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Home » Book reviews

Book reviews

Reflecting upon Personas

June 8, 2021 By Howard Clark Leave a Comment

Personas have become ubiquitous in many organisations, and are typically used as part of the digital development cycle and latterly transformation programs. Project Managers and interventionists come across this tool more frequently and since 2010 I have seen them used in six different public, private and third sector organisations. For some time I have wanted to do a little … [Read more...] about Reflecting upon Personas

Beyond Command and Control by John Seddon

October 29, 2019 By Howard Clark Leave a Comment

If you are interested in profound thinking on transformation, change and improvement then I recommend John Seddon's ‘Beyond Command and Control’ (2019). And for those of you who have read the precursor 'Freedom from Command and Control' (2003), prepare to be surprised. This book marks a genuine departure in both tone and style and I believe it to be Seddon's best work. For its … [Read more...] about Beyond Command and Control by John Seddon

Freedom from Command & Control

February 22, 2019 By Howard Clark Leave a Comment

If you are interested in effective approaches to services improvement, transformation and change then this book is a must read. Originally published in 2003, it outlines the Vanguard Method, a structured normative method designed for services. The method has three main parts: Check (study), Redesign (plan) and Roll-in (do). It is a sophisticated blend of psychology, systems … [Read more...] about Freedom from Command & Control

Systems Thinking, Systems Practice by Peter Checkland

January 27, 2019 By Howard Clark Leave a Comment

Peter Checkland's Systems Thinking, Systems Practice (1981) is one of those seminal works that helped to move systems thinking out of the classroom and into the boardroom. In a remarkably readable book, Checkland outlines the components of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and takes us through the stages with case studies in organisations. What Checkland demonstrated was that … [Read more...] about Systems Thinking, Systems Practice by Peter Checkland

Whac-a-mole projects

January 22, 2019 By Howard Clark Leave a Comment

At one point I was asked to deliver a project in a high-risk, highly-regulated service. It was an area that I hadn't worked-in before and I was pretty anxious to do no harm. Reading through the internal documentation; previous consulting reviews (including one from the big three), reports and project documentation, the organisation had repeatedly tried to solve these … [Read more...] about Whac-a-mole projects

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Book reviews

June 8, 2021

Personas have become … [Read More...] about Reflecting upon Personas

October 29, 2019

If you are … [Read More...] about Beyond Command and Control by John Seddon

February 22, 2019

If you are … [Read More...] about Freedom from Command & Control

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  • Whac-a-mole projects
  • Reflecting upon Personas
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  • Beyond Command and Control by John Seddon
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