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The Flow System: The Evolution of Agile and Lean Thinking in an Age of Complexity
The Flow System is a holistic FLOW based approach to delivering Customer 1st Value. It is built on a foundation of the Toyota Production System (TPS/LEAN) and the new Triple Helix of Flow creating the DNA of Organizations.
The Flow System enables business growth through eliminating non-value-added activities, fostering an environment for innovation, enabling the rapid delivery of value, and shortening the time to market. The Flow System provides a re-imagined system for organizations to understand complex problems, embrace distributed leadership, and build high performing teams.
The Triple Helix of Flow relates to the interconnected nature of the three
Complexity Thinking Helix � A new form of thinking to aid the understanding of uncertainty and complex adaptive systems.
Distributed Leadership Helix � An emergent hybrid leadership model that is capable of making bold and disruptive moves across an industry.
Team Science Helix � A multidisciplinary field that studies all things related to teams and small groups in the workplace.
The Triple Helix identified the interactions between and among agents (people, machines, events�) that emerge into new patterns, networks, and knowledge to advance an organization’s ability to be more innovative, adaptive, resilient, and agile when operating in complex environments.
� The Flow System shows how to generate and nurture self-organizing teams that mobilize the full talents of those doing the work to cope with dizzying change and complexity, while also drawing on the contributions of those for whom the work is being done—the customers.”—Steve Denning, author of The Age of Agile
“Organizations that pull off this triple helix trick of thinking about the complexity of their systems and the environment in which they’re operating, distributed leadership to engage the collective intelligence and creativity of the organization, and building teams of teams so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, have a good chance of keeping up and staying ahead.”—Steve Spear, MIT Sloan School senior lecturer, author of The High Velocity Edge
� The Flow System’s Triple Helix provides many of the tools and ways of thinking we will need to do that; it is agile without being doctrinaire about Agile .”� David Snowden, creator of the Cynefin Framework, Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge
The Flow System enables business growth through eliminating non-value-added activities, fostering an environment for innovation, enabling the rapid delivery of value, and shortening the time to market. The Flow System provides a re-imagined system for organizations to understand complex problems, embrace distributed leadership, and build high performing teams.
The Triple Helix of Flow relates to the interconnected nature of the three
Complexity Thinking Helix � A new form of thinking to aid the understanding of uncertainty and complex adaptive systems.
Distributed Leadership Helix � An emergent hybrid leadership model that is capable of making bold and disruptive moves across an industry.
Team Science Helix � A multidisciplinary field that studies all things related to teams and small groups in the workplace.
The Triple Helix identified the interactions between and among agents (people, machines, events�) that emerge into new patterns, networks, and knowledge to advance an organization’s ability to be more innovative, adaptive, resilient, and agile when operating in complex environments.
� The Flow System shows how to generate and nurture self-organizing teams that mobilize the full talents of those doing the work to cope with dizzying change and complexity, while also drawing on the contributions of those for whom the work is being done—the customers.”—Steve Denning, author of The Age of Agile
“Organizations that pull off this triple helix trick of thinking about the complexity of their systems and the environment in which they’re operating, distributed leadership to engage the collective intelligence and creativity of the organization, and building teams of teams so the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, have a good chance of keeping up and staying ahead.”—Steve Spear, MIT Sloan School senior lecturer, author of The High Velocity Edge
� The Flow System’s Triple Helix provides many of the tools and ways of thinking we will need to do that; it is agile without being doctrinaire about Agile .”� David Snowden, creator of the Cynefin Framework, Chief Scientific Officer of Cognitive Edge
- GenresLeadershipBusiness
296 pages, Hardcover
Published December 8, 2020
50 people are currently reading
207 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 22, 2022
A bit of a schoolish (quasi academic) read. In itself quite interesting but the author tries to hard to create a completely integrated system to thrive as a leader/manager in a complex business world. Less citations and references would perhaps have made it a more readable whole, however I think I would still have the feeling that he tries just too hard to construct an integrated "whole".
October 18, 2022
The author has a PhD and isn't afraid to show it. The language, use of terminology, and incessant references make me think this was written more for the nineteen other people in organizational academia and not so much for us more applied plebs. While the book has some fascinating ideas, its delivery made me unable to finish it or fully grasp what I feel had the potential to be transformative.
October 18, 2024
I now stopped reading this book in the middle of the book. From my point of view this book is not a bad book per se in the sense of that it's nonsense but a really unfortunate case of stuck in the middle. It's not doing anything properly. While reading it reminded me of a scientific paper. But it doesn't do a good job here, it's jumping in various chapters incoherently through abstraction levels while trying to give a subject a structure mincing it with citations. If you take a step back and start thinking how someone would prove those claims thoroughly then you immediately get that this would need way better framing to make transparent what is solid proof and what are empirical findings and where is it becoming more opinionated based on leadership interviews and similar. So a rather poor job from a scientific point of view.
If you now dismiss that this should be solid science then you will notice that this book is not very concise and to the point either because they spend a lot of time to frame (albeit poorly in my view) the different topics, so it doesn't transport concepts well either.
My recommendation:
If you want to read about flow read Don Reinertsen or Dan Vacanti
If you want to look at complexity look at Dave Snowden or read the origin of wealth.
If you need something about leadership or the human side of things then take one of the books from there (eg Dave Marquet)
This book is like a Ferrari with the tires of a tractor. Not suited for anything properly.
If you now dismiss that this should be solid science then you will notice that this book is not very concise and to the point either because they spend a lot of time to frame (albeit poorly in my view) the different topics, so it doesn't transport concepts well either.
My recommendation:
If you want to read about flow read Don Reinertsen or Dan Vacanti
If you want to look at complexity look at Dave Snowden or read the origin of wealth.
If you need something about leadership or the human side of things then take one of the books from there (eg Dave Marquet)
This book is like a Ferrari with the tires of a tractor. Not suited for anything properly.
November 21, 2023
Very hard to read for non-academics. Theory laden.
I had some prior knowledge of CAS and Lean Six Sigma but still, the book isn’t accessible to regular people and entry barrier is high.
I simply can’t see how Flow System could have any success at adoption by organisations if it operates on the boundary of academic philosophy.
I had some prior knowledge of CAS and Lean Six Sigma but still, the book isn’t accessible to regular people and entry barrier is high.
I simply can’t see how Flow System could have any success at adoption by organisations if it operates on the boundary of academic philosophy.
January 14, 2022
Whilst I enjoy the ideas and content of the book, I do find it quite dense to read (especially as a read aloud book on my morning run). There's pages of references and tables in seemingly every chapter which makes for confusion when listening. I know the book isn't made for or published in audiobook format but audio is how I typically consume my books.
I see this being a book that needs a few reads and likely one with many notes and links to some of the key references / research to get to some of the underlying content.
Overall I like the idea of bringing each of these areas of knowledge together as a lot of the agile literature has ignored complexity and the more nuanced details on team science etc.
Good but but not for the feint of herat of beginner, check out the accompanying handbook f/ guide or something a little more practical.
I see this being a book that needs a few reads and likely one with many notes and links to some of the key references / research to get to some of the underlying content.
Overall I like the idea of bringing each of these areas of knowledge together as a lot of the agile literature has ignored complexity and the more nuanced details on team science etc.
Good but but not for the feint of herat of beginner, check out the accompanying handbook f/ guide or something a little more practical.
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