What Uday’s Reading: Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows

Enterprise Experience Community co-curator Uday Gajendar has two books to share this month!

Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows

This is a very approachable overview on the essentials of systems thinking, beyond the familiar notions of enterprise software, but extending the lens to typically “wicked” global problems of society, climate, and politics. Things are just becoming more complex (and complicated) so this book offers sufficiently agnostic models and conceptual tools to navigate it all. If you tuned in for Jorge Arango’s relevant EX Community call on tackling VUCA you’ll find this book to be a necessary companion to continuing that dialogue at a systems level.

Seeing Organizational Patterns by Robert W. Keidel

A core premise of Enterprise Experience (our annual conference newly renamed) is frankly “busting silos” to enable vital cross-functional dialogues. Well, to do that requires in part understanding organizational models and patterns–this book is all about that! The author is famous for triangular structures; here he argues that most organizational issues are a balance of three variables: individual autonomy, hierarchical control, and spontaneous cooperation. By learning to frame issues as tradeoffs among these design variables, one can see underlying patterns.

What have you been reading lately?