Who should read this book?

People Managers who want to their teams to work more autonomously.

Anyone who is interested in self-organisation.

Why you should read this book (or not)?

This is a very easy book to read (< 140 small pages) consuming less than half a day to read. The main objective of the book is to create a mental model to reflect on self-management.

Because of it being a business novel (not extremely exciting), it is an excellent fit for a small company library to create a common language and to allow people to become familiar with the topic of self-management.

For the someone familiar with the topic, you will probably not learn much new. It is just a pleasant & quick read.

Interesting extracts

“So indeed, the sheep were essentially led, namely by Lex. And I was Lex’s boss, of course. A very clear hierarchy.” Mark ponders and reacts: “Hmm, yes, barking dogs. We’ve got a couple of those back at the office too. They too can bark; we call them managers!” He laughs. “Project Managers, Marketing Managers, Team Managers, Department Managers, HR Managers, and so on. The one barks louder than the other, but bark they certainly do. And some even bite! There are definitely a couple that could be compared with Lex. The way they work with others really resembles driving a herd of sheep!”

“I can still remember,” he continues, “that thanks to experimenting I learned very quickly what worked and what didn’t. Especially which honey was better and what customers were willing to pay extra for. Lavender honey was a big hit. Deciding what new things to try, that was definitely my thing for a while; it is the domain of the beekeeper, after all. I decided where the cabinets would be set up, and the size of the cabinets, all that. I would place the cabinets within a certain distance of each other. Not too close, but not too far either. With most of my strategic decisions, I had to learn what worked and what didn’t. As they say, ‘Becoming a beekeeper is luck, but being a beekeeper is an art.’” ”

“Bees you have to let loose in an inspiring meadow full of flowers. Or even better: a nice meadow with blooming flowers provides a productive environment where the bees can do their work. The more inspiring the environment, the more people want to stay there! We don’t pay nearly enough attention to that. Soon, we will be reorganizing our whole office. I think I’m going to advocate for some creative spaces that inspire and give off good energy!”

“Mark thinks to himself that his teams also have ‘dances’ of sorts. Every team starts the day with a morning meeting. Some teams call it a ‘stand-up,’ and the technical teams call it their ‘daily Scrum.’ But it all boils down to one thing: a daily ritual that gets everyone on the same page, clarifying where things are and explicitly what is needed to solve the problems of the day. That does seem to resemble a bee dance, maybe. The only thing is that bees do it naturally, and Mark’s teams have had to learn it themselves. Everyone’s instinct is to just get to work and figure out the rest at the end. Telling how things are going in the meantime and asking for help are not automatic reactions. Bees are much better at that aspect. Essentially, a morning meeting is nothing more than one of Grandpa’s bees’ dances, he thinks to himself. If teams need the dance to get their work done, then that’s fine. In the end, it’s all about the result anyway. Look at the quality of the result. From there you can see if things are going well or not. It’s not the process that counts, but the result of the process: the final product. The honey-laden honeycombs show how well things are going. Grandpa goes on: “But keep your hands off, eh! Respect the autonomy of the cabinet. That is their domain. Inside the cabinet, they are the boss, and they should be able to what is necessary and what they would like to do.” ”

Lessons

Throughout the book – the following lessons are explained:

1. Harvesting Frequently Gets Results
   1. Usable results are the only measure of progress
   2. Delivering frequently and regularly is crucial
   3. Do not delay acknowledgement of good work
   4. A steady rhythm helps
2. Disrupting Operational Direction
   1. Trust the teams
   2. Make it clear what the goal is
   3. Stop micromanaging and don’t bark
   4. Make yourself superfluous
3. Pick and Protect the Framework
   1. “Laissez-faire” is not leadership
   2. Start with tight frameworks, and expand on them after hitting milestones
   3. Frameworks are the guide, but the teams decide
   4. Experiment constantly
4. Value the Apparent Chaos
   1. Look at the result, not the process
   2. Rituals offer a mainstay
   3. Keep your distance, but remain in the loop
   4. Encourage incremental learning
5. Removing Barriers
   1. Trust in the team’s knowledge
   2. Look for the underlying causes of problems
   3. Minimize distance
   4. Keep looking for improvements
6. Let Go of Your Ego
   1. No ego
   2. Any culture change begins with you
   3. Embrace criticism
   4. Pass all compliments along to your teams