display. We're not talking about PowerPoint here!! Sometimes referred to as interactive visual modeling, shared display requires that there be someone driving the computer who has the skills and intention of adding value to the group's interaction and creating group memory of the group's thinking and learning. The second aspect of dialogue mapping that is new and different is the use of a simple conversational grammar called IBIS, Issue Based Information System. IBIS represents the moves in a conversation as Questions, Ideas (possible answers to the Question), and Arguments (pros and cons to the ideas). The power of IBIS is its emphasis on questions. In an IBIS diagram new questions arise to clarify assumptions, challenge arguments, shift the context, and explore the deeper implications of ideas. Dialogue mapping requires that the mapper be so fluent in IBIS that they can translate everyday meeting-speak (e.g. “Why are we talking about this?”, “That's not the issue!”, etc) on the fly into IBIS and write or type it into the shared display for the group to see and validate. The pinnacle of fluency in IBIS is being able hear the hidden questions behind participants' comments. ... Compendium is free software useful for doing IBIS diagrams."
"The Enigma of Reason" is a tangentially-related book by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber suggesting that human reason evolved for small groups to make good decisions, not for lone reasoners to reach some independent conclusion. "Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow" by Dominica DeGrandis is another tangentially-related book on the broader theme on how to visualize work as it is defined and as it progresses. What is amazing about Dialogue Mapping using IBIS is the way it brings together the idea of collective argumentation like Mercier and Sperber celebrate and the idea of visualizing progress on tasks like DeGrandis celebrates.
http://www.cognexus.org/id42.htm
"A wicked problem is one for which each attempt to create a solution changes the understanding of the problem. Wicked problems cannot be solved in a traditional linear fashion, because the problem definition evolves as new possible solutions are considered and/or implemented. The term was originally coined by Horst Rittel. Wicked problems always occur in a social context -- the wickedness of the problem reflects the diversity among the stakeholders in the problem. Most projects in organizations -- and virtually all technology-related projects these days -- are about wicked problems. Indeed, it is the social complexity of these problems, not their technical complexity, that overwhelms most current problem solving and project management approaches."
And also by Jeff Conklin, as essentially the first chapter of his book above:
"Wicked Problems and Social Complexity"
http://cognexus.org/wpf/wickedproblems.pdf
"“Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them.” (Laurence J. Peter) ... If we step back and take a systemic view, we can see that the issue is not whose fault the mess is – the issue is our collective failure to recognize the recurring and inevitable dynamics of the mess. If we take a systemic view, we turn away from blame and away from easy technical fixes, and to look in the social domain – in building capacity to collaborate effectively on wicked problems. ... The process of Dialogue Mapping is a powerful approach for addressing the problem of fragmentation, as it allows a diverse group of people to generate coherence around wicked problems. This group coherence is a necessary step toward addressing fragmentation, yet it is neither a silver bullet nor a cureall. Given the complex nature of organizations, it is not sufficient for a single team or even multiple teams to achieve coherence; the organization as a whole needs to become a knowledge organization, and gain a kind of ‘literacy’ or ‘fluency’ in the language of coherence: distinctions, tools, methods, and practices for crafting shared understanding and shared commitment. Dialogue Mapping is a first step toward that kind of literacy."
by Al Selvin and Simon Buckingham Shum (who created the Compendium software)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1627052593
"This book is about how people (we refer to them as practitioners) can help guide participants in creating representations of issues or ideas, such as collaborative diagrams, especially in the context of Participatory Design (PD). At its best, such representations can reach a very high level of expressiveness and usefulness, an ideal we refer to as Knowledge Art. Achieving that level requires effective engagement, often aided by facilitators or other practitioners. Most PD research focuses on tools and methods, or on participant experience. The next source of advantage is to better illuminate the role of practitioners -- the people working with participants, tools, and methods in service of a project's larger goals. Just like participants, practitioners experience challenges, interactions, and setbacks, and come up with creative ways to address them while maintaining their stance of service to participants and stakeholders. Our research interest is in understanding what moves and choices practitioners make that either help or hinder participants' engagement with representations. We present a theoretical framework that looks at these choices from the experiential perspectives of narrative, aesthetics, ethics, sensemaking and improvisation and apply it to five diverse case studies of actual practice."
This is a broader exploration of dialog mapping and similar participatory technologies from an advanced facilitator's perspective. Most people would probably want to read Jeff Conklin's "how to" book on Dialogue Mapping first, and then move onto this one once they are ready to grow further as a facilitator of group work.
by KC Burgesss Yakemovic
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01786S4NI/
“Are you faced with a significant challenge or life altering decision? Are thoughts whirling around in your head? Do you feel overwhelmed? If so, this book is for you. Help! I Have to Think! gives you an easy, straightforward tool for making important decisions. The book teaches you to use IBIS – Issue Based Information Systems – to evaluate and work through life's biggest decisions, both personal and professional. What career should I pursue now? Where should I live? What is the best choice for my children's' education? IBIS will help you make sense of complex decisions, but the critical thinking techniques it teaches apply to any decision. Once you use it for something big, you may find that you automatically use this approach for smaller problems as well.”
This book outlines a simplified way to do Dialogue Mapping for one person without special software. The book’s author has worked closely with Jeff Conklin.
by Cynthia F. Kurtz
http://workingwithstories.org/
"Working with Stories is a textbook that can help you use participatory narrative inquiry (PNI) in your community or organization. PNI methods can help you discover insights, catch emerging trends, make decisions, generate ideas, resolve conflicts, and connect people."
Conventional surveys of your customers or employees typically only give you a shallow understanding of what is going on. Engaging people to tell their personal experiences using your product or services or working for your organization can give you deeper actionable insights into how to improve your processes. These techniques can also help improve how people communicate with each other to form a supportive community.
The companion FOSS NarraFirma software leads people through the steps outlined in the 700 page Working with Stories textbook:
https://narrafirma.com/
Cynthia Kurtz has also written Confluence: Tools for Thinking about How Organized Plans and Self-organized Patterns Flow Together. Confluence examines the many ways in which organized, intentional plans (like paths we design) and self-organized, unintentional patterns (like paths that emerge where we walk) intermingle (happen at the same time and place) and interact (influence each other). The book lays out seven “thinking spaces” that explore various aspects of the structures and relationships that flow together in our lives. Confluence includes copy-ready materials for a group exercise you can use to think about how organization and self-organization flow together in situations that matter to your life, work, family, community, and organization. These tools help in making sense of complexity in all sorts of systems including high performance organizations.
(Disclaimer: Paul Fernhout, author of this README, is married to Cynthia and co-wrote the NarraFirma software.)
by Sidney Dekker
http://sidneydekker.com/just-culture/
"A just culture is a culture of trust, learning and accountability. In the wake of an incident, a restorative just culture asks: "who are hurt, what do they need, and whose obligation is it to meet that need?" It doesn't dwell on questions of rules and violations and consequences. Instead, it gathers those affected by an incident and collaborates on collectively addressing the harms and needs created by it, in a way that is respectful to all parties. It holds people accountable by looking forward to what must be done to repair, to heal and to prevent."
Sidney Dekker has written several other books on organizational culture from a safety perspective, including:
"Drift Into Failure: From Hunting Broken Components to Understanding Complex Systems"
https://www.safetymattersblog.com/2012/12/drift-into-failure-by-sydney-dekker.html
"Sydney Dekker's "Drift Into Failure" is a noteworthy effort to provide new insights into how accidents and other bad outcomes occur in large organizations. He begins by describing two competing world views, the essentially mechanical view of the world spawned by Newton and Descartes (among others), and a view based on complexity in socio-technical organizations and a systems approach. He shows how each world view biases the search for the "truth" behind how accidents and incidents occur. ... Managers should not try to transform complex organizations into merely complicated ones, even if it's possible. Complexity is necessary for long-term survival as it maximizes organizational adaptability. The question is how to manage in a complex system. One key is increasing the diversity of personnel in the organization. More diversity means less group think and more creativity and greater capacity for adaptation. In practice, this means validation of minority opinions and encouragement of dissent, reflecting on the small decisions as they are made, stopping to ponder why some technical feature or process is not working exactly as expected and creating slack to reduce the chances of small events snowballing into large failures. With proper guidance, organizations can drift their way to success."
Sidney Dekker is mentioned as one of many people in this broad collection of references on resilience engineering maintained by Lorin Hochstein of Netflix:
https://github.com/lorin/resilience-engineering
"This doc contains notes about people active in resilience engineering, as well as some influential researchers who are no longer with us, organized alphabetically. It also includes people and papers from related fields, such as cognitive systems engineering and naturalistic decision-making."
by Emma Seppala
https://www.amazon.com/Happiness-Track-Science-Accelerate-Success/dp/0062344005
"In The Happiness Track, Emma Seppala, the science director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University and director of the Yale College Emotional Intelligence Project, explains that our inability to achieve sustainable fulfillment is tied to common but outdated notions about success. We are taught that getting ahead means doing everything that’s thrown at us (and then some) with razor-sharp focus and iron discipline; that success depends on our drive and talents; and that achievement cannot happen without stress. The Happiness Track demolishes these counter-productive theories. Drawing on the latest findings from the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience -- research on happiness, resilience, willpower, compassion, positive stress, creativity, mindfulness -- Seppala shows that finding happiness and fulfillment may, in fact, be the most productive thing we can do to thrive professionally. Filled with practical advice on how to apply these scientific findings to our daily lives, The Happiness Track is a life-changing guide to fast tracking our success and creating the anxiety-free life we want."
"Mindset is a simple idea discovered by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck in decades of research on achievement and success—a simple idea that makes all the difference. Teaching a growth mindset creates motivation and productivity in the worlds of business, education, and sports."
"Mindset: The New Psychology of Success"
https://www.amazon.com/Mindset-Psychology-Carol-S-Dweck/dp/0345472322
"After decades of research, world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., discovered a simple but groundbreaking idea: the power of mindset. In this brilliant book, she shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset -- those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset -- those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishment."
by Angela Duckworth
https://www.amazon.com/Grit-Passion-Perseverance-Angela-Duckworth/dp/1501111108
"shows anyone striving to succeed -- be it parents, students, educators, athletes, or business people -- that the secret to outstanding achievement is not talent but a special blend of passion and persistence she calls “grit.”"
One caveat about celebrating "grit" is to always include the "passion" aspect -- which Angela Duckworth makes clear, but is often ignored, as outlined in this informative short essay on "Psychology’s five revelations for finding your true calling":
https://aeon.co/ideas/psychologys-five-revelations-for-finding-your-true-calling
"However, according to a paper published last year, the standard measure of grit has failed to assess passion (or more specifically, ‘passion attainment’) – and Jon Jachimowicz at Columbia Business School in New York and colleagues believe this could explain why the research on grit has been so inconsistent (leading to claims that it is an overhyped concept and simply conscientiousness repackaged). Jachimowicz’s team found that when they explicitly measured passion attainment (how much people feel they have adequate passion for their work) and combined this with a measure of perseverance (a consistency of interests and the ability to overcome setbacks), then the two together did predict superior performance among tech-company employees and university students. ‘Our findings suggest that perseverance without passion attainment is mere drudgery, but perseverance with passion attainment propels individuals forward,’ they said."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/12/the-science-of-success/307761/
"Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people."
Sometimes management may decide that a poorly-performing employee should be discarded without examining the role that environment plays in a specific employee's performance. One implication for management to consider from "The Science of Success" is that some employees who respond the worst to a poor environment may also be the ones likely to respond the best to a good environment and excel the most in an optimum situation.
by Caroline Webb
https://www.amazon.com/How-Have-Good-Day-Behavioral/dp/0553419633
"In How to Have a Good Day, economist and former McKinsey partner Caroline Webb shows readers how to use recent findings from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience to transform our approach to everyday working life."
by Alfie Kohn
http://www.alfiekohn.org/punished-rewards/
https://www.amazon.com/Punished-Rewards-Trouble-Incentive-Praise/dp/0618001816
"Our basic strategy for raising children, teaching students, and managing workers can be summarized in six words: Do this and you’ll get that. We dangle goodies (from candy bars to sales commissions) in front of people in much the same way that we train the family pet. In this groundbreaking book, Alfie Kohn shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Our workplaces and classrooms will continue to decline, he argues, until we begin to question our reliance on a theory of motivation derived from laboratory animals. Drawing from hundreds of studies, Kohn demonstrates that people actually do inferior work when they are enticed with money, grades, or other incentives. Programs that use rewards to change people’s behavior are similarly ineffective over the long run. Promising goodies to children for good behavior can never produce anything more than temporary obedience. In fact, the more we use artificial inducements to motivate people, the more they lose interest in what we’re bribing them to do. Rewards turn play into work, and work into drudgery."
This Wikipedia page lists a variety of theories of motivation to compare and contrast with Kohn's thesis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation
Also by Alfie Kohn:
- "Rewards Are Still Bad News (25 Years Later)" https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/rewards-25-years-later/
- "The Case Against Competition (essay)" https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/case-competition/
- "No Contest: The Case Against Competition (book)" https://www.alfiekohn.org/contest/
- "Can Everyone Be Excellent?" https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/excellence/
- "From Degrading to De-Grading" https://www.alfiekohn.org/article/degrading-de-grading/
- "The Brighter Side of Human Nature: Altruism and Empathy in Everyday Life" https://www.alfiekohn.org/brighter-side-human-nature/
by Dan Pink
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805
People in knowledge-intensive organizations are motivated mainly in situations where they have autonomy in how they do their work, have opportunities learn and increase their mastery, and have a sense of shared purpose as part of a community.
While performance on physical labor tends to be increased by external rewards, mental labor involving creativity tends to suffer if done for external rewards.
Many companies have various incentive programs including equity incentives. For some companies, like Google, this means many employees have become millionaires. Even long-term employees in steady jobs just with a 401K plans may become millionaires in times of stock appreciation. How do you manage millionaires who could walk away at any time if they are unhappy -- and for whom even more extrinsic incentives may face a law of diminishing returns? Dan Pink indirectly has an answer for that -- Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose (and Community).
by Dan Pink
http://www.danpink.com/books/to-sell-is-human/
It may be no surprise that about 10% of workers are directly working in "sales". But what may be surprising is that on average the rest of us spend about 40% of our work day trying to influence others to devote resources to some endeavor or other sort of change (roughly in a bimodal distribution of about 20% of time for most people and about 80% for super-sellers). The book explains why and how "non-sales selling" became an essential part of most people's work with recent changes to our economy -- driven by the spread of the internet and a rise in entrepreneurship. The book also explains how to "sell" ideas in better ways.
by Mats Alvesson and André Spicer
https://www.amazon.com/Stupidity-Paradox-Power-Pitfalls-Functional/dp/1781255415
Suggests that most organizations hire smart and creative people and then don't allow them to be smart or creative due to organizational imperatives.
A summary of the key points can be found in this essay by the author:
"Stupefied: How organisations enshrine collective stupidity and employees are rewarded for checking their brains at the office door"
https://aeon.co/essays/you-don-t-have-to-be-stupid-to-work-here-but-it-helps
"58% of High-Performance Employees Say They Need More Quiet Work Spaces"
https://slashdot.org/story/17/03/15/1911253/58-of-high-performance-employees-say-they-need-more-quiet-work-spaces
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/15/58-of-high-performance-employees-say-they-need-more-quiet-work-spaces.html
One insightful comment there by Maxo-Texas:
"Seriously, it's a complex subject because:
- Different kinds of projects require different environments.
- Different kinds of people require different environments.
- Different kinds of work require different environments.
- And unfortunately offices are associated with status so some people who don't care about quiet are going to require an office if others are getting offices."
by Scott E. Page
https://www.amazon.com/Difference-Diversity-Creates-Schools-Societies/dp/0691138540
"In this landmark book, Scott Page redefines the way we understand ourselves in relation to one another. The Difference is about how we think in groups--and how our collective wisdom exceeds the sum of its parts. Why can teams of people find better solutions than brilliant individuals working alone? And why are the best group decisions and predictions those that draw upon the very qualities that make each of us unique? The answers lie in diversity--not what we look like outside, but what we look like within, our distinct tools and abilities. The Difference reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality. Page shows how groups that display a range of perspectives outperform groups of like-minded experts."
"Know the soul of the high-performance employee, then we can build the 10,000 things"
by William Belk
https://hackernoon.com/know-the-soul-of-the-high-performance-employee-then-we-can-build-the-10-000-things-ad753ffd9b7f
"Well-being and retention can only come through understanding. One of the issues to plague organizations of all sizes is a natural disconnect between executives and high-performance employees (HPEs). This disconnect affects culture, innovation and everything in-between."
by W. L. Livingston
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0937063053
Much of the book is about what the individual engineer must do to succeed despite the organization. Advocates for "Skunk Works" for vital projects.
by Brian Eno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkD7JBspgas
“I think, although great new ideas are usually articulated by individuals, they're nearly always generated by communities. And I think that I what I see as the waste is the waste that we make of that possibility of cooperative intelligence. …“
The core idea Brian Eno conveys in this video and elsewhere is that so-called geniuses are often like sparks emerging from a creative scene of people in an ignited community. The “genius” may get the credit for publicizing, consolidating, and/or refining ideas – and indeed may be an exceptional person -- but generally their success would not be possible without the broader innovative community scene they draw from and are inspired by.
As with “gelled teams” or “skunk works”, a manager’s challenge when supervising such a creative scene is to keep normal bureaucratic processes of order from destroying the rare behind-the-scenes mix of hidden order and overt disorder which sustain the unusual scene.
Discussed at:
https://kk.org/thetechnium/scenius-or-comm/
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2009/07/09/brian-eno-on-genius-and-scenius/
https://medium.com/salvo-faraday/what-is-the-scenius-15409eb6ac72
From that last link by Alex Gentry:
“The geography of scenius has several important factors: [mutual appreciation, a rapid exchange of tools and techniques, network effects of success celebrated by everyone within the scenius, and a local tolerance for the novelties and nonconformity] … What I love about the idea of scenius is that it makes room in the story of creativity for the rest of us: the people who don’t consider ourselves geniuses. Being a valuable part of a scenius is not necessarily about how smart or talented you are, but about what you have to contribute -- the ideas you share, the quality of the connections you make, and the conversations you start. If we forget about genius and think more about how we can nurture and contribute to a scenius, we can adjust our own expectations and the expectations of the worlds we want to accept us. We can stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others.”
by Jeff Schmidt
http://disciplinedminds.tripod.com/
"In this riveting book about the world of professional work, Jeff Schmidt demonstrates that the workplace is a battleground for the very identity of the individual, as is graduate school, where professionals are trained. He shows that professional work is inherently political, and that professionals are hired to subordinate their own vision and maintain strict "ideological discipline." The hidden root of much career dissatisfaction, argues Schmidt, is the professional's lack of control over the political component of his or her creative work. Many professionals set out to make a contribution to society and add meaning to their lives. Yet our system of professional education and employment abusively inculcates an acceptance of politically subordinate roles in which professionals typically do not make a significant difference, undermining the creative potential of individuals, organizations and even democracy. Schmidt details the battle one must fight to be an independent thinker and to pursue one's own social vision in today's corporate society. He shows how an honest reassessment of what it really means to be a professional employee can be remarkably liberating. After reading this brutally frank book, no one who works for a living will ever think the same way about his or her job."
by Michael Phillips (a founder of MasterCard)
https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Business-Michael-Phillips/dp/0394748301
"An inspirational guide to ethical business practice explains how to create and manage a small business that emphasizes openness, personal integrity, and community involvement as the keys to success."
While the book is mainly about small business, it can also apply to smaller units within bigger businesses.
Michael Phillips has also written some other books.
https://people.well.com/user/mp/mpbooks.html
The one that most shaped my life is his (and Salli Rasberry's) "The Seven Laws of Money".
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Laws-Money-Salli-Rasberry-ebook/dp/B006VOK7DO/
A brief summary of those Seven Laws of Money is here:
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Commerce/RATNA/june2.html
When I was a teenager, I looked in our local library for books on how to be a millionaire. There were seven or so I pulled off the shelves in the finance section and browsed through of which six said how to do that -- in general, start a small business, work hard for years, and hope to get lucky. There is also a more predictable approach to becoming a millionaire that I've learned about since through Jack Bogle (see below). But the Seven Laws of Money was the only book of that set that asked me "Why do I want to have a million dollars? What do I ultimately want to use the money for?" That book essentially suggested working towards those non-monetary goals directly with dedication and community -- and thinking of money as a tool and not a goal in itself.
As a variant of that idea of seeing money not as a goal in itself but as a tool to work on what is important to you in a healthy community, when Jim Goodnight created the SAS Institute he asked, why do people want equity in a company? And the answer he saw was, so they can do what they want to do later in their lives. He then asked, why can't employees do what makes them happy now? He also essentially made the assumption that a lot of people in the software field enjoy doing good work as "hard fun" for its own sake, but most people still need an income in our society to survive and thrive. So, he set about creating a community with a culture that supported people doing good work they wanted to do right away within a privately-owned corporate context -- one with good work/life balance, easy access to health-promoting activities, and also high-quality child care.
You won't become a millionaire from equity gains working at SAS -- unless you independently invest part of your salary in index funds over decades like Jack Bogle suggests. But despite lack of equity participation, for a long time, SAS has been rated as one of the top places to work in the world with happier-than-average employees.
As Fortune magazine wrote in 2010:
https://archive.fortune.com/2010/01/21/technology/sas_best_companies.fortune/index.htm
"In fact when Google, a SAS customer, was putting together its own campus freebies some years ago, it used SAS as a model. SAS (pronounced sass) has been on Fortune's list of Best Companies to Work For every one of the 13 years we've been keeping score. But this is the first time SAS is in the No. 1 slot. ... While its pampering of employees might give corporate scrooges a coronary, CEO Jim Goodnight says the policies make estimable business sense. "My chief assets drive out the gate every day," Goodnight likes to say. "My job is to make sure they come back." His motives aren't charitable but entirely utilitarian, even a bit Machiavellian. The average tenure at SAS is 10 years; 300 employees have worked 25 or more. Annual turnover was 2% in 2009, compared with the average in the software industry of about 22%. Women make up 45% of its U.S. workforce, which has an average age of 45. ... Goodnight says the "wonder" isn't that his company is so generous, but why other presumably rational corporations are not. Academicians confirm that his policies augment creativity, reduce distraction, and foster intense loyalty -- even though SAS isn't known for paying the highest salaries in its field and even though there are no stock options. The perks are the most obvious manifestation of corporate munificence, but at their core they are only part of a workplace ethos that's based on a degree of trust. SAS employees, without a union, will tell you their neighbors are both curious and envious -- they want to know whether the place is really a country club and, by the way, to whom do I send a résumé?"
(Disclosure: Around 1987, someone I was friendly with at the Princeton Computer Center who was an expert with the SAS software and a North Carolina native suggested I go work for the SAS Institute. But I assumed they would be some big stodgy boring computer company, and so I never looked into that. Ironically, I lived in North Carolina then, unhappily working at a young computer company that had moved into SAS's earlier physical offices across the street from NC State and who said they aspired to be the next SAS -- whatever they meant by that. My career and life might have been very different had I followed up on that friendly advice about the SAS Institute with more curiosity and less pre-judgement.)
From Glassdoor comments it seems like even SAS struggles with replicating that worker happiness experience outside the main headquarters though -- and perhaps even over time including as they move towards an IPO?
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/SAS-Institute-Reviews-E3807.htm
"Work life balance is not there for everyone role" (in 39 reviews)
"If you're not in Cary your experience is totally different" (in 38 reviews)
And as the title of one comment: "SAS is changing".
Almost a half of a century of community happiness doing useful things is a very respectable run though -- however that plays out in the future. It's a good question whether the SAS community's success in the past depended on a rare leader like Jim Goodnight of a private company in a specific profitable industry (proprietary computer software) in one location during a brief moment in time -- or whether it can be replicated more generally and more broadly in an enduring way. It is one hope of this reading list to help support people who want to explore that question.
The SAS Institute is also one case study in:
"High Performance Companies: Successful Strategies from the World's Top Achievers" by Nitin Pangarkar
https://www.amazon.com/High-Performance-Companies-Successful-Strategies-ebook/dp/B005VDE71E/
by John Gardner
https://www.amazon.com/Self-Renewal-Individual-Innovative-Society-First-ebook/dp/B07B42XSP3/
As applies to SAS as to every other community, John Gardner wrote in "Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society" that every individual and community must go through periods of self-renewal as times and communities change, and that every generation must learn for itself "what the words on the monuments mean".
"In his classic treatise Self-Renewal, John W. Gardner examines why great societies thrive and die. He argues that it is dynamism, not decay, that is dramatically altering the landscape of American society. The twentieth century has brought about change more rapidly than any previous era, and with that came advancements, challenges, and often destruction. Gardner cautions that “a society must court the kinds of change that will enrich and strengthen it, rather than the kind of change that will fragment and destroy it.” A society’s ability to renew itself hinges upon its individuals. Gardner reasons that it is the waning of the heart and spirit — not a lack of material might — that threatens American society. Young countries, businesses, and humans have several key commonalities: they are flexible, eager, open, curious, unafraid, and willing to take risks. These conditions lead to success. However, as time passes, so too comes complacency, apathy, and rigidity, causing motivation to plummet. It is at this junction that great civilizations fall, businesses go bankrupt, and life stagnates. Gardner asserts that the individual’s role in social renewal requires each person to face and look beyond imminent threats. Ultimately, we need a vision that there is something worth saving. Through this vision, Gardner argues, society will begin to renew itself, not permanently, but past its average lifespan, and it will at once become enriched and rejuvenated."
by Douglas Engelbart (inventor of the mouse and creator of "The Mother of All Demos")
http://dougengelbart.org/about/co-evolution.html
Engelbart suggests that healthy successful communities involve a co-evolution of tools, knowledge, culture, processes, and more -- and that we should be building learning organizations based on this principle.
by Clay Shirky
http://shirky.com/writings/group_enemy.html
More and more companies revolve around both internal and external social software. Similar to one of Englebart's point, Shirky argues social software needs to be update-able to a group's emerging needs and that an online group and its software are deeply intertwined. Also, a key point is that hosting social software is more like having rental tenants (with rights) than having "users" for a desktop application. These ideas can help both in designing and selecting social software.
by Manuel De Landa
http://www.t0.or.at/delanda/meshwork.htm
Much of the essay is about AI design and is probably not of interest to most people, but a key insightful paragraph at the end -- about the need for an appropriate balance of both meshwork and hierarchy in all systems -- applies generally to all organizations:
"To make things worse, the solution to this is not simply to begin adding meshwork components to the mix. Indeed, one must resist the temptation to make hierarchies into villains and meshworks into heroes, not only because, as I said, they are constantly turning into one another, but because in real life we find only mixtures and hybrids, and the properties of these cannot be established through theory alone but demand concrete experimentation. Certain standardizations, say, of electric outlet designs or of data-structures traveling through the Internet, may actually turn out to promote heterogenization at another level, in terms of the appliances that may be designed around the standard outlet, or of the services that a common data-structure may make possible. On the other hand, the mere presence of increased heterogeneity is no guarantee that a better state for society has been achieved. After all, the territory occupied by former Yugoslavia is more heterogeneous now than it was ten years ago, but the lack of uniformity at one level simply hides an increase of homogeneity at the level of the warring ethnic communities. But even if we managed to promote not only heterogeneity, but diversity articulated into a meshwork, that still would not be a perfect solution. After all, meshworks grow by drift and they may drift to places where we do not want to go. The goal-directedness of hierarchies is the kind of property that we may desire to keep at least for certain institutions. Hence, demonizing centralization and glorifying decentralization as the solution to all our problems would be wrong. An open and experimental attitude towards the question of different hybrids and mixtures is what the complexity of reality itself seems to call for. To paraphrase Deleuze and Guattari, never believe that a meshwork will suffice to save us."
by Dee Hock (founder of Visa)
https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Chaordic-Age-Dee-Hock/dp/1576750744
"In Birth of the Chaordic Age, Dee Hock argues that traditional organizational forms can no longer work because organizations have become too complex. Hock advocates a new organizational form that he calls "chaordic", or simultaneously chaotic and orderly. He credits the worldwide success of VISA with its chaordic structure -- it is owned by its member banks which both compete with each other for customers and must cooperate by honoring one another's transactions across borders and currencies. The book shows how these same chaordic concepts are now being put into practice in a broad range of business, social, community, and government organizations."
Hock's book can be seen as taking De Landa's general point above and applying it more formally to organizational design.
by Sandra J. Sucher and Marilyn Morgan Westner
https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about-layoffs
Summary: Research has long shown that layoffs have a detrimental effect on individuals and on corporate performance. The short-term cost savings provided by a layoff are often overshadowed by bad publicity, loss of knowledge, weakened engagement, higher voluntary turnover, and lower innovation — all of which hurt profits in the long run. To make intelligent and humane staffing decisions in the current economic turmoil, leaders must understand what’s different about today’s larger social landscape. The authors also share strategies for a smarter approach to workforce change.
This is one of a series of research-based articles in Harvard Business Review by the authors exploring issues related to layoffs -- and also how to do layoffs as well-as-possible if they are absolutely needed and can't otherwise be avoided. One key point they make is that the fallout of layoffs is different these days than decades ago given social media.
As is explained in an earlier HBR article by others, while firms may preserve finanical capital through layoffs, they lose social capital -- where social capital may be a bigger aspect of avoiding bankruptcy and ultimately achieving success:
"If You Think Downsizing Might Save Your Company, Think Again"
by Michelle L. Zorn, Patricia Norman, Frank C. Butler, and Manjot Bhussar
https://hbr.org/2017/04/if-you-think-downsizing-might-save-your-company-think-again
by Phyl Terry
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Search-Alone-Seekers-Playbook-ebook/dp/B0B75PK2XJ
Based on 25 years of experience working with thousands of leaders – from early-career product managers to CEOs – Never Search Alone gives readers a time-tested, multi-step process (with exercises, tools, and templates) to find the right job now.
This new approach to looking for a job and building a good career focuses on three big ideas learned from helping thousands of job seekers:
- Never Search Alone. Because your emotional balance is the most important thing you need to manage in a job search, you need a support group of fellow job seekers that will help you turn insecurity and anxiety into hope, motivation, confidence, and accountability.
- Candidate-Market Fit. If product-market fit drives company success, candidate-market fit drives career success. So, before you begin interviewing and networking you need to identify precisely what you want and what the market wants. Phyl shows how this key step will help you figure out the intersection between your hopes and dreams and market realities.
- Four Legs to the Negotiations Stool. There are four legs to the negotiations stool: compensation, budget, resources, and support. The last three drive your success in the next job, which is why Phyl asks job seeker’s to emphasize that as much or even more than compensation (though, of course, they will also show you how to ask for more money).
When layoffs or other job transitions do inevitably happen, it is good to have a useful resource. Like another great job search book, "What Color is Your Parachute" by Richard Nelson Bolles, a key idea is figuring out what you truly want to do and how that can fit into the marketplace of available options.
Phyl Terry emphasizes doing this search as part of a small group of typically four to six peer job seekers called a "Job Search Council" (JSC). Feedback from that group and from others can help you refine a "Candidate-Market Fit", find related opportunities, and provide emotional support through the job search process.
There is a related website for the book which, via volunteers, matches people of similar employment backgrounds and aspirations into Job Search Councils:
https://www.phyl.org/
The author also has a checklist for the recently laid-off:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/phylterry_checklist-after-left-or-lost-a-job-activity-6996093926210207744-pb3X
The book suggests it is also useful for people looking at new roles or promotions when already inside an organization, where the idea of creating a small discussion group of people with similar hopes could be useful.
Linking this idea with the previous HBR report on layoffs, it might be beneficial for companies to suggest or even help arrange such Job Search Councils for laid-off employees.
Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness
by Frédéric Laloux
https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organizations-Creating-Inspired-Consciousness-ebook/dp/B00ICS9VI4/
Illustrated version: https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Organizations-Illustrated-Invitation-Conversation/dp/2960133552
YouTube talk about the book's ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcS04BI2sbk
Reinventing Organizations is a radical book, in the sense that radical means getting to the root of a problem. Drawing on works by other writers about organizations and human development, Frédéric Laloux paints a historical picture of moving through different stages of organizational development which he labels with colors. These stages are:
- Red (impulsive, gang-like, alpha male)
- Amber (conformist, pyramidal command and control)
- Orange (achievement, mechanistic, scarcity-assuming, cross-functional communications across a pyramid)
- Green (pluralistic, inverted pyramid with servant leadership and empowered front line)
- Teal (evolutionary, organic, abundance-assuming, self-actualized, self-organizing, purpose-driven).
Orange is the dominant paradigm today according to Laloux. Laloux writes about how to create and sustain the idealized Teal organizations, and profiles several organizations he says are using Teal ideas. Motivation for this new paradigm include preventing employee burnout, increasing employee engagement, reducing employee turnover, and and unleashing employee creativity.
The "Teal" concept has gotten some traction; for example, here is a letter from the CEO of Zappos as they began to move to a Teal paradigm: https://www.zappos.com/about/stories/a-teal-organization
In Laloux's paradigm, most other resources listed above (with the exception of those by Dee Hock and Manuel De Landa) are mainly about making "Orange" organizations work better -- like by improving management effectiveness in motivating employees (e.g. Dan Pink and "Drive"), by helping individuals in organizations be more productive within hierarchical organizational structures, or by carving out a small space within a larger organization for protected creativity as with a "skunkworks". By contrast, Laloux encourages reinventing organizations entirely so there essentially is no formal top-down hierarchy -- but there are instead "natural hierarchies" that emerge from the specific needs of the group to support their purpose.
Laloux outlines three common ways such "organizations" can function depending on scale and purpose, which are roughly the small flexible team where each member does a process from end-to-end (like a group of visiting nurses serving a community), larger organizations for a specific purpose with formal contracts between individuals about mutual obligations, and (for larger organizations with deep long-lasting complex challenges), a set of nested circles of support and obligation, where one person from each circle sits on a decision-making council within the circles above or below. That last looks a bit pyramidal, but the key distinction is that authority is not hierarchical as the nested circles have complete autonomy to pursue their purpose in the way they see fit (though considering the feedback from the representative in the enclosing circle). Those are examples though from existing Teal organizations, and Laloux makes it clear that self-organizing Teal organizations might choose other approaches or flex from one set of approaches to another over time depending on circumstances.
This book is well worth reading for anyone interested in High Performance Organizations, especially for the larger context Laloux provides about what organizations have been and could be. That said, here are some concerns and limitations about "Teal" to keep in mind. To be clear, these musings on limitations of Teal are not intended to discourage people from considering Teal initiatives when appropriate -- but hopefully to help them succeed if possible by somehow addressing such concerns.
-
Laloux notes that "Teal" only works when there is buy-in with both top leadership and owners. Otherwise, people attempting to create a Teal organization will have a lot of frustration -- and at most some minor temporary success that will be swept away with new changes in management or ownership. He says otherwise the best one can hope for in practice is to make an "Orange" organization work a little better or be a little more pleasant. That is a big caveat on this approach.
-
While there may be some "Red" organizations now and in history, Laloux seems to ignore that for millennia the main organization most humans belonged to was essentially a tribe made up of extended family working mainly cooperatively in a hunter/gatherer setting. See for example Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure by Daniel Quinn on "new tribalism". Or see The Original Affluent Society by Marshall Sahlins. Many of Laloux's "Teal" ideals reflect human adaptation to that past. Acknowledging that can lead to deeper insights than tilting against a "Red" strongman strawman -- especially as the root of many management problems today and much employee unhappiness is the misalignment between hundreds of thousands of years of human adaptation and more recent social structures of at most a few millennia of use (going back to the Egyptian pyramid builders) and in practice only a few hundreds years of use in most locations. We might also be able to get some new ideas for modern organizations from looking at how past and current tribes function -- including their techniques for interpersonal mediation and supporting egalitarianism. Some limitations exist for those idealizing tribalism though or apply it in a modern setting. Tribes tend to be made of people who are mostly related to each other by marriage or kinship somehow, who have known each other from birth, and who share a common heritage of stories and common ownership of land; most organizations are more adhoc groups of people with few such strong social ties, little in-depth knowledge of other people's characters, and much less shared culture and shared ownership. Also, while some tribes can be large federations of villages, essentially the core unit of long-ago social organization is around "Dunbar's number" of 100-250 people who can be known face-to face in a village setting (and outsiders may be avoided or attacked for various reasons); modern organizations may have hundreds of thousands of staff and with more rapid turnover than a tribe. So it is a new challenge to think about how to avoid cognitive overload and how to support cooperation among large numbers of people in a modern context with some fundamental differences from millennia ago -- even as people themselves for the most part have not changed much since tribal days. Any new ideas about organization have to address that mismatch. Frankly, given that mismatch between people's adaptations and the new context, it's amazing so many organizations work as well as they do -- even as we might hope organizations could be made even better.
-
Manuel De Landa as above ("Meshworks, Hierarchies, and Interfaces") implies that all real organizations combine ever-changing combinations of hierarchies and meshworks regardless of what it says on the org chart. And Dee Hock as above ("Birth of the Chaordic Age") outlined a semi-formal way to create such hybrid organizations around a purpose from the beginning. Those writings both support Laloux's Teal ideal while they also undermine it a bit in the sense that there are such seeds of organic progress everywhere and there are multiple ways to go about growing them.
-
Further, according to both Hock and De Landa, hierarchies are in a sense inescapable -- even if they need to be integrated with meshworks for success. Laloux acknowledges this by talking about "natural hierarchies". But essentially, Teal seemingly often substitutes sideways peer pressure for top-down management pressure. Depending on a person's personality (introverted vs. extroverted), or social skills (low or high), or level of autistic-like focus on their work instead of the surrounding social environment, might some people prefer top-down pressure from just one individual who respects them over sideways peer pressure from large numbers of other people steeped in some new and not-yet-fully-worked-out Teal culture? Might this preference also reflect cultural changes? Laloux mentions how the Millennial generation in the USA may be a better fit for Teal than previous generations growing up with different expectations and experiences. Glassdoor reviews of Zappos (pursuing Teal organizational ideas) hint at some social conflicts -- like for people unhappy getting stuck doing customer service phone support (an inherent need in Zappo's business) which is not as much fun as other roles. So, who does the less fun jobs and who decides who gets them -- at least until someone else can figure out a way to redesign them to be more fun (like Bob Black suggests is the future of "work")? And it remains to be seen what sort of person "rises" in the informal social hierarchies that exist in Teal organization. As Manuel De Landa says, meshworks drift, and hierarchies may keep meshworks from drifting to places we don't want them to go. This potential drift applies both at the organizational level (drift of purpose or process or quality) and at the individual level (like drifting into individual dysfunction by being captivated by "supernormal stimuli" or a "pleasure trap" such as mentioned later). Even within Teal, there is a sense that a CEO (and indirectly the owners) "hold the space" (top-down) for Teal to happen in. So, there are some limitations and perhaps even inherent contradictions when trying to implement a Teal organization within the current Western cultural and economic framework -- as opposed to a hunter/gatherer tribe operating in a different setting where the tribe essentially collectively "owns" (in a non-sellable way) the productive resource of the "land".
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Self-management is an essential skill which people need to learn to work well within a Teal setting. But most children today are raised in what John Taylor Gatto calls Prussian-model schools which in his informed opinion as a New York State "Teacher of The Year" (twice) are precisely designed to discourage self-management and independent initiative in order for Amber organizations of the Prussian era to run smoothly and deliver to many people the benefits of 1800s-era industrial efficiency and military success. So, how do you take workers essentially trained from a young age to be one way in most schools (rule following, subordinate, Amber-optimized) and then expect them to behave differently (creative, self-managing, Teal-ish) in the workplace? What broader social change is needed to support a Teal direction? Or even just an enlightened Orange or Green direction?
-
Laloux writes hopefully and speculatively at the end of the book about what a Teal society might look like, as opposed to a Teal organization. And that indirectly points to a limitation of High Performance Organizations to solve some social issues. For example, the free and open source software (FOSS) movement consists of a loose federation of individuals and organizations with a common purpose of writing more useful software that can essentially be freely shared and exchanged. Many contributors work on such software in their spare time on a voluntary basis out of a love of the craft or to meet some specific need they feel is important. That movement is not an "organization" -- even if organizations take part in it. From another direction, if a society provided a Universal Basic Income to all citizens, then every citizen would have the financial and thus intellectual freedom to pursue any (inexpensive) interest as much as they wanted. Of from yet another direction, a community of independently-owned Amish farms who can produce most of what they need locally has a lot of independence based on subsistence production and community support (for people who prefer that lifestyle and accept the joys and limitations of a certain way of life, an idea expanded on fictionally in the book Retrotopia by John Michael Greer which explores the politics of choosing what to keep and what to reject of modern technology). The novel "Voyage from Yesteryear" by James P. Hogan envisions a high-tech society rooted in a Teal-like faith in abundance and organized as a gift economy. The short story "The Skills of Xanadu" by Theodore Sturgeon envisions a hyper-connected society using wearable computing making work into play (a bit like Bob Black's ideal in "The Abolition of Work"). Miki Kashtan explores ideas about creating a non-coercive sufficiently-abundant culture in Reweaving Our Human Fabric: Working Together to Create a Nonviolent Future and other writings. So alternatives to formal organizations -- like social movements, a UBI, federated individual owners, a gift economy, or rethinking the very nature of work itself -- are different ways to address issues of burnout and creativity and so on which Laloux is concerned about (although perhaps also each with their own different issues and limitations).
Those last ideas -- that even the most Teal-ish High Performance Organization you can imagine has its limits, and that there exist possible broader social and political alternatives to accomplish at least some of the same goals -- is an especially fitting place to end this section.
This section is in memory of Robin Rochlin Cooperman, MD (Psychiatry) Princeton '86, October 7, 1963 - June 2, 2010
Functional Medicine as an analogy for organizational health and also a way to keep employees healthy
Example: Dr. Mark Hyman's work
http://drhyman.com/
http://bloodsugarsolution.com/category/success-stories/
http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com/home/
"Functional Medicine is the future of conventional medicine -- available now. It seeks to identify and address the root causes of disease, and views the body as one integrated system, not a collection of independent organs divided up by medical specialties. It treats the whole system, not just the symptoms. Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practitioner in a therapeutic partnership."
There are many other advocates for functional medicine like Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Dean Ornish, and so on. Dr. Hyman is just one of the most famous from having helped reverse President Bill Clinton's heart disease.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/fashion/dr-mark-hyman-clintons-health.html
Although, for contrast, others disagree with Dr. Hyman and Functional Medicine:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/04/21/bill-and-hillary-clinton-embrace-functional-medicine/
See also what other healthy companies are doing:
http://greatist.com/health/healthiest-companies
"It’s common sense that happy people make for more productive and innovative employees. Yet 42 percent of workers have left a job due to a stressful environment, and another 35 percent have considered changing jobs due to stress, according to a 2014 Monster.com survey of 6,700 people. ... These 44 businesses go above and beyond, proving that a workplace that considers its employees' health, happiness, and work/life balance vital to its own success isn’t so far-fetched."
A book by a CEO of Whole Foods, a company created to help people be healthier through good nutrition:
The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity by John Mackey, Alona Pulde, Matthew Lederman
https://www.amazon.com/Whole-Foods-Diet-Lifesaving-Longevity/dp/1478944919/
THE WHOLE FOODS DIET simplifies the huge body of science, research, and advice that is available today and reveals the undeniable consensus: a whole foods, plant-based diet is the optimum diet for health and longevity.
And see what individuals like Joe Cross are doing -- as well as others joining a movement arising from a funny movie he made on his own health transformation by improving his diet and exercising in the sunshine:
"Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead"
http://fatsickandnearlydead.com/
http://fatsickandnearlydead2.com/about/
And here is a book about how to build support groups for supper clubs to help people support each other on a path to healthier eating:
"Logical Miracles: Second Edition, edited by Dor Mullen"
https://www.amazon.com/Logical-Miracles-Second-edited-Mullen/dp/1975891430/
"Why is it so hard to eat right? What does it take to turn around the habits that keep us sick, fat and depressed? Logical Miracles is a collection of stories by people in The Suppers Programs who found their personal solutions by experimenting with whole food. In an environment of nonjudgment, we cook, taste and feel our way to health, and we forge new friendships based on healthy living."
And also Blue Zones on "Reverse Engineering Longevity":
https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/
To answer the question [of why some people live longer than others], we teamed up with National Geographic to find the world’s longest-lived people and study them. We knew most of the answers lied within their lifestyle and environment. (The Danish Twin Study established that only about 20% of how long the average person lives is determined by genes.) Then we worked with a team of demographers to find pockets of people around the world with the highest life expectancy, or with the highest proportions of people who reach age 100. ... We then assembled a team of medical researchers, anthropologists, demographers, and epidemiologists to search for evidence-based common denominators among all places. We found nine:
- Move Naturally ...
- Purpose ...
- Down Shift ...
- 80% Rule ...
- Plant Slant ...
- Wine @ 5 ...
- Belong ...
- Loved Ones First ...
- Right Tribe ...
by Deirdre Barrett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernormal_Stimuli
"Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose is a book by Deirdre Barrett published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2010. Barrett is a psychologist on the faculty of Harvard Medical School. The book argues that human instincts for food, sex, and territorial protection evolved for life on the savannah 10,000 years ago, not for today's densely populated technological world. Our instincts have not had time to adapt to the rapid changes of modern life. The book takes its title from Nikolaas Tinbergen's concept in animal ethology of the supernormal stimulus, the phenomena by which insects, birds, and fish in his experiments could be lured by a dummy object which exaggerated one or more characteristic of the natural stimulus object such as giant brilliant blue plaster eggs which birds preferred to sit on in preference to their own. Barrett extends the concept to humans and outlines how supernormal stimuli are a driving force behind today’s most pressing problems, including modern warfare, obesity and other fitness problems, while also explaining the appeal of television, video games, and pornography as social outlets."
What supernormal stimuli are putting your organization's long-term health at risk? To what extent can a specific numerical "metric" become a supernormal stimulus, given you get what you measure?
The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health and Happiness
By Douglas Lisle, Ph.D. and Alan Goldhamer, D.C.
http://web.archive.org/web/20160418155513/http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
This book covers some of the same ground as Supernormal Stimuli but is focused only on food:
"Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits -- and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure -- thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. In our new book, The Pleasure Trap, we explain this extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation -- and how to master this hidden force that undermines health and happiness."
The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time
by Alex Korb
https://www.amazon.com/Upward-Spiral-Neuroscience-Reverse-Depression/dp/1626251207
"Depression can feel like a downward spiral, pulling you into a vortex of sadness, fatigue, and apathy. In The Upward Spiral, neuroscientist Alex Korb demystifies the intricate brain processes that cause depression and offers a practical and effective approach to getting better. Based on the latest research in neuroscience, this book provides dozens of straightforward tips you can do every day to rewire your brain and create an upward spiral towards a happier, healthier life."
See also Phil Hickey:
"Depression Is Not An Illness: It is an Adaptive Mechanism"
http://behaviorismandmentalhealth.com/2009/07/28/depression/
Depression or despondency is not as acute a sensation as pain. It is more generalized and it signals – not imminent tissue damage – but problems of a more general nature. In order to feel good, the following eight factors must be present in our lives.
– good nutrition
– fresh air
– sunshine (in moderation)
– physical activity
– purposeful activity with regular experiences of success
– good relationships
– adequate and regular sleep
– ability to avoid destructive social entanglements, while remaining receptive to positive encounters
When any of these factors are missing, or are present to only a slight degree, we begin to feel despondent or depressed. When many of these factors are missing to a large degree, we become very depressed.
Vitamin D deficiency in particular for lack of sunlight is an occupational hazard of modern indoor work (made worse by an increasingly indoor lifestyle in front of screens). See for example: http://www.grassrootshealth.net/
Surviving America's Depression Epidemic: How to Find Morale, Energy, and Community in a World Gone Crazy
by Bruce E. Levine Ph.D.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933392711
"Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic delves into the roots of depression and links our increasingly consumer-based culture and standard-practice psychiatric treatments to worsening depression, instead of solving it. In an easy-to-understand narrative style, Dr. Levine prescribes antidotes to depression including the keys to building morale and self-healing. Unlike short-term, drug-based solutions, these antidotes foster a long-term cycle where people rediscover passion and purpose, and find meaning in acting on their societal concerns."
by Bessel A. van der Kolk
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
"Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Such experiences inevitably leave traces on minds, emotions, and even on biology. Sadly, trauma sufferers frequently pass on their stress to their partners and children. Renowned trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring—specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neurofeedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, EMDR and other therapies. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score offers proven alternatives to drugs and talk therapy—and a way to reclaim lives."
Given the above statistics, it is almost certain than in any organization of any significant size, there are people who have experienced trauma. How organizations and the individuals in them choose to respond to trauma and traumatized people can make a substantial difference.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posttraumatic_growth
EMDR mentioned above usually involves alternating eye movements left-right guided by a therapist to emulate REM sleep's capacity to process trauma -- but while a person is awake and guiding their own thoughts into past traumatic experiences. A self-help version of EMDR is disussed by David Busch, which he makes available via an audio-based process involving alternating the left-right balance of music listeend to with stereo headphones:
"A Self-Help Version of EMDR Could Make Healing from Trauma Easier"
https://www.madinamerica.com/2021/07/self-help-emdr/
https://se-rem.com/
by Dr. Marty Klein
https://www.martyklein.com/books/sexual-intelligence-really-want-sex-get/
Sex is a primal shaper of human behavior, so it is no surprise that many organizations struggle to deal with the sexual behavior of employees. It is reasonable to try to suppress sex as much as possible in the workplace, especially to avoid sexual harassment lawsuits. There is much good training on that -- which essentially comes down to, do X, Y, or Z in the workplace and you will be fired. While such training helps, it is a bit like someone taking sedatives for anxiety without ever addressing the root cause of their anxiety. Quite likely, in many organizations, a lot employees are unhappy with their sex lives at home, and this plays out in the workplace in various unfortunate ways, thus decreasing productivity. Dr. Klein's book does not have anything specifically to do with sex and organizations. But, Dr. Klein, as a sex therapist with decades of experience, offers a re-conceptualization of what sex could be about for most people. Whereas a graphic book like "The Joy of Sex" or similar how-to guides usually celebrate sexual athleticism and peak performance, Dr. Klein in his non-graphic book points out how such a focus ultimately makes people unhappy in their sex lives -- where, most of the time, people are looking mainly for things like connection, security, comfort, and fun (although within a sexualized experience). While media pushes a certain notion of "normal" sexuality compared to "sexual dysfunction", Dr. Klein explains that what is "normal" in the sex lives of a typical US couple is, say, trying to have sex when tired after a long day of work and parenting, trying to have desire for sex with someone you are constantly fighting with over relationship issues, and people being so self-conscious about perfect sexual performance that, ironically, they are unable to perform at all. His book explains ways to move beyond all that "normal" unhappiness-promoting sexual behavior through developing what he calls "Sexual Intelligence". The need to have a broader view of happy sexuality is especially important for employees in their 30s, 40s, and older (like in the "C" suite typically) -- given that early-learned concepts of what sex should be, shaped in teens and twenties, are unrealistic for later years. Dr. Klein shows how most of what makes sex special remains possible and enjoyable at any age as an adult. So, it could make sense to promote this book as part of a general employee wellness program. While Dr. Klein does not say this specifically, one might speculate that if employees are more sexually satisfied at home (in terms of intimacy needs being met and so on), they are presumably less likely to act sexually inappropriately in the workplace -- thus increasing organizational productivity.
by John Gottman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Principles_for_Making_Marriage_Work
Many people in a typical organization are married or soon will be. How well their marriages work may have a direct impact on how well people perform on the job and how resilient they will be in the face of additional stress from the workplace. Well-working marriages are especially important in family-owned businesses or family-directed foundations. The basic principles of making long-term partnerships work well related to things like fostering mutual respect and encouraging shared meaning also are applicable to some extent in any set of relationships -- even between coworkers.
"The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, by John Gottman, is a book that sets forth what it describes as seven principles that can guide toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. The book attempts to debunk a number of what it describes as myths about marriages and why they fail. The seven principles Gottman sets out are for the partners to enhance their love maps; nurture fondness and admiration; turn toward each other instead of away; let their partner influence them; solve their solvable problems; overcome gridlock; and create shared meaning."
As an example of the recognized importance of this book, it was included in the "Family skills component" of the Comprehensive Soldier fitness program of the US Army.
A follow-up to this book was the 2013 What Makes Love Last?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Makes_Love_Last%3F
The Gottmans offer workshops including in person, online, and via DVDs (where techniques learned there -- like making positive comments a lot more often than crtical ones -- are also applicable in the workplace): https://www.gottman.com/couples/workshops/art-science-of-love/
Created by “the Einstein of Love” (Psychology Today), The Art and Science of Love virtual event is a two-day workshop grounded on what actually works in relationships that are happy and stable. See for yourself why millions of couples worldwide have benefited from the Gottman Method. This is a synchronous event with Q&A throughout the session, as well as private roving therapist support during each exercise time. Additionally, couples will receive a physical box set of workshop materials to further their learning by use of tangible materials. Discover The Art and Science of Love at our world-renowned weekend workshop for couples created by Drs. John and Julie Gottman and see for yourself why millions of couples worldwide have benefited from the Gottman Method. 2 days filled with engaging presentations and experiential activities designed to confirm, strengthen, or restore your love For couples of every age, ability, and sexual orientation Shown to achieve results similar to those of 6 months of marital therapy Has produced positive results for 94% of those who attend Based on over 40 years of research with thousands of couples, The Art and Science of Love workshop will give you new insights and research-based skills that can dramatically improve the intimacy and friendship in your relationship and help you manage conflict in a healthy, positive way.
The Gottmans also offer more help through a referral network to trained professionals and via products developed with "Affective Software":
https://gottmanconnect.com/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/affective-software-and-the-gottman-institute-join-forces-to-usher-in-new-era-for-healthier-relationships-301745813.html
Others have applied the Gottman ideas to improving the workplace:
https://www.gottman.com/blog/introduction-sound-relationship-workplace/
Years ago, early in my career as an organizational consultant and executive coach, I began applying Dr. Gottman’s research on couple relationships to relationships in the world of work. It is a passionate and interesting mission. As a matchmaker of sorts, I’m proud to report there have been countless professional relationship success stories born due to this union. When I creatively apply Dr. Gottman’s principles to the workplace, a synergy emerges. It has powerful reverberating effects on individual career advancement as well as organizational development."
Such ideas run parallel to other advice to improve manager training:
"The boss factor: Making the world a better place through workplace relationships"
https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-boss-factor-making-the-world-a-better-place-through-workplace-relationships
"To move forward, rather than stand paralyzed, crystal-clear prioritization will be key. In this article, we argue that there is one essential area where companies can create enormous social value: job satisfaction. Because of the connection between happiness at work and overall life satisfaction, improving employee happiness could make a material difference to the world’s 2.1 billion workers. It could also boost profitability and enhance organizational health. When it comes to employee happiness, bosses and supervisors play a bigger role than one might guess. Relationships with management are the top factor in employees’ job satisfaction, which in turn is the second most important determinant of employees’ overall well-being. According to our analysis, only mental health is more important for overall life satisfaction. Unfortunately, research also shows that most people find their managers to be far from ideal; for example, in a recent survey, 75 percent of survey participants said that the most stressful aspect of their job was their immediate boss. ... People are also more likely to be promoted when they exhibit self-confidence, build extensive networks, and navigate organizational politics with ease. Creating a sense of personal power and toughness can have positive outcomes for leaders, particularly if they are confronted with an unchanging status quo. But such self-orientation is the polar opposite of what is required for building trust."
As another example of how these ideas arising from couple's therapy are broadly applicable, Morton Deutsch's work provides a great example of using ideas arising from marital therapy to help manage international conflicts by working towards mutual security:
http://www.beyondintractability.org/audiodisplay/deutsch-m
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton_Deutsch#Further_reading
"I wrote a paper about preventing World War III. That was during the height of the cold war, I think I wrote it in 1982, it was called "The Presidential Address to the International Society to Political Psychology." And there I took the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union and characterized it as a malignant relationship, which had some of the characteristics that I was talking about with the couple. It was right for both the United States and the Soviet Union to think that the other was hostile, would undo it, would damage it, you know, all of these things. The relationship was a malignant one. They had to become aware of the malignancy, and the only way out really was recognizing that it's hurting, recognizing that there is a potential better way of relating. And that better way of relating involves having a sense that one can only have security if there's mutual security. And that's true in most relationships. That's particularly true to recognize groups that have had bitter strife where they've hurt each other. They have to deal with the problem of how to get to where they can live together. It may be ethnic groups within a given nation or community. They can only live together if they recognize that their own security is going to be dependent on the other person's security. So each person, each side, each group has to be interested in the welfare of the other. On a national level it has to deal with military and other economic security. At the group level and personal level, it often has to do with psychological security. It has to do with someone recognizing, I shouldn't be treating the other in an undignified, disrespectful way. So in an interpersonal relationship, that kind of security, recognizing that not only are you entitled to it, so is the other person entitled to it. And if you don't give that other person that entitlement the relationship is going to move in the other direction, back to bitter conflict."
by Harry Emerson Fosdick
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1572133.On_Being_a_Real_Person
Despite some imperfections by modern standards (especially in relation to comments on sexual-orientation), this 1943 book remains a classic from a Presbyterian minister about how it is our choice of response to our genetics and circumstances that makes us a real person who is successful in life and society. While there are some references to the importance of religious faith especially in dealing with difficult times, the main focus of this book is practical advice on achieving mental integration as a whole person. Fosdick's advice is based on decades of counseling experience helping people deal with a variety of common mental issues. Examples of that include explaining how sometimes our greatest weaknesses can become our greatest strengths, explaining how to overcome fear through action rising out of stronger positive emotion for a larger cause, and explaining how in helping others we may break out of our tail-chasing egocentrism and related depression and so indirectly help ourselves grow as human beings in connection to others -- especially when we have faith in an idea, a cause, or a person.
From the table of contents:
- Shouldering Responsibility for Ourselves
- What Being a Real Person Means
- The Principle of Self-Acceptance
- Getting Oneself Off One's Hands
- Dealing with Fear and Anxiety
- Handling Our Mischievous Consciences
- Using All There Is in Us
- Mastering Depression
- The Principle of Released Power
- The Practical Use of Faith
The book can be borrowed through the Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/onbeingrealperso00fosd
by Matthew Walker
https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Sleep-Unlocking-Dreams/dp/1501144324
Adequate sleep (eight hours) is essential for learning, creativity, health, ethics, and safety in the workplace.
"Within the brain, sleep enriches a diversity of functions, including our ability to learn, memorize, and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine-tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. Dreaming creates a virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity. In this “compelling and utterly convincing” (The Sunday Times) book, preeminent neuroscientist and sleep expert Matthew Walker provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshalling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night’s sleep every night."
In any high-performance organization -- especially one involving software -- it is likely there will be high-performing detail-oriented people on staff with Asperger's or who are otherwise on the autism spectrum to some degree. It's also increasingly likely that people on staff may be dealing with a spouse, child, or other close relative with Asperger's or some other form of autism. Asperger's in women and girls in particular is often not recognized or is misunderstood. Here are a few starting points for a general familiarity with an issue which may not be obvious just by looking at someone. The issue may not even be obvious when interacting with someone with Asperger's, especially women who over the years may have developed excellent coping skills and yet may still be in a high state of anxiety in a social interaction requiring much emotional energy to maintain composure -- energy which otherwise might be channelled into improved organizational productivity.
In general, characteristics of any person (not just Asperger's) can be strengths or weaknesses in different situations. What matters for high performance in a diverse organization is a good match of person to situation. For example, some fastidiousness or even distrustfullness may be helpful for debugging as a programmer but harmful for social interactions especially as a manager (unless the person can learn to rein in such traits in a difference context).
"4 Strategies for Managing Workers with Autism or Asperger's Syndrome"
https://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/employees/4-strategies-for-managing-workers-with-autism-or-aspergers-syndrome/
Key points from there:
- Some of the world’s brightest and most creative people are on the autism spectrum
- Silicon Valley has a high proportion of kids with autism because many of their parents are undiagnosed “aspies” themselves.
- People on the autism spectrum are often highly intelligent and focused.
- The tech industry attracts many workers on the autism spectrum, whether diagnosed or not.
- Be aware of requirements for accommodation required from the Americans with Disabilities Act.
- Give employees private work spaces.
- Use technology to ease communication.
- Be direct in your instructions.
- Don’t assume an autistic employee is trying to be rude.
"Asperger's on the Job: Must-have Advice for People with Asperger's or High Functioning Autism, and their Employers, Educators, and Advocates"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7661280-asperger-s-on-the-job
"Rudy Simone, an adult with Asperger's Syndrome and an accomplished author, consultant, and musician, created this insightful resource to help employers, educators, and therapists accommodate this growing population, and to help people with Asperger’s find and keep gainful employment. Rudy's candid advice is based on her personal experiences and the experiences of over 50 adults with Asperger's from all over the world, in addition to their employers and numerous experts in the field. Detailed lists of "what the employee can do" and "to employers and advocates" provide balanced guidelines for success, while Rudy's "Interview Tips" and "Personal Job Map" tools will help Aspergians, young or old, find their employment niche. There is more to a job than what the tasks are. From social blunders, to sensory issues, to bullying by coworkers, Simone presents solutions to difficult challenges. Readers will be enriched, enlightened, and ready to work—together!"
"Autistic workers: loyal, talented ... ignored"
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/apr/06/autistic-workers-employers-ignorance
"Employers could recruit a whole army of unique workers. But ignorance and fear get in the way. ... Job interviews are a huge barrier to employment because of the requirement for good communications skills. ... The key difficulties are social interaction, establishing relationships, lack of emotional reciprocation (which can give an impression of indifference), difficulty with flexibility of thought, forward planning and thinking in abstract ways. The upside, however, is equally considerable. ... "People with autism tend to be very reliable and punctual. They like routine, and most won't mind doing repetitive tasks. Many are very good with maps and figures. They are usually scrupulously honest – they just don't have the guile to be anything else, and they can't lie." ... Proponents like Asher say it's not about pushing the charity card – or even corporate social responsibility – but about a real benefit to employers of taking on loyal, talented people with unique skills. They also say that what is good for those with autism, can be good for us all; for example, the need for employers of autistic people with autism to brush up on communication skills, which can be beneficial to everyone."
"What Women With Autism Want You to Know | Iris"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwEH9Ui4HV8
As "Kirsten" says on that video, "Autism isn't a linear spectrum of high or low; it's a a whole bunch of different traits that are on their own spectrums; it's kind of a 3D weird mess". And as "Amy" says there -- which can be contemplated in the context of supporting growth specific to each employee: "It is about living our best possible lives with this condition. ... I would just love to see every autistc person living up their fullest potential whatever that is for them. Success is about your child growing up to be the best version of themselves that they can be -- whoever and whatever that is."
"Tony Attwood - Aspergers in Girls (Asperger Syndrome)"
http://tonyattwood.com.au/about-aspergers/girls-and-women-who-have-aspergers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfOHnt4PMFo
"What It’s Like To Be A Young Woman With Asperger’s"
https://thoughtcatalog.com/gwendolyn-kansen/2015/11/what-its-like-to-be-a-young-woman-with-aspergers/
"Are You Fighting For Your Aspergers Marriage?"
https://www.myaspergers.net/adults-with-aspergers/fighting-aspergers-marriage/
"Neurodiverse Couples Counseling Center"
https://www.neurodiversecouplescounseling.com/
https://www.neurodiversecouplescounseling.com/neurodiverse-couples-counseling
"Welcome to the world's largest Neuro-Informed Therapy Group"
Sometimes reversible health issues relating to poor nutrition, food additives, environmental toxins, and so on may also either present as autism or make autistic behavior worse, like, for example, Dr. Mark Hyman discusses here:
https://drhyman.com/blog/2010/12/09/breakthrough-discovery-on-the-causes-of-autism/
by David Conroy
https://www.amazon.com/Out-Nightmare-Recovery-Depression-Suicidal/dp/0595414974/
"Out of the Nightmare. An all-out assault on the barriers that stand between you and recovery from depression and suicidal pain. decomposes recovery from depression into recovery from envy, shame, self-pity, grandiosity, fear, stigma, social abuse, and the double binds and vicious circles of the mythology of suicide. A drug-free approach to getting better and staying better. This book provides counselors with a bold new non-technical framework that is free from the prejudices that deter the suicidal from seeking help. It provides those who have lost a loved one to suicide with a broad array of new conceptual tools to understand the tragedy and to find help for stuck positions of bereavement. Most importantly, it provides all those who suffer from depression with hundreds of resources to find their way out of the nightmare."
A suicide by an employee or within the families of employees touches many lives and can significantly impact productivity. Along with advice for suicidal individuals, the book includes suggestion for first responders, counselors, friends, and those who sadly are survivors of someone else's suicide. A major focus of the book includes deconstructing harmful ideas surrounding how people often think about or respond to those who have suicidal ideation and suggesting a more effective way of thinking about suicide prevention called the aggregate pain model.
Some key ideas from the book are summarized here:
https://www.metanoia.org/suicide/index.html
"Suicide is not chosen; it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain. That's all it's about. You are not a bad person, or crazy, or weak, or flawed, because you feel suicidal. It doesn't even mean that you really want to die - it only means that you have more pain than you can cope with right now. If I start piling weights on your shoulders, you will eventually collapse if I add enough weights... no matter how much you want to remain standing. Willpower has nothing to do with it. Of course you would cheer yourself up, if you could. Don't accept it if someone tells you, "That's not enough to be suicidal about." There are many kinds of pain that may lead to suicide. Whether or not the pain is bearable may differ from person to person. What might be bearable to someone else, may not be bearable to you. The point at which the pain becomes unbearable depends on what kinds of coping resources you have. Individuals vary greatly in their capacity to withstand pain. When pain exceeds pain-coping resources, suicidal feelings are the result. Suicide is neither wrong nor right; it is not a defect of character; it is morally neutral. It is simply an imbalance of pain versus coping resources. You can survive suicidal feelings if you do either of two things: (1) find a way to reduce your pain, or (2) find a way to increase your coping resources. Both are possible."
One of the fundamental challenges in an organization or society is to destigmatize asking for help to avoid the classic dilemma those with suicidal thoughts face when they expect asking for help will only increase their pain from whatever reactions occur -- such as job loss or being ejected from a university community. By reconceptualizing suicide as an involuntary action that occurs when total pain exceeds resources for coping with pain, David Conroy provides a morally neutral way for organizations and society to think about suicide prevention in a productive way. Rather than focus mainly on intervening in a crisis, organizations can rethink their operations to reduce participant pain and to increase coping resources. This helps everyone in the organization, not just those who have reached a threshold where pain is very close to coping resources. Early intervention is much cheaper and more successful than waiting for a crisis. This model shows how organizations can approach suicide intervention in hundreds of way. One of those ways is also making people aware of success stories where individuals overcame depression and related suicidal thoughts.
Aggregate pain includes physical pain, emotional pain, and social pain. Reducing pain in any area by even a small amount may bring a person below a threshold for suicide. Similarly there are many types of coping resources from interacting with a friend, to going to a funny movie, to receiving adequate health care, to interacting with a pet. There are also some short-term coping strategies like denial or drinking which may have long-term negative consequences that become new sources of pain when done to excess.
by Stephen S. Ilardi
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738213888/
"In the past decade, depression rates have skyrocketed, and one in four Americans suffer from major depression at some point in their lives. Where have we gone wrong? Dr. Stephen Ilardi sheds light on our current predicament and reminds us that our bodies were never designed for the sleep-deprived, poorly nourished, frenzied pace of twenty-first century life. Inspired by the extraordinary resilience of aboriginal groups like the Kaluli of Papua New Guinea, Dr. Ilardi prescribes an easy-to-follow, clinically proven program that harks back to what our bodies were originally made for and what they continue to need with these six components:
- Brain Food [supplement with Omega 3s; remember your brain is mostly fat]
- Don't Think, Do [avoid excessive rumination by doing things]
- Antidepressant Exercise [aerobic exercise is medicine]
- Let There Be Light [get natural sunlight and supplement as needed with vitamin D3]
- Get Connected [engage in face-to-face social activities regularly]
- Habits of Healthy Sleep [get enough sleep by following basic guidelines]
The Depression Cure's holistic approach has been met with great success rates, helping even those who have failed to respond to traditional medications. For anyone looking to supplement their treatment, The Depression Cure offers hope and a practical path to wellness for anyone."
Dr. Ilardi says the reliable long-term success rate for this combined holistic approach for mild to moderate depression is about 80%, which is far in excess of placebos or medications. However, he also points out that for people with severe depression, for those with underlying medical conditions (like low thyroid), or for those with specific traumas in their past, additional interventions may be needed.
Encouraging and facilitating these six areas could be a core part of any organization's wellness strategy. Reducing depression in the workplace can both increase productivity and reduce health care costs.
Key ideas from the book are summarized in this TEDx talk:
"Depression is a disease of civilization: Stephen Ilardi at TEDxEmory"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drv3BP0Fdi8
He also has a website on the ideas:
"Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC)"
https://tlc.ku.edu/
"We were never designed for the sedentary, indoor, sleep-deprived, socially-isolated, fast-food-laden, frenetic pace of modern life. (Stephen Ilardi, PhD)"
In general, the further we get from the hunter/gatherer lifestyle we are (mostly) adapted for, the worse our health tends to gets -- as we get less and less exercise, sunlight, sleep, community, nutrition, and positive mindful reasonably-paced action. The last of which (positive action, especially when done as part of a meaningful group activity) displaces tail-chasing negative ruminant thinking we can otherwise easily get caught up in.
There are many other books as books listed above on "Why We Sleep" or on nutrition that examine aspects of this issue -- but what makes Ilardi's book so useful is bringing so many of these ideas together in a historical context. Ilardi says his advice is general and some people with specific traumas underlying their depression may need additional specific help (such as in "The Body Keeps The Score" book on recovery from trauma listed above).
Other books that address specific aspects of depression and related issues of addiction, trauma, and perfectionism (and how they are at root deep cultural issues related to recent Western lifestyle changes) include:
- "Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions" by Johann Hari
https://thelostconnections.com/
From the last chapter of the book: "You aren’t a machine with broken parts. You are an animal whose needs are not being met. You need to have a community. You need to have meaningful values, not the junk values you’ve been pumped full of all your life, telling you happiness comes through money and buying objects. You need to have meaningful work. You need the natural world. You need to feel you are respected. You need a secure future. You need connections to all these things. You need to release any shame you might feel for having been mistreated." - "Chasing the Scream: the First and Last Days of the War on Drugs" by Johann Hari
- "The Globalization of Addiction: A Study in Poverty of the Spirit" by Bruce Alexander
- "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction" by Gabor Maté, MD
- "The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss" by Sandra Marinella
- "Writing Hard Stories: Celebrated Memoirists Who Shaped Art from Trauma" by Melanie Brooks
- "The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are" by Brené Brown
- "Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead" by Brené Brown
And here is a new video series covering many of these themes: "Depression, Anxiety & Dementia Secrets" (The dozens of practitioners listed there who were interviewed can also usually be found through their own websites or via YouTube.) https://depressionanxietyseries.com
Some other books on psychological issues and treatments include:
- Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative Emotions (2014) by Peter R. Breggin M.D.
- Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry" (1994) by Peter R. Breggin, M.D. ( https://breggin.com )
- Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial (2015) by Peter C. Gøtzsche, M.D. ( https://www.scientificfreedom.dk/books/ )
Obviously there are many, many more books and videos out there on health and mental wellness and no one has time to read them all and stay healthy physically and mentally. Nor do they all agree. And a comprehensive approach to mental wellnesss needs to address many factors, and often mental health resources just touch on one or two major concerns. For example, "Lost Connections" focuses on what we have lost socially from our hunter/gatherer past but not, say, what we have lost nutritionally or how our individual family-rooted thinking patterns may be problematical. But a key theme repeated in many of mental health resources though is that, to build on something Dr. Joel Fuhrman says "Eat to Live", while there may be genetic aspects to "weak links" in a person's physical or mental health, whether those links get pulled on to the breaking point (or even just enough to cause ongoing distress) has much to do with modern changes to diet, lifestyle, workplace, culture, and infrastructure -- and how such circumstances changed from how humans lived in tribal hunter/gatherer days. People in a High Performing Organizations ideally need to understand that idea and then -- using the best of what modern technology makes possible -- work towards creating circumstances to help strengthen people's weak links rather than pull on them.
By Emma McAdam
https://www.youtube.com/@TherapyinaNutshell/videos
Well-produced short concise videos on a variety of mental health topics.
"Welcome to my passion project. I'm Emma McAdam, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and my mission is to make mental health resources more easy to access. Odds are good that you or someone you care about will experience a mental illness during their lifetime, but most people have never been taught the skills to improve their mental health. And that leaves people feeling hopeless and helpless to do anything more than just cope with depression or anxiety or another mental health concern. So I created this channel to boil down therapy skills and psycho-education into bite-sized nuggets of help."
One example video:
"The Myth of the Chemical Imbalance: What Causes Depression? Lost Connections Summary Part 1"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1sOJn8Z1Y
"Now, from my perspective, the field of depression treatment is moving away from the serotonin hypothesis toward a much more nuanced approach to depression, with contributing factors including inflammation, allergies, nutrient deficiencies, and, of course, how you think and the experiences you've had. ... The biopsychosocial model is a well-understood and commonly accepted approach to mental health that conceptualizes the causes of mental illness as being an interplay of biology, psychology - how you think - and society - your experiences, your environment. But I'm making this video because many members of the public have never heard of it. I think the author [of Lost Connections] was pretty mind-blown over the realization that he had been misled. So in his pendulum swing away from the chemical imbalance hypothesis ... he swings way over here to the social causes of depression, and he leaves out a pretty significant and well-rounded approach to the biological causes of depression and that interactive nature of the body and the mind with depression. I mean, these are things like sleep, vitamin D, your thyroid, nutrition, exercise, light therapy, right? All of these are evidence-based treatments that have shown to be effective at treating depression. He just kind of ignores all the other biological contributing factors."
Another video series by Heidi Priebe, a student of attachment theory:
https://www.youtube.com/@heidipriebe1/videos
Example emphasizing personal experience of listening to your body reactions to circumstances and making related adjustments:
"My Personal Depression Survival Guide"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfZUFKuA1-w
By Elizabeth Yuko
https://www.realsimple.com/health/mind-mood/mindfulness-for-skeptics
Distinguishes between "meditation" (which "generally focuses on nothing—trying to quiet the mind down to no thoughts") and "mindfulness" (as a specific form of meditation involving "the process of observing your thoughts in a neutral, nonreactive way"). Suggests that different forms of meditation may work better for some people than others.
Key point: "It's known that mindfulness is routinely used as part of treatment plans for managing anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions; and yet, some research suggests that employing mindfulness and meditation can, in certain cases, worsen anxiety and depression ... if you're using it to dwell on negativity..."
by Daniel J. Levitin
https://www.amazon.com/Organized-Mind-Thinking-Straight-Information/dp/0147516315
"The information age is drowning us with an unprecedented deluge of data. At the same time, we’re expected to make more -- and faster -- decisions about our lives than ever before. No wonder, then, that the average American reports frequently losing car keys or reading glasses, missing appointments, and feeling worn out by the effort required just to keep up. But somehow some people become quite accomplished at managing information flow. In The Organized Mind, Daniel J. Levitin, PhD, uses the latest brain science to demonstrate how those people excel -- and how readers can use their methods to regain a sense of mastery over the way they organize their homes, workplaces, and time. With lively, entertaining chapters on everything from the kitchen junk drawer to health care to executive office workflow, Levitin reveals how new research into the cognitive neuroscience of attention and memory can be applied to the challenges of our daily lives. This Is Your Brain on Music showed how to better play and appreciate music through an understanding of how the brain works. The Organized Mind shows how to navigate the churning flood of information in the twenty-first century with the same neuroscientific perspective."
by Johann Hari
https://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Focus-Attention-Think-Deeply-ebook/dp/B093G9TS91/
"We think our inability to focus is a personal failure to exert enough willpower over our devices. The truth is even more disturbing: our focus has been stolen by powerful external forces that have left us uniquely vulnerable to corporations determined to raid our attention for profit. Hari found that there are twelve deep causes of this crisis, from the decline of mind-wandering to rising pollution, all of which have robbed some of our attention. ... Crucially, Hari learned how we can reclaim our focus -- as individuals, and as a society -- if we are determined to fight for it. Stolen Focus will transform the debate about attention and finally show us how to get it back."
Also related to that theme (mentioned in a comment there by "Chris Mac") are:
- "The Shallows" (2011, revised 2020) by Nicholas Carr https://www.nicholascarr.com/?page_id=16
- "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" by Jaron Lanier https://www.amazon.com/Arguments-Deleting-Social-Media-Accounts/dp/1250239087
- "Digital Minimalism" (2019) by Cal Newport https://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/
by Thomas Moore
https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Nights-Soul-Finding-Through/dp/1592401333
"Every human life is made up of the light and the dark, the happy and the sad, the vital and the deadening. How you think about this rhythm of moods makes all the difference.
Our lives are filled with emotional tunnels: the loss of a loved one or end of a relationship, aging and illness, career disappointments or just an ongoing sense of dissatisfaction with life. Society tends to view these “dark nights” in clinical terms as obstacles to be overcome as quickly as possible. But Moore shows how honoring these periods of fragility as periods of incubation and positive opportunities to delve the soul’s deepest needs can provide healing and a new understanding of life’s meaning. Dark Nights of the Soul presents these metaphoric dark nights not as the enemy, but as times of transition, occasions to restore yourself, and transforming rites of passage, revealing an uplifting and inspiring new outlook on such topics as:
• The healing power of melancholy
• The sexual dark night and the mysteries of matrimony
• Finding solace during illness and in aging
• Anxiety, anger, and temporary Insanities
• Linking creativity, spirituality, and emotional struggles
• Finding meaning and beauty in the darkness ...
I am always slow to label difficult emotions as sick. Usually I would rather see them as trials that make you more of a person. I keep in mind the many men and women of the past I admire, who were complicated, who were neither whole nor healthy. You will find many such people described in this book and held up as models, even though their imperfections and failures showed luminously in their lives. In general, I place a higher value on soulfulness than on health and propriety.
One chapter of my book Care of the Soul in particular made an impression on many readers — “Gifts of Depression.” I have learned from many sources — ancient medical books, thoughtful artists and writers, and the work of C. G. Jung and James Hillman — to value visitations of melancholy and sadness. I tried to be specific about the rewards that can come from depressive moods. As overwhelming and distressing as it is, what we call depression is, after all, a human experience, tied to all the other meaningful events in your life. You do a disservice to yourself when you treat your feelings of despair and emptiness as deviations from the normal and healthy life you idealize. The dark times, too, like enlightenments and achievements, leave their mark and make you a person of insight and compassion. ..."
It is inevitable that there will be deaths of coworkers or the family members of coworkers in the modern workplace. How we deal with grief can be a reflection of our values -- especially if individuals and organizations emphasize caring for each other. Every loss may be mourned in its own way depending on the nature of the relationship or on how the loss brings up issues with losses from past relationships. Here are some related resources.
"How to Support Employees through Grief and Loss"
https://www.griefcounselor.org/resources/grief-in-the-workplace/
"Paradoxically, offering employees more time to deal with their grief—through longer bereavement leave, reduced hours and flexible schedules—could wind up costing organizations less, Sandberg says. By addressing the issue directly, organizational leaders can build in mechanisms for ensuring that the work gets done while also providing employees with the time and compassion they need to heal. And that brings with it long-term benefits in the form of greater employee loyalty."
"Coping With Grief in the Workplace"
https://www.griefcounselor.org/resources/grief-in-the-workplace/
"The loss of a colleague may be extremely disruptive and difficult to handle. Gratefully, more and more administrators are keyed in to the psychological and emotional needs of their staff. ... Employees may find their concentration and overall job performance suffer in the aftermath of a death at work. Meaningful conversations, projects, simple chit-chat with a colleague may be left cut-off and unfinished. For younger staff, there is often no template for losing a friend or colleague resulting in confusion, poor coping strategies, and absenteeism. Managers may not have the knowledge base or skills to help staff begin to process the loss in a meaningful way. ..."
"Healing Grief at Work: 100 Practical Ideas After Your Workplace Is Touched by Loss"
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-Grief-Work-Practical-Workplace/dp/1879651459/
"Leading Through Loss: How to Navigate Grief at Work"
https://www.amazon.com/Leading-Through-Loss-Navigate-Grief/dp/B0BCNXWLYV/
On the topic of grief, remember that pet loss can also have a major impact on people's lives too:
"The Pet Loss Companion: Healing Advice from Family Therapists Who Lead Pet Loss Groups"
https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Loss-Companion-Healing-Therapists/dp/1484918266/
"Animal loss"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_loss
"Pet illness and death is gradually becoming recognized as similar to other forms of sickness and death in the family. In the UK, a variety of companies provide paid leave for such eventualities, with employment tribunals backing this in some instances where employment terms did not specifically mention pet loss.
Recent studies by insurers suggest that up to one in four pet owners are sufficiently affected by pet loss or illness to take time off, but that many feel this will be treated lightly and hence simply state they were sick. According to Petplan, 35% of people admitted to taking time off work to either settle new pets into the home or care for sick pets, and half of those admitted taking a whole week off, and according to Direct Line one in four pet owners "said they have been too upset to go into the workplace when their four legged friend died" and "many of those who did go into work after the death of their pet said they were unproductive." The latter survey also noted that pet owners in the UK take "around 8 days off" due to grief at the death of a pet, and that "seventy-nine percent of people responding to the survey admitted they did not think their boss would be sympathetic, and the only way they could get time off work was by... pretending to be ill.""
In modern society, financial wellness is often linked to physical wellness and mental wellness, given the amount of stress financial issues can cause. There are endless books out there on personal finance, some good, some bad, some meh, and some downright misleading and dangerous. Here are two broad resource areas as starting points for personal financial health related to the "Bogleheads" and "FIRE" movements. In general, an organization which has employees who feel they are on a plausible road to financial wellness presumably is likely to be a happier place to work.
The first set of resources revolves around anything by Jack Bogle (who created the first Index fund) or the related "Bogleheads" resources which can be found starting here:
https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started
The Bogleheads® Philosophy is summarized there as:
- Develop a workable plan
- Invest early and often
- Never bear too much or too little risk
- Never try to time the market
- Use index funds when possible
- Keep costs low
- Diversify
- Minimize taxes
- Keep it simple
- Stay the course
A variety of related books can be found here:
https://www.bogleheads.org/RecommendedReading.php
A good first book there would be:
"The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing - by Taylor Larimore, Mel Lindauer, and Michael LeBoeuf".
https://www.amazon.com/Bogleheads-Guide-Investing-Taylor-Larimore-ebook/dp/B00JUV01RW/
The specifics may vary based on individual and even perhaps emerging trends. But as an example, a typical Boglehead-ish financial strategy would be to save 15% of your salary before taxes throughout 30 years of your working career. You would invest 60% of those savings in broadly diversified index funds and 40% in bonds or similar safe investments (where those percentages might vary depending on individual circumstances). You would rebalance stocks and bonds every year or two, so you were always buying low and selling high. The combination of saving the equivalent of 4.5X your annual salary over those thirty years plus compound interest and appreciation over three decades will likely produce a nest egg of 15-25X your annual salary at retirement (which might be at age 55 if you have done this financial plan from the start). You can then typically withdraw about 4% annually sustainably. Combined with Social Security for US citizens, that will support a lifestyle in retirement equal to or greater than during your working lifetime (where you were living on only 85% of your salary), while likely leaving a substantial amount of money for your heirs. You should also have appropriate term life insurance, disability insurance, health insurance, property insurance, long-term care insurance, and other liability insurance to guard against various risks. This conservative approach towards financial planning is very compatible with working at a typical business or governmental position for your entire career and also living a mainstream middle-class lifestyle. Most bigger companies and most laws relating to retirement savings are geared around supporting this sort of possibility -- even if not that many people save that much consciously and consistently for various reasons.
The Boglehead approach has worked for many people over the past several decades -- even as people can always disagree about the particulars going forward. Lots of discussion on how to interpret and act on that philosophy or adjust those particulars for individuals can be found here: https://www.bogleheads.org/
The second set of resources relate to "FIRE" or "Financial Independence Retire Early". Again, there are many resources in this area. One to consider is:
"Early Retirement Extreme: A philosophical and practical guide to financial independence" by Jacob Lund Fisker
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046LU7H0/
Fisker's website includes articles like:
"How I live on $7,000 per year"
http://earlyretirementextreme.com/how-i-live-on-7000-per-year.html
In contrast with the Bogleheads, the FIRE approach (as represented by Fisker) focuses on much higher savings rates (50%-80%) and much lower spending rates (either from frugality and doing without or using enjoyable Do-It-Yourself skills for local subsistence production like gardening). If you save at such a high rate, and also learn to do without or DIY, then the hope is that in only 5-10 years, with interest and maybe a bit of luck with investments, you will soon have a nest egg of about 5X-10X your salary, or about 10-20X your typical spending (since you spend only 50% or less of your salary year after year). Combined with a scrappy can-do attitude (and government-subsidized health care), that is potentially enough to have financial independence and retire in your early 30s if you started doing this by your mid 20s. People who follow FIRE often pride themselves on their versatility, flexibility, and adaptiveness. Some FIRE followers might accept more risk in order to achieve financial freedom quickly -- even if that meant, say, going without some form of insurance on the assumption the risk is unlikely to happen to them and that they are adaptable enough to deal with disaster if it strikes.
Some FIRE followers might still see themselves as "retired" even if they chose to do a part-time job -- typically where they had a lot of control over the situation, including perhaps being a landlord or some self-employed occupation -- to get by without digging into their savings or to meet social needs. FIRE can be more a state of mind in that sense relating to independence then about whether people actually "work" for income to some extent.
One place to find discussion on FIRE is: https://www.early-retirement.org/
There is a lot of commonality between Bogleheads and FIRE followers. But a big difference relates to feelings about jobs and spending. Bogleheads tend to see both their job and their personal spending as things they enjoy (e.g. a doctor who likes doctoring, and engineer who loves engineering). FIRE followers tend to see a job and spending as things to minimize to bring personal freedom -- seeing a job as a means to an end to having a small property owned free-and-clear along with enough investment for a personal "basic income", or seeing a job mainly a way to learn skills on someone else's dime which they can then use to run their own business. A FIRE follower might feel like they have a life of abundance with a portfolio worth US$200,000 plus a paid-for inexpensive 1000 square foot house on a few acres in a rural area -- finding happiness in gardening, sewing their own clothes, playing the organ weekly in a local church, homeschooling their children, doing their own plumbing for fun and personal satisfaction, self-publishing a couple of books, and having a part-time business helping people by, say, carpet cleaning. Such a person may even look with scorn on Bogleheads who routinely ask, say, if US$2,000,000 in a investments is enough to retire on while keeping up a travel-oriented lifestyle in retirement including maintaining an big expensive main home and a small second home by a lake. Likewise, a Boglehead might see it a simply ridiculous to want to learn to sew their own clothes (badly), and live in a tiny house far from city services and "good" school districts, and sacrifice so many other things given they enjoy their job, enjoy being part of a big social enterprise doing amazing things, enjoy having plenty of room in their home for visitors or parties, enjoy wearing a variety of fashionable clothes, and enjoy traveling to exotic locations with their children. This is painting with a broad brush, and there are of course people who would call themselves a Boglehead or a FIRE follower that fall in between these two cartoonish extremes or who have different priorities. In particular, many Bogleheads emphasize frugality of various sorts, even if in general they may not be as frugal or self-reliant as many FIRE followers. In general, millionaires who get that way without inheriting money tend to be frugal people with frugal spouses -- even as there may be degrees of frugality different people follow in different areas reflecting different priorities.
Most people in the USA don't fall into either the Boglehead or FIRE camps though (or other savings-and-investment-oriented camps) and essentially have next-to-no retirement savings. And thus most people will face a major adjustment in lifestyle at retirement age, either working into their late 60s or early 70s at jobs they may not like or might find too physically demanding, or having to suddenly learn to live on a lot less when Social Security becomes available, or becoming dependent on their children, or making some other radical change to their lifestyle. It is one goal of both Bogleheads and FIRE followers to avoid such difficult adjustments in later life -- even if the two groups may go at that in somewhat different ways based on differing priorities and feelings about "work" versus "independence" and "wants" versus "needs".
by Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
https://www.amazon.com/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/0201835959/
"Few books on software project management have been as influential and timeless as The Mythical Man-Month. With a blend of software engineering facts and thought-provoking opinions, Fred Brooks offers insight for anyone managing complex projects. These essays draw from his experience as project manager for the IBM System/360 computer family and then for OS/360, its massive software system. Now, 20 years after the initial publication of his book, Brooks has revisited his original ideas and added new thoughts and advice, both for readers already familiar with his work and for readers discovering it for the first time."
"Must reads for all KA engineering managers. And anyone interested in eng management."
Khan Academy especially seems to like Michael Lopp's "Rands in Repose" blog and his book (the next item).
https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Humans-Humorous-Software-Engineering/dp/1484221575/
"Read hilarious stories with serious lessons that Michael Lopp extracts from his varied and sometimes bizarre experiences as a manager at Apple, Pinterest, Palantir, Netscape, Symantec, Slack, and Borland. Many of the stories first appeared in primitive form in Lopp’s perennially popular blog, Rands in Repose. The Third Edition of Managing Humans contains a whole new season of episodes from the ongoing saga of Lopp's adventures in Silicon Valley, together with classic episodes remastered for high fidelity and freshness. Whether you're an aspiring manager, a current manager, or just wondering what the heck a manager does all day, there is a story in this book that will speak to you―and help you survive and prosper amid the general craziness of dysfunctional bright people caught up in the chase of riches and power. Scattered in repose among these manic misfits are managers, an even stranger breed of people who, through a mystical organizational ritual, have been given power over the futures and the bank accounts of many others. Lopp's straight-from-the-hip style is unlike that of any other writer on management and leadership. He pulls no punches and tells stories he probably shouldn't. But they are magically instructive and yield Lopp’s trenchant insights on leadership that cut to the heart of the matter―whether it's dealing with your boss, handling a slacker, hiring top guns, or seeing a knotty project through to completion. Writing code is easy. Managing humans is not. You need a book to help you do it, and this is it."
Much of the content in the book can be found on the Rands blog. For example:
"The Update, The Vent, and The Disaster"
https://randsinrepose.com/archives/the-update-the-vent-and-the-disaster/
"Business is full of people worrying loudly about projects, process, and other people. These people have opinions and they share them all over the place — all the time. This collective chatter is part of the daily regimen of a healthy business, but this chatter will bury the individual voice unless someone pays attention. Your job in a 1:1 is to give the smallest voice a chance to be heard, and I start with a question: “How are you?”"
And another example from the Rands blog: "Shields Down" https://randsinrepose.com/archives/shields-down/
"Resignations happen in a moment, and it’s not when you declare, “I’m resigning.” The moment happened a long time ago when you received a random email from a good friend who asked, “I know you’re really happy with your current gig because you’ve been raving about it for a year, but would you like to come visit Our Company? No commitment. Just coffee.” ... What is incredibly slippery about this moment is the complex, nuanced, and instant mental math performed that precedes the shields-down situation. When you are indirectly asked to lower your shields, you immediately parse, place a value, and aggregate your opinions on the following: [list of ten example concerns including happiness, management & teammates, fulfillment, learning, respect, growth, compensation, future, vision, and leadership.] Now, each human has a different prioritized subset of this list that they rank and value differently. Growth is paramount for some, truth for others. Whatever unique blend is important, you use that blend and ask yourself one final question as you consider lowering your shields. What has happened recently or in the past that either supports or detracts from what I value? The answer to that question determines whether your shields stay up or go down. ... Every moment as a leader is an opportunity to either strengthen or weaken shields. Every single moment."
http://www.gamearchitect.net/Articles/SoftwareIsHard.html
"What makes the virtual world so much more brittle and unpredictable than the physical world? Why can't we build software the way we build bridges? ... The difference is that the overruns on a physical construction project are bounded. You never get to the point where you have to hammer in a nail and discover that the nail will take an estimated six months of research and development, with a high level of uncertainty. But software is fractal in complexity. If you're doing top-down design, you produce a specification that stops at some level of granularity. And you always risk discovering, come implementation time, that the module or class that was the lowest level of your specification hides untold worlds of complexity that will take as much development effort as you'd budgeted for the rest of the project combined. The only way to avoid that is to have your design go all the way down to specifying individual lines of code, in which case you aren't designing at all, you're just programming. ... But the nature of software is that the problems are always different. You never have to solve the exact problem that someone's solved before, because if software already existed that solved your need, you wouldn't have to write it. Writing software is expensive. Copying software is cheap. Scott Rosenberg coins this as Rosenberg's Law: Software is easy to make, except when you want it to do something new. The corollary is, The only software that's worth making is software that does something new."
To (over) generalize on why software estimates so often go wrong: when you build a bridge, the model you use to estimate from is 1% of the effort. When you build software, building the "model" itself is 99% of the effort.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_layer
A famous aphorism of David Wheeler is "All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection". This is often deliberately misquoted with "abstraction" substituted for "indirection". It is also sometimes misattributed to Butler Lampson. Kevlin Henney's corollary to this is, "...except for the problem of too many layers of indirection."
This is why some duplication in software code is often a benefit because consolidating code as DRY (Do Not Repeat Yourself) principle suggests can require more though to understand and can constrain future development in unexpected ways. One way to deal with lots of almost redundant code is to have better tools for managing it.
Related (but the threshold may depend on the context):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_three_(computer_programming)
by Rich Hickey (author of Clojure)
https://www.infoq.com/presentations/Simple-Made-Easy
Rich Hickey emphasizes simplicity’s virtues over easiness’, showing that while many choose easiness they may end up with complexity, and the better way is to choose easiness along the simplicity path.
Key Takeaways: We should aim for simplicity because simplicity is a prerequisite for reliability. Simple is often erroneously mistaken for easy. "Easy" means "to be at hand", "to be approachable". "Simple" is the opposite of "complex" which means "being intertwined", "being tied together". Simple != easy. What matters in software is: does the software do what is supposed to do? Is it of high quality? Can we rely on it? Can problems be fixed along the way? Can requirements change over time? The answers to these questions is what matters in writing software not the look and feel of the experience writing the code or the cultural implications of it. The benefits of simplicity are: ease of understanding, ease of change, ease of debugging, flexibility. Complex constructs: State, Object, Methods, Syntax, Inheritance, Switch/matching, Vars, Imperative loops, Actors, ORM, Conditionals. Simple constructs: Values, Functions, Namespaces, Data, Polymorphism, Managed refs, Set functions, Queues, Declarative data manipulation, Rules, Consistency. Build simple systems by: Abstracting - design by answering questions related to what, who, when, where, why, and how. Choosing constructs that generate simple artifacts. Simplify by encapsulation.
by Leo Horie (author of the Mithril.js vdom library)
https://lhorie.github.io/mithril-blog/decreasing-cognitive-load.html
From the conclusion there:
We can make complex systems less complex by creating consistent patterns, and documenting these patterns effectively.
Code grows and rots, so it's important to plan ahead.
I once read a theory that developers hit walls of complexity every time they increase the size of their codebases by an order of magnitude (i.e. the idea is that a junior developer might find it hard to expand their simple procedural programs past 3000 lines, and that developers hit another wall of complexity at 30,000 lines, and again at 300,000 and so on)
My own theory is that the these walls appear when the volume of complexity of a codebase exceeds the volume of complexity solved by the libraries it uses. For example, jQuery is undoubtedly useful when dealing with browser quirks, but once an application grows over a few thousand lines of code, unstructured jQuery code simply becomes too difficult to maintain, and you start needing the discipline of a framework to organize code. But when you're at tens of thousands of lines of code, you start to run out of entity types to CRUD, and your application growth starts to build on top of existing concepts. This is when you need the mental shift from being a library consumer to being a reusable component author, but with a focus on the interacting parts within the application (as opposed to generic one-glove-fit-all open source libraries).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_McIlroy
"McIlroy is attributed the quote "The real hero of programming is the one who writes negative code," where the meaning of negative code is taken to be similar to the famous Apple developer team anecdote (i.e., when a change in a program source makes the amount of lines of code decrease ('negative' code), while its overall quality, readability or speed improves)."
Referenced there is this part of QuickDraw's history on "How do you measure programmer productivity?"
http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/macpaint-and-quickdraw-source-code/
"When the Lisa team was pushing to finalize their software in 1982, project managers started requiring programmers to submit weekly forms reporting on the number of lines of code they had written. Bill Atkinson thought that was silly. For the week in which he had rewritten QuickDraw’s region calculation routines to be six times faster and 2000 lines shorter, he put “-2000″ on the form. After a few more weeks the managers stopped asking him to fill out the form, and he gladly complied."
That QuickDraw story is another example of why organizations should be careful about what they measure because they likely will get more of it. Most employees will try to deliver what is formally requested -- with some rare exceptions like Bill Atkinson who will deliver what is informally needed even despite the formal process and related incentives.
http://wiki.c2.com/?PrematureOptimization
"In Donald Knuth's paper "Structured Programming With Goto Statements", he wrote: "Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%.""
by Walter L. Heimerdinger and Charles B. Weinstock
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/reports/92tr033.pdf
"A major problem in transitioning fault tolerance practices to the practitioner community is a lack of a common view of what fault tolerance is, and how it can help in the design of reliable computer systems. This document takes a step towards making fault tolerance more understandable by proposing a conceptual framework. The framework provides a consistent vocabulary for fault tolerance concepts, discusses how systems fail, describes commonly used mechanisms for making systems fault tolerant, and provides some rules for developing fault tolerant systems."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_development_life_cycle
"The systems development life cycle (SDLC), also referred to as the application development life-cycle, is a term used in systems engineering, information systems and software engineering to describe a process for planning, creating, testing, and deploying an information system. The systems development life-cycle concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. ... Computer systems are complex and often (especially with the recent rise of service-oriented architecture) link multiple traditional systems potentially supplied by different software vendors. To manage this level of complexity, a number of SDLC models or methodologies have been created, such as "waterfall"; "spiral"; "Agile software development"; "rapid prototyping"; "incremental"; and "synchronize and stabilize". SDLC can be described along a spectrum of agile to iterative to sequential. Agile methodologies, such as XP and Scrum, focus on lightweight processes which allow for rapid changes (without necessarily following the pattern of SDLC approach) along the development cycle. Iterative methodologies, such as Rational Unified Process and dynamic systems development method, focus on limited project scope and expanding or improving products by multiple iterations. Sequential or big-design-up-front (BDUF) models, such as waterfall, focus on complete and correct planning to guide large projects and risks to successful and predictable results. Other models, such as anamorphic development, tend to focus on a form of development that is guided by project scope and adaptive iterations of feature development."
Key point: there are a lot of possible ways of organizing software development activities depending on circumstances.
by Alan Kay
https://archive.org/details/AlanKayAtOOPSLA1997TheComputerRevolutionHasntHappenedYet
http://blog.moryton.net/2007/12/computer-revolution-hasnt-happened-yet.html
"Here's one we haven't faced up to much yet, that, now we have to construct this stuff and soon we'll be required to grow it. It's very easy, for instance, to grow a baby six inches. They do it about ten times in their life and you never have to take it down for maintenance. But if you try and grow a 747, you are faced with an unbelievable problem, because it's in this simple-minded mechanical world, in which the only object has been to make the artifact in the first place. Not to fix it. Not to change it. Not to let it live for a hundred years. So let me ask a question. I won't take names. But how many people here still use a language that essentially forces you -- and the development system forces you to develop outside of the language; compile and reload, and go, even if it's fast, like Virtual Café. How many here still do that? Let's just see. Come on. Admit it! We can have a Texas tent beating later. That cannot possibly be other than a dead end for building complex systems, where much of the building of complex systems is in part going to go into trying to understand what the possibilities for interoperability is with things that already exist."
by Dave Thomas (one of the authors of the Agile Manifesto)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-BOSpxYJ9M
Dave Thomas outlines some basic problems with the Agile industry (including selling fear). He says we need to distinguish between the implementation (Agile/Scrum/Lean/Kanban/etc) and the specification (Agility). He says "No rules are universal (except for this one)" and that "all rules are contextual". He espouses holding close to the value of "Agility" involving figuring out where you are, taking a small step towards your goal, re-evaluating and adjusting your understanding based on what you learned, and then iterating. He suggests choosing between alternatives delivering similar short-term value based on which keeps more options open to make future change easier -- outlining Dave's Rule of Design: "A good design is easier to change than a bad design." He calls for courage at the individual, team, and company levels to know you are going to make mistakes in order to find out what needs to be done -- and to work hard to make sure those mistakes small and correctable.
A text version:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150315031409/http://pragdave.me/blog/2014/03/04/time-to-kill-agile/
"The word “agile” has been subverted to the point where it is effectively meaningless, and what passes for an agile community seems to be largely an arena for consultants and vendors to hawk services and products. So I think it is time to retire the word “Agile.”"
"Why Deadlines Need to Drop Dead"
by Eric Elliott
https://medium.com/javascript-scene/why-deadlines-need-to-drop-dead-321739ae6be1
"Deadlines are incredibly destructive to team productivity and morale. The #1 challenge software developers face is unrealistic expectations. Can we motivate & push without arbitrary deadlines? You can lead teams without deadlines. You can still deliver code quickly. You can still ship in time for Christmas. But you’ll be dealing with a different management framework. One that puts the deadline pressure on product managers rather than developers. ... The point here is that instead of trying to build out the CEO’s ideal vision of the product you’re bringing to market, you build out a beautiful stepping stone on the way towards that vision. In place of arbitrary deadlines, you deliver consistent, steady progress."
Advocates for marketing creating each hype cycle for what is already finished and tested.
Where Agile works, where it does not...
Key point: "Agile is nothing more than focusing on reducing the cost of uncertainty and change. To understand if that's a worthwhile focus, you need to know both your product and the market. Internally a company will likely have many different departments and some should definitely use Agile (R&D is a great example) and some should definitely not (Accounting). As products/services mature, they should transition from Agile to Lean to more formal methodologies such as TQM, PRINCE2, ISO9000, and so on (interesting that there's no catch-all term for the latter)."
"At Blossom we’ve completely replaced our product backlog with a free form Google Docs file. It reads more like a marketing document than a traditional backlog. We call it our product strategy roadmap. In this file we’ve defined a few simple things on top... What are our customers hiring our product for? What kind of super powers can we give our customers? Then the body of the document consists of high level (strategic) marketing-esque announcements of (future) product improvements. Similar to what you would read in a blog post when a company like Facebook, Apple or Twitter releases a new major feature. .... Then every time space on our product board frees up we take a look at our roadmap document and pick something from it to pull into our process. This might be a full ‘announcement’ at once or more often just a subset of an announcement that we then work on step by step. The main advantage here is that we have a strategic document that’s clear and concise but at the same time very easy to change. It is very high level and mainly there to provide context for what a great execution of the strategy might be. We don’t start with specifying implementation details until we’ve actually started to work on an item. This saves a lot of time and resources that we used to spend on doing backlog estimates, re-prioritizations and groomings in the past."
by Gabrielle Benefield
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JNXx8VdbAE
Key point: "Focus on outcomes, not outputs" Suggests "Never ask your users what they want. Never ask your developers what they think their users want. ... Get out of your chair and find out what they need." Once you understand your users and their needs based on real data, then you can evaluate what features will have the greatest benefits to them based on the severity of the problem or the size of the opportunity. Points out how the typical way of prioritizing product backlogs in Agile projects does not reflect this. Suggests superfluous features can make it harder for users to succeed in using a product and may also require more ongoing maintenance costs. Brings up the issue of what to measure and when.
One comment there by Mark Proffitt: "Gabrielle is correct. Delivering customer value is the #1 item on the Agile Manifesto. I was one of the contributors to the creation of Agile when I was at Apple in 1992. The whole reason for the Agile concept was requirements were incorrect, or incomplete, or changed after we started developing. We could already build anything nearly perfectly. [emphasis added] More quickly delivering working code was a side effect of Agile iterations, it was not the purpose. What kept happening is we would build it then customers would reject it because it didn't do what they wanted so we had to start all over again. The only reason for iterations is to check to make sure you are building the right thing, what customers actually want. Additionally, at the time we realized that software would not sit on a single computer, it would be spread over many clients and servers. You could not build software as a single monolithic item. It had to be flexible and allow pieces to change and be added later. Building that type of software needed totally different methods from the Waterfall method."
by Giles Bowkett
https://www.pandastrike.com/posts/20150304-agile
"When the Agile Manifesto was written, waterfall development was king. Agile deposed waterfall from its status as the dominant software development paradigm. Waterfall revolved around writing tedious documents, and face-to-face conversation was indeed superior to that. In 2001, Subversion was still new, Git did not exist, Skype didn't exist either, and the closest contemporary equivalent to GitHub was SourceForge. "Face-to-face conversation," in the Agile Manifesto, was "the most efficient and effective method of conveying information" because the other methods were terrible. But when you're reviewing a pull request, a GitHub diff usually beats face-to-face conversation. And this is not a fluke. Remote work requires a ton of writing, and that's one of the best things about it. How many times have you sat down to email somebody a question, and found that in the process of writing the email, the answer became obvious to you? This step is built in to the workflow of every remote team. Likewise, have you ever had to tell a co-worker the same thing twice? Technical work involves lots of tradeoffs, and people don't always remember the intricacies of every debate. But you can refer to a conversation on GitHub three years later and review every detail with perfect clarity. In a distributed company, the written word becomes much more influential than the spoken word."
by Michael O. Church
https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2015/06/06/why-agile-and-especially-scrum-are-terrible/
A bit over-the-top and certainly one-sided -- but makes some good points about Agile/Scrum in practice as opposed to theory. The blog post is notable for having over 1000 comments with agreements and disagreements.
Some other rebuttals to Michael O. Church's essay:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/response-why-agile-especially-scrum-terrible-dawn-wesolek
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9672370
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9708445
by Kief Morris
https://dzone.com/articles/continuous-delivery-vs
"In working with development teams at organizations which are adopting Continuous Delivery, I have found there can be friction over practices that many developers have come to consider as the right way for Agile teams to work. I believe the root of conflicts between what I’ve come to think of as traditional agile and CD is the approach to making software “ready for release”."
by Adam Ruka (full-stack web developer working for Amazon)
http://endoflineblog.com/gitflow-considered-harmful
http://endoflineblog.com/follow-up-to-gitflow-considered-harmful
And a comment he references by dasil003 in favor of rebasing:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9745966
Key points are that:
- GitFlow is needlessly complex
- Tags can be used to greater benefit
- Merges rather than rebases create spaghetti history that is hard to understand when determining where a problem was introduced
- It is bad Q/A policy to create untested new merge commits in master rather than always fast-forward master to (presumably) tested code in a branch (explained in detail in a comment by Marco Ciaschini in the follow up)
by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X
Some key ideas are outlined in this interview with the authors:
https://community.oracle.com/docs/DOC-982950
One of them is "Software Development as Gardening":
Bill Venners: In your book, The Pragmatic Programmer, you say, "Rather than construction, programming is more like gardening." I really like your gardening metaphor for software development. Can you elaborate on it?
Andy Hunt: There is a persistent notion in a lot of literature that software development should be like engineering. First, an architect draws up some great plans. Then you get a flood of warm bodies to come in and fill the chairs, bang out all the code, and you're done. A lot of people still feel that way; I saw an interview in the last six months of a big outsourcing house in India where this was how they felt. They paint a picture of constructing software like buildings. The high talent architects do the design. The coders do the constructing. The tenants move in, and everyone lives happily ever after. We don't think that's very realistic. It doesn't work that way with software.
We paint a different picture. Instead of that very neat and orderly procession, which doesn't happen even in the real world with buildings, software is much more like gardening. You do plan. You plan that you're going to make a plot this big. You're going to prepare the soil. You bring in a landscape person who says to put the big plants in the back and short ones in the front. You've got a great plan, a whole design.
But when you plant the bulbs and the seeds, what happens? The garden doesn't quite come up the way you drew the picture. This plant gets a lot bigger than you thought it would. You've got to prune it. You've got to split it. You've got to move it around the garden. This big plant in the back died. You've got to dig it up and throw it into the compost pile. These colors ended up not looking like they did on the package. They don't look good next to each other. You've got to transplant this one over to the other side of the garden.
Dave Thomas: Also, with a garden, there's a constant assumption of maintenance. Everybody says, I want a low-maintenance garden, but the reality is a garden is something that you're always interacting with to improve or even just keep the same. Although I know there's building maintenance, you typically don't change the shape of a building. It just sits there. We want people to view software as being far more organic, far more malleable, and something that you have to be prepared to interact with to improve all the time.
Another idea from there is on moving beyond "Stratification of Developer Jobs":
What we should be doing is creating an environment in which people get to use all their skills. Maybe as time goes on, people move through the skill set. So today, you're 80% coder, 20% designer. On the next project, you're 70% coder and 30% designer. You're moving up a little bit each time, rather than suddenly discovering a letter on your desk that says, "Today you are a designer."
by Edward Yourdon https://www.amazon.com/Death-March-Developers-Surviving-Impossible/dp/0137483104
Overview of a 2nd edition from 2004 (currently out of print):
https://www.informit.com/store/death-march-9780131436350
"Historically, all software projects have involved a certain degree of risk and pressure -- but many of the projects in today's chaotic business environment involve such intense pressure that they are referred to colloquially as "death-march" projects -- i.e., projects whose schedules are so compressed, and/or whose budgets, or resource (people) assignments are so constrained, that the only "obvious" way to succeed is for the entire team to work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no vacations until the project is finished. While the corporate goal of such projects is to overcome impossible odds and achieve miracles, the personal goal of the project manager and team members often shrinks down to mere survival: keeping one's job, maintaining some semblance of a relationship with one's spouse and children, and avoiding a heart attack or ulcer. This new and thoroughly-updated edition of Ed Yourdon's book takes into account many of the changes that have taken place in the more than six years since the publication of the first edition."
One chapter from that 2nd edition is available online. From one part:
"Why Do Death March Projects Happen?"
https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=169512&seqNum=3
- Politics, politics, politics
- Naïve and/or devious promises made by marketing, senior executive, inexperienced project managers, etc.
- Naive optimism of youth: "We can do it over the weekend"
- The "startup" mentality of fledgling entrepreneurial companies
- The "Marine Corps" mentality: Real programmers don't need sleep
- Intense competition caused by globalization of markets
- Intense competition caused by the appearance of new technologies
- Intense pressure caused by unexpected government regulations
- Unexpected and/or unplanned crises -- e.g., your hardware/software vendor just went bankrupt, or your three best programmers just died of bubonic plague
And from another part:
"Why Do People Participate in Death March Projects?"
https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=169512&seqNum=4
- The risks are high, but so are the rewards
- The "Mt. Everest" syndrome
- The "buzz" of working intensely with other committed people
- The naiveté and optimism of youth
- The alternative is unemployment
- It's required in order to be considered for future advancement
- The alternative is bankruptcy or some other calamity
- It's an opportunity to escape the "normal" bureaucracy
- Revenge
There are also an additional twenty-six more reasons for participaiton in a "Death March" project on that page. This is not a general endorsement of such projects though.
From the chapter summary at the end:
If the discussion in this chapter seems pessimistic and cynical, remember: It hasn't stopped death march projects from taking place. Companies both large and small are filled with politics and are staffed by managers and technical developers who suffer from hysterical optimism as well as the usual gamut of emotions such as fear, insecurity, arrogance, and naiveté. And the combination of re-engineering, downsizing, outsourcing, and global competition — together with the opportunities provided by new technologies such as object orientation, client-server, and the Internet — suggests to me that death march projects are likely to be a common occurrence for years to come.
One of the consequences of people ignoring best practices as exemplified by other resources above may be such a "Death March" project. But also, as suggested by Edward Yourdon, even if you follow best practices, the unexpected can happen for reasons outside your control which may result in an organization beginning a Death March project, like a tornado seeming to emerge out of nowhere given cetain weather conditions. Then you may have to decide whether to participate in that project or not. In order to make such a choice consciously, it is essential to understand what a Death March project is and why it may happen, like someone livign in Tornado Alley in the USA might want to learn something about meterology and preparedness. And if you are not going to participate in a Death March, it is suggested it is best to say "no" at the start rather than abandon it part-way in.