Our new book is finally available

See: ‘From Silos to Network: A New Kind of Science for Management’ published by Springer

This post was written by the Founder of Intelligent Management, Dr. Domenico Lepore

Was this book really needed?

Let me tell you: writing a book is complicated. It is emotionally burdensome, extremely time consuming and (very) insufficiently remunerated. Moreover, the stellar management ineptitude of publishing houses makes the whole experience surreal. Why bother then?

Our little company, Intelligent Management, is on a quest, very much like Dr. Deming: The transformation of the prevailing management style into one of whole system optimization. Our path, for the last thirty years, first in Italy and then in North America, has been punctuated by conceptual developments and their “in the field” implementation with real organizations willing to embrace them. At our very core, we are scientists guided by a method that calls for experimental validation and the desire to share our findings.

Our starting point was “The Decalogue”, published in 1999, a rigorous and cohesive integration of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and the teachings of Dr. Deming; through successes and setbacks, we came to realize that a major stumbling block for a successful adoption of The Decalogue was the prevailing silo-based organizational design and its ramifications for the management of people.

Over the last 13 years we have published extensively on the whys and hows of a systems approach to management and developed a very comprehensive and powerful systemic solution for moving away from the quicksands of conventional functional hierarchies, towards a robust, genuinely systemic, process/project based, organization design. Nothing short of a true paradigm shift, may I say.

Finding a practical support for the shift

Three years ago, after having described at length the epistemological and methodological framework for the transformation (you will find a full list of books on our website) we embarked into the development of a “practical support for the cognitive and operational effort” to sustain the shift.

Instead of limiting ourselves to general considerations and management tips for aiding a systemic flow, we decided to tackle the underlying issue of the organizational transformation needed to manage flow from a mathematical standpoint. Indeed, we started from the brilliant Critical Chain algorithm developed by Dr. Goldratt but with the goal of using it as a tool for addressing much needed organizational changes. The idea, as explained in all our writings from 2010 onwards, was to look at any organization for what it intrinsically is, a network of projects (and processes).

We approached the issue of developing a TRUE multi project platform with in mind the concept of “pacing resource”, the translation of “physical constraint” to a project environment. What mathematics unveiled to us was the impossibility of doing so. Math made evident an inherent limitation in the current approach to multi project (in reality, Critical Chain has always been a “Multi-Single Project” solution). It was mind boggling but, true to the spirit of constant development and discovery that inspired the life and work of Dr. Deming and Dr. Goldratt, we plowed ahead.

The end result was an elegant piece of systems thinking in “Bits&Bytes” called Ess3ntial.

‘From Silo to Network: a New Kind of Science for Management’ frames the brilliant algorithm developed by Dr. Francesco Siepe within the management discourse that needs to take place in order to evolve organizations and render them fit to embrace complexity.

It is not an easy read and it is not for the faint hearted. Like any transformative discovery, it requires time to digest, but it is worth it. It sets a new standard for any leadership seriously committed to the success of their organization.

What happened this week

A large part of The Decalogue is based on The Theory of Constraints developed in Israel by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt. In light of the terrible events that took place in Israel, we would like to quote a book based on the teachings of Rav Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

“By choosing to intensify forward movement in the face of loss–especially in the face of terrorism and acts of hatred–we quietly claim a victory for peace and hope over violence and fear. In effect, our actions become living proof that evil does not prevail, and that ultimately life triumphs over death.”

From Positivity Bias: Practical wisdom for positive living inspired by the life and teachings of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

To find out more about ten guided steps to a systemic leap ahead for your company, contact Angela Montgomery at intelligentmanagement@sechel.ws
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Intelligent Management works with decision makers with the authority and responsibility to make meaningful change. We have helped dozens of organizations to adopt a systemic approach to manage complexity and radically improve performance and growth for 25 years through our Decalogue management methodology. The Network of Projects organization design we developed is supported by our Ess3ntial software for multi-project finite scheduling based on the Critical Chain algorithm. 

See our latest books Moving the Chains: An Operational Solution for Embracing Complexity in the Digital Age by our Founder Dr. Domenico Lepore,   The Human Constraint – a digital business novel that has sold in 43 countries so far by Dr. Angela Montgomery and  ‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ from CRC Press, New York by Dr. Domenico Lepore, Dr. .Angela Montgomery and Dr. Giovanni Siepe.