#Workout Review — A Management 3.0 Book
So I know the theory, but how exactly can I put it into practice?
I’m a big fan of Jurgen Appelo. His approach to management through the eye of Complexity science and the interplay of people and relationships rather than the top down approach taken by most management systems is something that seems so obvious (once someones told you about it!) and relevant to the structure we often see in the games industry that I couldn’t help but take notice.
His first book — Management 3.0 — took those ideas and presented the theory and approach this style of management should function under but, as with nearly all management books out there, you can be left with the thought “so I know the theory, but how exactly can I put it into practice?”.
This is where #Workout comes in.
It assumes you know the theory (though it does give you an overview appropriate to each chapter) and instead details specific methods, games, approaches and ideas that you can implement within your organisation. And it’s not just managers or leaders that can take these ideas into the workplace, there is something for everyone in there at every level.
And of course, each method is there to be expanded, tweaked, applied and modified as to best fit the environment where you work. You can take the idea of the Kudo Box and apply it within a small group of your peers, or a Metrics Ecosystem within your feature group.
There are some things that really stand out for me as they suit the position I currently hold like Delegation Boards, Culture Books, Exploration Days and Improvement Dialogs. These are methods, when tweaked to my current environment, can really increase the level of engagement and peer support found within our development teams.
Of course, there are ideas in there that might not speak to everyone. Personal Maps seem rather intrusive though thats probably my reserved British background speaking more than anything and I think we have a long way to go until ideas like Salary Formula and Merit Money work for most people.
But that’s the beauty of it.
You don’t like an idea — then that’s fine. There is no implicit or explicit assumption that you should implement all these ideas and only in the way specified. But maybe you can take the ideas you’re not keen on and modify them to better fit your personality, approach or environment.
You really have nothing to lose, you can even download the book for free.
