Positive Deviant - Dorsey, David (Fast Company, 2000)
Jerry Sternin’s job was to help save starving children in Vietnam. Faced with an impossible time frame, he adopted a radical approach to making change. His idea: Real change begins from the inside.

Spiral Development: Experience, Principles, and Refinements - Boehm, B. W. (Carnegie Mellon University, 2000)

Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems - Highsmith, Jim (Dorset House Publishing, 2000)
In today's turbulent e-business world, software project teams that survive and thrive won't be those that continue their traditions of optimization, efficiency, and control, but those that exhibit adaptability, speed, and collaboration. Adaptive Software Development is targeted at software teams where competition creates extreme pressure on the delivery process. Four goals of the book are * to support an adaptive culture in which change and uncertainty are assumed to be the natural state * to introduce frameworks to guide the iterative process of managing change * to institute collaboration, the interaction of people on interpersonal, cultural, and structural levels * to add rigor and discipline to the RAD approach, making it scalable to the uncertainty and complexity of real-world undertakings. This innovative text, grounded in the science of complex adaptive systems theory, offers a practical, realistic approach to managing the high-speed, high-change projects characteristic of our highly uncertain economy.

Accountability Learning and Planning System - ActionAid (ActionAid International, 2000)

Learning in Development Co-operation - Carlsson, Jerker; Wohlgemuth, Lennart (Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2000)
Google-Books-ID: guMkAQAAIAAJ

Evaluating the ‘logical framework approach’ towards learning-oriented development evaluation - Gasper, Des (Public Administration and Development, 2000)
The logical framework approach has spread enormously, including increasingly to stages of review and evaluation. Yet it has had little systematic evaluation itself. Survey of available materials indicates several recurrent failings, some less easily countered than others. In particular: focus on achievement of intended effects by intended routes makes logframes a very limiting tool in evaluation; an assumption of consensual project objectives often becomes problematic in public and inter-organizational projects; and automatic choice of an audit form of accountability as the priority in evaluations can be at the expense of evaluation as learning.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1099-162X%28200002%2920%3A1%3C17%3A%3AAID-PAD89%3E3.0.CO%3B2-5

Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics: The Challenge of Complexity - Stacey, Ralph D. (Pitman, 2000)
In the third edition of this successful text, Ralph Stacey continues to question the view that organisations operate and succeed in relatively stable environments. He argues that in order to succeed in uncertainty and continual change, organisations need to create new perspectives and learn from the chaos within which they operate. This edition continues to focus on this radically different approach to strategic management. The central tenets of this approach have to do with unpredictability and the limitations of control, and therefore it argues against the rational models of planning and control covered in other strategy textbooks. This is done by emphasising the importance of narrative, conversation and learning from one's own experience as the central means by which we can gain understanding and knowledge of strategy in organisations. - Sharper distinction between systemic and process thinking with new chapters on the philosophical origins of systems and process thinking, second order and critical system thinking. - new material on theory of complex responsive processes, particularly to do with control, leadership and ethics. - Includes 7 management narratives, ie, personal ac
Google-Books-ID: z7haAAAAYAAJ
Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategic Planning

Theory of Constraints - Goldratt, Eliyahu M. (North River Pr, 1999)
Theory of Constraints walks you through the crucial stages of a continuous program: the five steps of focusing; the process of change; how to prove effect-cause-effect; and how to invent simple solutions to complex problems. Equally important, the author reveals the devastating impact that an organization's psychology can have on the process of improvements. Theory of Constraints is a crucial document for understanding what it takes to achieve manufacturing breakthroughs.

Appraising Adaptive Management - Lee, Kai (Conservation Ecology, 1999)
Lee, K. N. 1999. Appraising adaptive management. Conservation Ecology 3(2): 3. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-00131-030203

Foundations of the After Action Review Process - Morrison, John E; Meliza, Larry L (Army Research Institute, 1999)
The U.S. Army has adopted the After Action Review AAR as its primary method of providing feedback after unit collective training exercises. The AAR is an interactive discussion in which unit members decide what happened, why it happened, and how to improve or sustain collective performance in future exercises. other services and organizations outside the military are also beginning to employ the AAR as a feedback tool. This report describes the twenty-five year history of AAR research and development and the major behavioral research areas contributing to AAR development and refinement. In addition, this report defines goals for future AAR research.
Section: Technical Reports

Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier - Axelrod, Robert M.; Cohen, Michael D. (Free Press, 1999)
Recent advances in the study of complexity have given scientists profound new insights into how natural innovation occurs and how its power can be exploited. Now two pioneers in the field, Robert Axelrod and Michael D. Cohen, provide leaders in business and government with a guide to complexity that will help them make effective decisions in a world of rapid change. Building on evolutionary biology, computer science, and social design, Axelrod and Cohen have constructed a unique framework for improving the way people work together. Their approach to management is based on the concept of the Complex Adaptive System, which can describe everything from rain forests to the human gene pool, and from automated software agents to multinational companies. The authors' framework reveals three qualities that all kinds of managers must cultivate in their organization: "Variation" What is the best way to manage the development of software? Should the problem be broken up into small pieces for programmers working independently, thus enhancing variation, or should there be a centralized hierarchy of programmers ruled by a chain of command? The authors show how the decentralized creation of variation combined with the centralized maintenance of standards was the key to the success of the Linux "open source software" project, which brought together thousands of volunteers in cyberspace to produce an operating system that can outperform Microsoft's. "Interaction" Why did northern Italy prosper while southern Italy remained poor? Recognizing the internal interactions of a Complex Adaptive System – be it a national region, a company, or a nonprofit group – reveals vitalnetworks of trust. Axelrod and Cohen explain that in successful adaptive systems, rich networks of horizontal linkages foster cooperation and provide an advantage over other less cooperatively networked groups. In the case of Italy, voluntary associations created networks of trust in the Middle Ages that became northern Italy's critical advantage over the south. "Selection" Is a Pulitzer Prize better than a National Book Award? How can foundations and corporations design competitions that have a positive effect on the evolution of excellence? The authors' framework makes clear that the worst selection processes are mired in orthodox standards that have not adapted to a new environment. The best selection processes, on the other hand, are created and run by leaders who understand how the standards they use can transform their organization and its environment. This simple, paradigm-shifting analysis of how people work together will transform the way we think about getting things done in a group. "Harnessing Complexity" is the essential guide to creating wealth, power, and knowledge in the 21st century.
Google-Books-ID: zR8HRAAACAAJ
Keywords: Organizational Behavior

Adaptive Management - Bormann, B.T.; Martin, J.R.; Wagner, F.H.; Wood, G.W.; Alegria, J. (Ecological stewardship: a common reference for ecosystem management, 1999)
Wagner
Google-Books-ID: a5vuAAAAMAAJ
Keywords: Conservation of natural resources; Ecology; Ecosystem management; Ecosystem management - United States; Environmental Science; Environmental management; Wildlife

Introduction to Systems Thinking - Kim, Daniel H (Pegasus Communications, 1999)

PLA Notes 32: Participation, Literacy and Empowerment - PLA (IIED, 1998)

Development as Process: Concepts and Methods for Working with Complexity - Mosse, David; Farrington, John; Rew, Alan (Routledge, 1998)
Process" approaches to economic and social development appear to be more flexible and offer greater prospects of success than traditional "project" methods. Development as Process addresses the questions raised by the different natures of the two approaches. The authors examine development projects through experience in water resources development in India and in organizational learning by a Bangladeshi NGO. Inter-agency contexts are examined in the setting of an aquaculture project in Bangladesh and in the setting of agriculture and natural resources development in Rajisthan, India. Finally, the role of process monitoring is explained in the context of policy reform, with illustrations from forestry in India and land reform in Russia.
Google-Books-ID: baVE8SzJkNMC
Keywords: Demography; Economic Development; Sociology

Finding out fast: investigative skills for policy and development - Thomas, Alan; Chataway, Joanna; Wuyts, Marc (Sage, 1998)

Complexity Rising: From Human Beings to Human Civilization, a Complexity Proﬁle - Bar-Yam, Yaneer (New England Complex Systems Institute, 1997)
It is generally recognized that life is becoming more complex. This article analyzes the human social environment using the "complexity proﬁle," a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. The analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. The increase in complexity is directly related to sweeping changes in the structure and dynamics of human civilization—the increasing interdependence of the global economic and social system, and the instabilities of dictatorships, communism and corporate hierarchies. Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding eﬀectively to complex environmental demands.

Changing the way we change - Pascale, R.; Millemann, M.; Gioja, L. (Harvard Business Review, 1997)
More and more companies struggle with growing competition by introducing improvements into every aspect of performance. But the treadmill keeps moving faster, the companies keep working harder, and results improve slowly or not at all. The problem here is not the improvement programs. The problem is that the whole burden of change typically rests on so few people. Companies achieve real agility only when every function and process–when every person–is able and eager to rise to every challenge. This type and degree of fundamental change, commonly called revitalization or transformation, is what many companies seek but rarely achieve because they have never before identified the factors that produce sustained transformational change. The authors identify three interventions that will restore companies to vital agility and then keep them in good health: incorporating employees fully into the principal business challenges facing the company, leading the organization in a different way in order to sharpen and maintain incorporation and constructive stress, and instilling mental disciplines that will make people behave differently and then help them sustain their new behavior. The authors discovered these basic sources of revitalization by tracking the change efforts of Sears, Roebuck & Company, Royal Dutch Shell, and the United States Army. The organizations used these interventions to alter the way their people experienced their own power and identity, as well as the way they dealt with conflict and learning. As at Sears, Shell, and the U.S. Army, any major shift in those four elements will create a landmark shift in any organization's operating state or culture.
Keywords: Commerce; Conflict (Psychology); Decision Making; Organizational; Economic Competition; Leadership; Military Personnel; Organizational Culture; Organizational Innovation; Personnel Management; Power; Psychology; United States

Messy, Exciting, and Anxiety-Ridden: Adaptive Software Development - Highsmith, Jim (American Programmer, 1997)

Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last - Chambers, Robert (ITDG Publishing, 1997)
In this sequel to "Rural Development: Putting the last first" Robert Chambers argues that central issues in development have been overlooked, and that many past errors have flowed from domination by those with power.Development professionals now need new approaches and methods forinteracting, learning and knowing. Through analyzing experience - of past mistakes and myths, and of the continuing methodological revolution of PRA (participatory rural appraisal) - the author points towards solutions.In many countries, urban and rural people alike have shown an astonishing ability to express and analyze their local, complex and diverse realities which are often at odds with the top-down realities imposed by professionals. The author argues that personal, professional and institutional change is essential if the realities of the poor are to receive greater recognition. Self-critical awareness and changes in concepts, values, methods and behaviour must be developed to explore the new high ground of participation and empowerment."Whose Reality Counts?" presents a radical challenge to all concernedwith development, whether practitioners, researchers or policy-makers, in all organizations and disciplines, and at all levels from fieldworkers to the heads of agencies. With its thrust of putting the first last it presents a new, exciting and above all practical agenda for future development which cannot be ignored.

Learning to Plan–and Planning to Learn - Michael, Donald N. (Miles River Press, 1997)
Don Michael says that, yes, the world can meet future social and organizational challenges - but only if we learn to plan in order– to live uncertainty– to learn from mistakes, actually embrace error– to do goal setting that is future-responsive– to lower barriers by spanning boundaries– to improve personal interaction– to overcome resistance to learning and change.This book treats planning as the way for persons, organizations, and societies to learn their way into the future. It reveals the complex and unavoidable social psychological resistances to learning that must be overcome by competent citizenry in order to plan for the future. A viable ecology, Third World development, new-city building, democratic government in a turbulent society – all depend on the anticipation of future conditions and on planning to meet these conditions.
Google-Books-ID: nJ2ePwAACAAJ
Keywords: Social science

NGO Accountability: A Conceptual Framework - Najam, Adil (Development Policy Review, 1996)

Adaptive management: Promises and pitfalls - McLain, Rebecca J.; Lee, Robert G. (Environmental Management, 1996)
Proponents of the scientific adaptive management approach argue that it increases knowledge acquisition rates, enhances information flow among policy actors, and provides opportunities for creating shared understandings. However, evidence from efforts to implement the approach in New Brunswick, British Columbia, Canada, and the Columbia River Basin indicates that these promises have not been met. The data show that scientific adaptive management relies excessively on the use of linear systems models, discounts nonscientific forms of knowledge, and pays inadequate attention to policy processes that promote the development of shared understandings among diverse stakeholders. To be effective, new adaptive management efforts will need to incorporate knowledge from multiple sources, make use of multiple systems models, and support new forms of cooperation among stakeholders.

Calvin and Hobbes on Learning - Wattersho, Bill (1995)

What Barriers? What Bridges? - Holling, C.S. (Barriers and Bridges to the Renewal of Ecosystems and Institutions, 1995)
This volume uses a series of case studies to test an emerging theory of complex adaptive systems that forms the basis for explaining the interrelated dynamics of ecosystems, institutions and society. It deals equally with institutional organization and ecosystem structure.

Growth of human factors in application development - Cockburn, Alistair (Humans and Technology Technical Report, 1995)

Learning to Learn: Improving International Governance - Haas, Peter M.; Haas, Ernst B. (Global Governance, 1995)

The Knowledge-creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation - Nonaka, Ikujirō; Nonaka, Ikujir o; Ikujiro, Nonaka; Nonaka, Professor of Knowledge Ikujiro; Takeuchi, Hirotaka; Takeuchi, Both Professors of Management at the Institute of Business Research Hirotaka (Oxford University Press, 1995)
How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally.The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success–the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done–and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so–the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself with the master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline.As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Knowledge Capital; Leadership

SCRUM Development Process - Sutherland, Jeffrey (Business object design and implementation: OOPSLA '95 workshop proceedings, 1995)
OCLC: 845294232
Keywords: Computer security Congresses; Softwareentwicklung

Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos - Lewin, Roger (University of Chicago Press, 1994)
"Put together one of the world's best science writers with one of the universe's most fascinating subjects and you are bound to produce a wonderful book. . . . The subject of complexity is vital and controversial. This book is important and beautifully done."—Stephen Jay Gould"[Complexity] is that curious mix of complication and organization that we find throughout the natural and human worlds: the workings of a cell, the structure of the brain, the behavior of the stock market, the shifts of political power. . . . It is time science . . . thinks about meaning as well as counting information. . . . This is the core of the complexity manifesto. Read it, think about it . . . but don't ignore it."—Ian Stewart, NatureThis second edition has been brought up to date with an essay entitled "On the Edge in the Business World" and an interview with John Holland, author of Emergence: From Chaos to Order.

Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos - Waldrop, Mitchell M. (Touchstone Press, 1993)
In a rented convent in Santa Fe, a revolution has been brewing. The activists are not anarchists, but rather Nobel Laureates in physics and economics such as Murray Gell-Mann and Kenneth Arrow, and pony-tailed graduate students, mathematicians, and computer scientists down from Los Alamos. They've formed an iconoclastic think tank called the Santa Fe Institute, and their radical idea is to create a new science called complexity. These mavericks from academe share a deep impatience with the kind of linear, reductionist thinking that has dominated science since the time of Newton. Instead, they are gathering novel ideas about interconnectedness, coevolution, chaos, structure, and order - and they're forging them into an entirely new, unified way of thinking about nature, human social behavior, life, and the universe itself. They want to know how a primordial soup of simple molecules managed to turn itself into the first living cell - and what the origin of life some four billion years ago can tell us about the process of technological innovation today. They want to know why ancient ecosystems often remained stable for millions of years, only to vanish in a geological instant - and what such events have to do with the sudden collapse of Soviet communism in the late 1980s. They want to know why the economy can behave in unpredictable ways that economists can't explain - and how the random process of Darwinian natural selection managed to produce such wonderfully intricate structures as the eye and the kidney. Above all, they want to know how the universe manages to bring forth complex structures such as galaxies, stars, planets, bacteria, plants, animals, and brains. There are commonthreads in all of these queries, and these Santa Fe scientists seek to understand them. Complexity is their story: the messy, funny, human story of how science really happens. Here is the tale of Brian Arthur, the Belfast-born economist who stubbornly pushed his theories of economic ch

Building a Learning Organization - Garvin, David A. (Harvard Business Review, 1993)
Beyond high philosophy and grand themes lie the gritty details of practice.

A leaders's guide to after-action reviews - U.S. Army (Department of the Army, 1993)
An after-action review (AAR) is a professional discussion of an event, focused on performance standards, that enables soldiers to discover for themselves what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve on weaknesses. It is a tool leaders and units can use to get maximum benefit from every mission or task. It provides- • Candid insights into specific soldier, leader, and unit strengths and weaknesses from various perspectives. • Feedback and insight critical to battle-focused training. • Details often lacking in evaluation reports alone. Evaluation is the basis for the commander's unit-training assessment. No commander, no matter how skilled, will see as much as the individual soldiers and leaders who actually conduct the training. Leaders can better correct deficiencies and sustain strengths by carefully evaluating and comparing soldier, leader, and unit performance against the standard. The AAR is the keystone of the evaluation process. Feedback compares the actual output of a process with the intended outcome. By focusing on the task's standards and by describing specific observations, leaders and soldiers identify strengths and weaknesses and together decide how to improve their performances. This shared learning improves task proficiency and promotes unit bonding and esprit. Squad and platoon leaders will use the information to develop input for unittraining plans. The AAR is a valid and valuable technique regardless of branch, echelon, or training task. Of course, AARs are not cure-alls for unit-training problems. Leaders must still make on-the-spot corrections and take responsibility for training their soldiers and units. However, AARs are a key part of the training process. The goal is to improve soldier, leader, and unit performance. The result is a more cohesive and proficient fighting force. Because soldiers and leaders participating in an AAR actively discover what happened and why, they learn and remember more than they would from a critique alone. A critique only gives one viewpoint and frequently provides little opportunity for discussion of events by participants. Soldier observations and comments may not be encouraged. The climate of the critique, focusing only on what is wrong, prevents candid discussion of training events and stifles learning and team building.

Compass and Gyroscope: Integrating Science and Politics in the Environment - Lee, Kai N. (Island Press, 1993)
In this original and far-reaching synthesis, Kai N. Lee explains that together science and politics can lead the waytoward the sustainable management of the world’s resources. Rigorous science can act as our compass, pointingus toward greater and more useful knowledge (adaptive management), and practical politics can serve as our gyroscope, keeping usbalanced between competing interest groups. Unlike some approaches to sustainable development, Compass and Gyroscope is refreshingly grounded in the realworld. Lee explains that sustainability cannot occur overnight, we have neither an adequate base of knowledgenor a reliable means of properly implementing and executing management plans. "Sustainable development is not a goal, not a condition likely to be attained on earth as we know it. Rather it is more like freedom or justice,a direction in which we strive..." Using the Columbia River Basin in the Pacific Northwest as a case study, Lee examines the successes andfailures of past and present management. He describes what has been learned, and explains how that experiencecan be applied to environmental management generally. Throughout, the author delves deeply into the theoretical framework behind the real-world experience, exploring how theories of science, politics, and cognitive psychology can be integrated into environmental management.

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement - Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; Cox, Jeff (North River Press, 1992)
Over 2 million copies sold! Used by thousands of companies and hundreds of business schools! Required reading for anyone interested in the Theory of Constraints. This book, which introduces the Theory of Constraints, is changing how America does business. The Goal is a gripping, fast-paced business novel about overcoming the barriers to making money. You will learn the fundamentals of identifying and solving the problems created by constraints. From the moment you finish the book you will be able to start successfully addressing chronic productivity and quality problems.

Approprite Technologies for Rural Development in India - Blankenbey, Floris P. (Concept Publishing Co, 1991)

America’s Most Successful Export to Japan: Continuous Improvement Programs - Dean M., Schroeder; Robinson, Alan G. (MIT Sloan Management Review, 1991)
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT Programs (CIPs) unleash employee experience and I creativity to improve both products and processes. They are often cited as the most important difference between the Japanese and Western management styles and as a major factor in Japan’s economic success.2Yet the CIP was conceived, developed, and brought to maturation in the United States. After World War II, the U.S. government helped to export it to Japan, where it was well received and promptly flourished. Despite the long history and well-documented benefits of such systems, few U.S. companies have invested effort in CIPs equivalent to that of their Japanese competitors. Japanese companies have put almost forty years into the development and refinement of CIPs, or kaizen programs as they are known in Japan, and have brought the art and science of managing them to new levels of sophistication. The aim of these programs is precisely to design and implement a system whose natural equilibrium is constant improvement and change. How can a company that does not have such a program compete with one that does? In this paper we give the historical background of CIPs, which we believe is essential for a useful understanding of these programs. We document their export across the Pacific immediately following World War II and illustrate their power as a competitive weapon when fully and properly deployed. We then identify and discuss requirements for successful implementation and suggest reasons why many U.S. firms find them difficult to start and maintain. We conclude by arguing that what is commonly perceived to be the “best practice” of CIP management is itself open to improvement. Throughout the article, we identify promising directions for companies to pursue so that all minds in the company, not just those of a few at the top, are actively solving problems, reducing costs, and eliminating waste.

When Knowledge is Power: Three Models of Change in International Organizations - Haas, Ernst B. (University of California Press, 1991)
Do governments seeking to collaborate in such international organizations as the United Nations and the World Bank ever learn to improve the performance of those organizations? Can international organizations be improved by a deliberate institutional design that reflects lessons learned in peacekeeping, the protection of human rights, and environmentally sound economic development? In this incisive work, Ernst Haas examines these and other issues to delineate the conditions under which organizations change their methods for defining problems. Haas contends that international organizations change most effectively when they are able to redefine the causes underlying the problems to be addressed. He shows that such self-reflection is possible when the expert-generated knowledge about the problems can be made to mesh with the interests of hegemonic coalitions of member governments. But usually efforts to change organizations begin as adaptive practices that owe little to a systematic questioning of past behavior. Often organizations adapt and survive without fully satisfying most of their members, as has been the case with the United Nations since 1970. When Knowledge Is Power is a wide-ranging work that will elicit interest from political scientists, organization theorists, bureaucrats, and students of management and international administration.

The machine that changed the World: the story of Lean Production - Womack, James P.; Jones, Daniel T.; Roos, Daniel (Simon & Schuster, 1990)

Learning and not learning from experience in rural project planning - Hulme, David (Public Administration and Development, 1989)
The theme of learning from experience as a means of improving the effectiveness of rural development projects and programmers has been common in recent years. Considerable effort has been put into refining, monitoring and evaluation systems to enhance organizational learning processes. However, an emphasis on normative approaches to evaluation and learning from experience has led to the neglect of research into the actual processes by which rural development agencies utilize experience. The case study presented here points to the shortcomings of such approaches and illustrates the partisan manner in which individuals and organizations treat the lessons of experience. Actively ‘not learning from experience’ is as much a part of organizational processes as learning from experience. This paper examines the implications of this finding and reviews alternative approaches to improving experiential learning in rural development activities. It is found that such a perspective does not generate the innocuous technical prescriptions characteristic of conventional approaches, but a number of useful directions for further research can be identified.
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/pad.4230090102

The process approach to projects - ODA (Overseas Development Administration, 1989)

Toyota production system: beyond large-scale production - Ōno, Taiichi; Bodek, Norman (Productivity Press, 1988)
OCLC: 255047797
Keywords: Lean Production; Production management; Toyota-Jidōsha-Kōgyō-KK

A spiral model of software development and enhancement - Boehm, B. W. (Computer, 1988)

Strengthening Farmers’ Capacity for Technology Development - Haverkort, Bertus; Hiemstra, Wim; Reijntjes, Coen; Essers, Sander (ILEIA Newsletter, 1988)
First Reference to Participatory Technology Development

Design thinking - Rowe, Peter G. (The MIT Press, 1987)

The New New Product Development Game - Takeuchi, Hirotaka; Nonaka, Ikujiro (Harvard Business Review, 1986)
In today’s fast-paced, fiercely competitive world of commercial new product development, speed and flexibility are essential. Companies are increasingly realizing that the old, sequential approach to developing new products simply won’t get the job done. Instead, companies in Japan and the United States are using a holistic method—as in rugby, the ball gets passed within […]

Appropriate Technology Sourcebook - Darrow, Ken; Saxenian, Mike (Village Earth, 1986)
Keywords: IMPORTANT

Adaptive Management of Renewable Resources - Walters, C. J. (Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 1986)
The author challenges the traditional approach to dealing with uncertainty in the management of such renewable resources as fish and wildlife. He argues that scientific understanding will come from the experience of management as an ongoing, adaptive, and experimental process, rather than through basic research or the development of ecological theory. The opening chapters review approaches to formulating management objectives as well as models for understanding how policy choices affect the attainment of these objectives. Subsequent chapters present various statistical methods for understanding the dynamics of uncertainty in managed fish and wildlife populations and for seeking optimum harvest policies in the face of uncertainty. The book concludes with a look at prospects for adaptive management of complex systems, emphasizing such human factors involved in decision making as risk aversion and conflicting objectives as well as biophysical factors. Throughout the text dynamic models and Bayesian statistical theory are used as tools for understanding the behavior of managed systems. These tools are illustrated with simple graphs and plots of data from representative cases. This text/reference will serve researchers, graduate students, and resource managers who formulate harvest policies and study the dynamics of harvest populations, as well as analysts (modelers, statisticians, and stock assessment experts) who are concerned with the practice of policy design.

Evolutionary Delivery Versus the "Waterfall Model" - Gilb, Tom (SIGSOFT Softw. Eng. Notes, 1985)
The conventional wisdom of planning software engineering projects, using the widely cited "waterfall model" is not the only useful software development process model. In fact, the "waterfall model" may be unrealistic, and dangerous to the primary objectives of any software project.The alternative model, which I choose to call "evolutionary delivery" is not widely taught or practiced yet. But there is already more than a decade of practical experience in using it. In various forms. It is quite clear from these experiences that evolutionary delivery is a powerful general tool for both software development and associated systems development.Almost all experienced software developers do make use of some of the ideas in evolutionary development at one time or another. But, this is often unplanned, informal and it is an incomplete exploitation of this powerful method. This paper will try to expose the theoretical and practical aspects of the method in a fuller perspective. We need to learn the theory fully, so that we can apply and learn it completely.

Adaptive environmental assessment and management: a new approach to environmental impact assessment - Jones, Michael L.; Greig, Lorne A. (New directions in environmental impact assessment in Canada, 1985)

Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance - Scott, James C. (Yale University Press, 1985)
"Weapons of the Weak" challenges conventional understandings of peasant resistance by focusing on the subtle, often overlooked ways that peasants resist domination. Rather than focusing on dramatic uprisings, Scott examines the everyday acts of resistance that occur in the shadows of power. Key Arguments Resistance is not always visible: Scott argues that resistance is not limited to organized rebellions. Everyday acts like foot-dragging, gossip, feigned ignorance, and petty theft can be powerful forms of resistance. Hidden transcripts: Scott introduces the concept of "hidden transcripts," which are the informal, offstage discourses where subordinate groups express their grievances and resistance. These transcripts are often hidden from the dominant group. Moral economy: Scott emphasizes the importance of the "moral economy" of peasant societies, which are based on shared norms of reciprocity and fairness. When these norms are violated, peasants may resist. Hegemony is not complete: Scott challenges the idea that dominant ideologies completely control the minds of subordinate groups. He shows that peasants often have their own interpretations of the world and their place in it. The book is divided into three parts: Part I: The Setting: Introduces the village of Sedaka in Malaysia, where Scott conducted his research. It describes the social and economic structure of the village and the changes that were taking place. Part II: The Everyday Forms of Resistance: This section examines the various ways that peasants in Sedaka resisted domination. It includes chapters on gossip, foot-dragging, sabotage, and other forms of resistance. Part III: The Moral Economy and the Ideology of Resistance: This section explores the moral economy of the village and how it shapes peasant resistance. It also examines the "hidden transcripts" of resistance and the ways that peasants make sense of their world. Key Concepts Weapons of the weak: The everyday forms of resistance used by subordinate groups. Hidden transcripts: The informal, offstage discourses where subordinate groups express their grievances and resistance. Moral economy: The shared norms of reciprocity and fairness in peasant societies. Hegemony: The dominance of a particular set of ideas or beliefs.

Review of Development Projects as Policy Experiments: An Adaptive Approach to Development Administration - Uphoff, Norman (Economic Geography, 1985)

Knowledge-based Communication Processes in Software Engineering - Fischer, Gerhard; Schneider, Matthias (Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Software Engineering, 1984)
A large number of problems to be solved with the help of computer systems are ill-structured. Their solution requires incremental design processes, because complete and stable specifications are net available. For tasks of this sort, life cycle models are inadequate. Our design methodology is based on a rapid prototyping approach which supports the coevolution of specification and implementation. Communication between customers, designers and implementors and communication between the humans and the knowledge base in which the emerging product is embedded are of crucial importance. Our work is centered around knowledge-based systems which enhance and support the communication needs in connection with software systems. Program documentation systems are used as an example to illustrate the relevance of knowledge-based human-computer communication in software engineering.
Keywords: Rapid prototyping; experimental programming environments; human-computer communication; incremental design; knowledge-based systems; program documentation; user interfaces

Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development - Kolb, David A. (Prentice Hall, 1983)
Drawing from the intellectual origins of experiential learning in the works of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Jean Piaget, this comprehensive and systematic book describes the process of experiential learning. The author proposes a model of the underlying structures of the learning process based on research in psychology, philosophy, and physiology, and bases its typology of individual learning styles and corresponding structures of knowledge in different academic disciplines and careers on this structural model. He also applies experiential learning to higher education and lifelong learning, particularly with regard to adult education.

Development Projects as Policy Experiments: An Adaptive Approach to Development Administration - Rondinelli, Dennis A. (Methuen, 1983)
International assistance programmes for developing countries are in urgent need of revision. Continuous testing and verification is required if development activity is to cope effectively with the uncertainty and complexity of the development process. This examines the alternatives and offers an approach which focuses on strategic planning, administrative procedures that facilitate innovation, responsiveness and experimentation, and on decision-making processes that join learning with action. A useful text for academics and practitioners in development studies, geography and sociology.

Community Organization and Rural Development: A Learning Process Approach - Korten, David C. (Public Administration Review, 1980)

Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective - Argyris, Chris; Schon, Donald A. (Addison Wesley, 1978)

Adaptive environmental assessment and management - Holling, C. S. (Wiley, 1978)
Keywords: Ecology; Economic development; Environmental impact analysis; Environmental protection

Inside Foreign Aid - Tendler, Judith (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975)
A classic, important study in the anthropology of development, grounded in the author's own work within USAID, and analysis of the organizational and institutional pressures that constrain and shape development agency employees' cognition and action.
Keywords: IMPORTANT

The Logical Categories of Learning and Communication - Bateson, Gregory (Steps to an Ecology of Mind, 1973)

Small is beautiful: economics as if people mattered - Schumacher, Ernst Friedrich (Blond & Briggs, 1973)

A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice - Cohen, Michael D.; March, James G.; Olsen, Johan P. (Administrative Science Quarterly, 1972)
Organized anarchies are organizations characterized by problematic preferences, unclear technology, and fluid participation. Recent studies of universities, a familiar form of organized anarchy, suggest that such organizations can be viewed for some purposes as collections of choices looking for problems, issues and feelings looking for decision situations in which they might be aired, solutions looking for issues to which they might be an answer, and decision makers looking for work. These ideas are translated into an explicit computer simulation model of a garbage can decision process. The general implications of such a model are described in terms of five major measures on the process. Possible applications of the model to more narrow predictions are illustrated by an examination of the model's predictions with respect to the effect of adversity on university decision making.

Managing the development of large software systems - Royce, Winston (Proceedings of IEEE WesCon, 1970)

The principle of the hiding hand - Hirschman, Albert O. (National Observer, 1967)

Requisite Variety and Its Implications for the Control of Complex Systems - Ashby, W. Ross (Cybernetica, 1958)

Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 1 Introductory Orientations - Needham, Joseph (Cambridge University Press, 1956)
Dr Joseph Needham's account of the Chinese achievement in science and technology will stand as one of the great works of our time. It has been acclaimed by specialists in both East and West and also by readers with wider and more general interests. The text, based on research of a high critical quality, is supported by many hundreds of illustrations and is imbued with a warm appreciation of China. Volume I is an introductory volume, in which Dr Needham prepares his readers for the study of a whole human culture. He begins by examining the structure of the Chinese language; he reviews the geography of China and the long history of its people, and discusses the scientific contacts which have occurred throughout the centuries, between Europe and East Asia.

Field Theory in Social Science: Selected Theoretical Papers - Lewin, Kurt (Harper & Brothers, 1951)

Science and Complexity - Weaver, Warren (American Scientist, 1948)

Equitable Systems Change: Funding Field Catalysts from Origins to Revolutionizing the World - Daniels, Emma Nothmann, Kevin Crouch, Cora, Lija McHugh Farnham (Bridgespan)
The Bridgespan Group's services include strategy consulting and advising, sourcing and diligence, and leadership team support. We take what we learn from this work, identify best practices and innovative ideas, and share them with the social sector.

MEL 360: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for Systems Change - Estrella, Andrea; Tolmer, Zazie; Bina, Andrea; Muhereza, Suzane; O'Malley, Charles; Uusikyla, Ida; Fregolent, Federica (UNDP)
MEL 360 offers practical, accessible guidance to help you layer Systems-Informed Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (Systems MEL) approaches onto your existing MEL practices

Funding Field Catalysts from Origins to Revolutionizing the World - Farnham, Lija; Nothmann, Emma; Crouch, Kevin; Daniels, Cora (Skoll Foundation & The Bridgespan Group)

A Refresher on Discovery-Driven Planning - Gallo, Amy (Harvard Business Review)

Learning as a Management Strategy - Lowe, Toby; Hesselgreaves, Hannah; Taylor, Abigail (Centre for Public Impact)

Discovery-Driven Planning - McGrath, Rita; MacMillan, Ian (Harvard Business Review)

Three Horizons - Rippel Foundation (The Rippel Foundation)
"Three Horizons" is a framework, developed by Bill Sharpe, as a valuable and intuitive tool for efficiently guiding systems change across various fields The framework itself provides a structured way to think about future change by categorizing developments into three horizons: - Horizon 1 represents the dominant current system, which is increasingly less able to meet emerging needs. - Horizon 2 involves innovations and disruptions that could potentially replace or transform the current system. - Horizon 3 focuses on long-term visions and aspirations for the future, representing transformative changes.

Storytelling for Systems Change: Listening to Understand - Snow, Thea; Bandaranayaka, Asitha; Fyfe, Rachel; Wolf, Lila (Centre for Public Impact)
The second phase of our Storytelling for Systems Change work, has revealed new insights, raised questions, and offered a range of possibilities.

Two Loops – Excerpted from - Stilger, Bob