Copyright © 2001 Patrick McDermott UC Berkeley Extension Bruce McCandless II Free flying Shuttle Challenger 1984

Technical Team Mostly Technical people The total process was orderly and efficient A team member quickly took charge and guided the group –Established criteria –Evaluated the items –Assigned priorities to each The group was finished quickly Each point was discussed, and unanimously settled

Disorderly Team The Second Group was chaos: Several viewed this class as a way to demonstrate their leadership skills –Each tried to take charge Degenerated into a series of arguments No discernible order or plan When the hour was up, still arguing over the final items and had to be called back into the meeting room.

Exercise Results But the results may surprise you: The technical, team members had individually done quite well –But their overall team result was little better than their best individual score On the disorderly team, none of the individual scores had been very good –But the team result was better than their best individual score Better than the score of the technical team –Even though their individual team members had not done nearly as well

Exercise Conclusion Arranged agenda and a firm Leader (chair) Can be very effective in gathering facts BUT can seriously inhibit –The generation of new ideas –The open communication needed to reach complete agreement Humphrey, Watts S., Managing Technical People: Innovation, Teamwork, and the Software Process, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1997.

Strong Leaders When strong leaders take charge, their views tend to dominate the process. While they may request everyone’s opinions –Their views set the agenda –They largely control the final result Buzz Aldrin’s boot print One of the first steps taken on the moon Apollo 11, 1969

Rigid Agenda With an Established Agenda Members are often reluctant to disrupt the proceedings Even when they have very good ideas, they will hold back –Shyness –Deference to the Leader –Fear of Consequences Pillars of Creation from Eagle Nebula

Facilitation for Innovation Don’t! –Roll with the flow Goal? –Innovation –Consensus Hard to control –You probably can’t control it –You don’t want to Take turns, equal participation-NO! The Eagle Nebula

Other Observations Technicians didn’t benefit much from creativity; needed an artistic soul? Strong leader can inhibit the creativity of members Engineers/Techies solved the problem efficiently, but not necessarily creatively Andromeda galaxy

Nonaka & Takeuchi re Ambiguity It may sound paradoxical, but: The Confusion created by the ambiguity of the mission handed down by Honda’s top management provided an extremely clear sense of direction to the team. Ambiguity can prove useful at times –A source of a new sense of direction –A new source of meanings –A fresh way of thinking about things In this respect, new knowledge is born out of chaos.