However, the rational model ignores the inherent complexity and ambiguity of real-world organizations and their environments. In this landmark volume, Karl E Weick highlights how the `sensemaking′ process shapes organizational structure and behaviour. The process is seen as the creation of reality as an ongoing accomplishment that takes form when people make retrospective sense of the situations in which they find themselves.

    But often, a company's published accounts offer clues to impending disaster, providing you know where to look. Through the forensic examination of more than 20 recent stock market disasters, Tim Steer reveals how companies hide or disguise worrying facts about the robustness of their business. In his lively style, he looks at the themes that underlie the ways companies hide the truth and he stresses that in an assessment of a company's accounts, investors should always bear in mind that the only fact is cash; everything else - profit, assets, etc - is a matter of opinion. Full of invaluable lessons for investors, the book concludes with some trenchant observations on what is wrong in the worlds of investment, audit and financial regulation, and what changes should be introduced.

    . . . 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.

    It is a revealing paradox. The impli­cations are explosive and they obliterate every common-sense notion we have about strategy and planning.The Click Moment is about two very simple but highly provocative ideas. The first is that success is random—far more random than we would like to believe. The second is that there are a number of specific actions that we, as individuals and organizations, can take to cap­ture this randomness and focus it in our favor.According to Johansson, strategy, plan­ning, and careful analysis can no longer guarantee strong performance; today’s busi­ness environments are far too random and complicated. But when you dig deep into the actions of successful people and orga­nizations, you’ll find one common theme. A turning point occurs—a major client signs on, a new competitor redefines the market, an unlikely idea surfaces—and they take advan­tage of that serendipity to change their fate. Consider how . . .Diane von Furstenberg saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower on TV wearing a matching skirt and top, and the timeless, elegant wrap-dress was born. Microsoft Windows was on the brink of being shut down until two individuals met unexpectedly at a party and altered the fate of the world’s dominant computer operat­ing system. Starbucks sold high-end brewing equip­ment and coffee by the pound until Howard Schultz experienced his first latte in a café in Milan. Nike was stumped on how to invent a spike­less trainer when a legendary running coach poured latex on a waffle iron.Each of these individuals experienced a “click moment”—a rare point of opportunity that was completely unexpected. But they capitalized on their luck in ways that paid off significantly and altered their organizations’ strategies and the course of their lives.Johansson uses stories of successful people and companies throughout history to illustrate the specific actions we can take to create more click moments, place lots of high-potential bets, open ourselves up to chance encounters, and harness the complex forces of success that follow.

    They cannot solve their problems in their current context; the larger system within which they are operating is too unstable or unfair or unsustainable. They cannot transform this system on their own, or by working only with their friends or colleagues; the system is too complex to be grasped or shifted by any one person or organization or sector. And other actors whose cooperation would be necessary to transform the system don't understand or agree with or trust one another enough to work together. This book describes a powerful new methodology for dealing with these challenges. Transformative scenario planning is a powerful way for actors from across a whole system to work together to transform that system. It is a way for them to get unstuck and to move forward on solving their tough problems. Transformative scenario planning goes far beyond conventional, adaptive scenario planning. Often people find themselves in systems that are complex, conflictual, not working, and stuck. In such systems, people need a methodology not simply for adapting to the system but also for creating new, better futures. Transformative scenario planning is a way that people can work together with others to transform themselves and their relationships with one another, and thereby to transform their systems. In this simple and practical book, Adam Kahane explains this methodology and how to use it.

    Perfect for small teams producing software with fast-changing requirements, XP can save time and money while dramatically improving quality. In XP Installed, three participants in DaimlerChrysler's breakthrough XP project cover every key practice associated with XP implementation. The book consists of a connected collection of essays, presented in the order the practices would actually be implemented during a project. Ideal as both a start-to-finish tutorial and quick reference, the book demonstrates exactly how XP can promote better communication, quality, control, and predictability. An excellent complement to the best selling Extreme Programming Explained, it also works perfectly on a standalone basis, for any developer or team that wants to get rolling with XP fast.

    But what do we really know about the design process? What leads to effective, elegant designs? The Design of Design addresses these questions. These new essays by Fred Brooks contain extraordinary insights for designers in every discipline. Brooks pinpoints constants inherent in all design projects and uncovers processes and patterns likely to lead to excellence. Drawing on conversations with dozens of exceptional designers, as well as his own experiences in several design domains, Brooks observes that bold design decisions lead to better outcomes. The author tracks the evolution of the design process, treats collaborative and distributed design, and illuminates what makes a truly great designer. He examines the nuts and bolts of design processes, including budget constraints of many kinds, aesthetics, design empiricism, and tools, and grounds this discussion in his own real-world examples--case studies ranging from home construction to IBM's Operating System/360. Throughout, Brooks reveals keys to success that every designer, design project manager, and design researcher should know.

    The way we think about leadership, for instance, has shifted radically from the genius of great entrepreneurs like Rockefeller, Carnegie and Ford, through leadership as a science, leadership that releases human potential, the leader as strategist and warrior, customer champion, globalist and shareholder advocate, to, more recently, leadership as stewardship of the environment. Hundreds of models have been developed to track, measure and forecast business solutions, but as fashions shift how can we apply them in real organizations that have to succeed outside the classroom? 10 Management Models is taken from the book, 100+ Management Models by the same authors.

    Not a product of the formal education system, Dhirubhai was known for his astute business acumen and entrepreneurial prowess. No wonder Dhirubhai's business philosophy was quite different from his contemporaries. This book is not about Dhirubhai's life, or how Dhirubhai went about building his business empire. Dhirubhaism is an attempt to capture those unique insights that Dhirubhai shared with the author in several interations during their long association. The 15 Dhirubhaisms put together bring out the work philosophy of Dhirubhai and give us a glimpse into the remarkable thinking process and practices of one of India's most successful entrepreneurs.

    On the one hand, there are the more agile methods that focus on individual projects, and how to get them done fast--the camp represented by Beck and Cockburn. On the other hand, there are the more disciplined methods, focused on setting up organizational processes for getting projects done with predictable high quality--the camp best represented by the SEI, the CMMI, and Humphrey. Although these methods are often presented as mutually exclusive, they actually lie on a continuum. The authors of Balancing Agility and Discipline have worked out clear guidelines for determining where on that continuum a particular software development project is located--and therefore, how agile or disciplined a chosen methodology can or has to be.

    C. R. Licklider, whose visionary dream of a human-computer symbiosis transformed the course of modern science and led to the development of the personal computer. Reprint.

    Levitt's and Stephen J. Dubner's book. This is a summary of Steven D. Levitt's and Stephen J. Dubner's book. It provides a detailed and concise description of their books' content, key ideas and facts. In Think Like a Freak, economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner advice how to master the economic way of thinking described in their previous bestsellers. To say it briefly, thinking like a Freak means being willing to think outside the box. The book offers advice, which may be useful to those who want to make better decisions and achieve better results when dealing with minor issues or major worldwide reforms. The kind of thinking, which is promoted in the book, is inspired by the economic approach. The economic approach is both simpler and broader than merely focusing on the economy. It claims to be independent of ideology, and it uses data in order to understand how the world works, how incentives thrive, how resources are distributed, and what prevents people from getting those resources. --------------------- Book summaries published by Brief, Concise and to the Point Publishing are designed to keep readers up to date and knowledgeable regarding new and significant books. Book summaries are perfect for people, especially busy professionals, who do not have the time to read books in their entirety. The main benefits of reading book summaries published by Brief, Concise and to the Point Publishing: 1. Our book summaries help you save your time and money. Instead of spending days or even weeks reading an important book, simply take one or two hours to read our concise book summary. It will introduce you to the book's primary content, ideas, arguments and facts. It will also help you decide whether it is worthwhile to invest your time and money in the entire book. 2. Our book summaries are truly comprehensive. Some other publishers' superficial book summaries do not exceed 15 to 20 pages, although they are presented as lengthy summaries. Our extensive book summaries include all the essential information you need to know. 3. Our books help you retain more information pertaining to the book's content. Academic studies have proven that people retain more of what they read in a summary as compared with what they remember after reading a book. Please note that according to the U.S. copyright law, the ideas and facts presented in books, as well as book titles, are not protected by copyright law.

    However, he has discovered that "being successful" is only part of life's challenge. Success is very often a short-lived high. People arrive at the goal line in life, look into the end zone and discover that it contains many of the things that money will buy, but it contains very little of what money won't buy. Zig believes that yes, success is worth it, but it is not enough. The next step is to move from success into significance. In A View from the Top Zig will teach you: to bring in spiritual dimention in all areas of your life the power of giving others a hand up, not just a hand out to make radical changes with minute steps to develop a wall of gratitude to combine your mission and your vision A View from the Top will help you achieve success and significance, so when you reach the top you'll find the view simply magnificent.

    It describes the roles, teams, values, intentions, habits, activities, policies and work products of a small software development team forwhom time-to-market and development costs are critical considerations.Alistair Cockburn is one of the founders of the Agile software developmentmovement. He spells out proven best practices based on his extensiveexperience helping organizations build software quickly and with less cost. Theauthor understands that small teams cannot be burdened by process-heavysoftware methodologies. By advocating that developers stay close together andremain in steady, good-will communication with customers and users, thisbook teaches the reader how to develop software that not only does what it issupposed to do, but also gets completed on time and within budget.

    This second edition of a bestselling introduction to construction management walks you through each stage of the construction management process.Written from the constructor's perspective, this book will familiarize you with all the construction management fundamentals and how Building Information Modeling (BIM) is impacting the construction management profession.Covers interoperability of technology advances in the construction industry Explains how BIM is challenging the traditional approach to project delivery and how this affects the constructor's role Elaborates each stage of the design and construction process and the tasks associated with each of them Shows step-by-step how to estimate project costs, administer contracts, manage job site and construction operations, plan and schedule a project, monitor project performance, manage project quality and safety, and assess project risks Provides review questions at the end of each chapter to help enforce understanding The tried-and-true project management principles presented in this book will help ensure you a successful start to your career.