Unanticipated Feedback: Asymmetric Stories, Anomalies & Uncertain Planning

The key to planning is thinking!! Tools and toys are to be used after there is a goal, and it takes some time to get there. Almost all failures can be tied to not thinking about-and rethinking- what you want and are after. So Part 1 of this book starts with attitude and perspective. Perspective and worldview is presented from a rather different viewpoint, in an attempt to get people out of their boxes and into the bigger systems. Then, we look at stories. Stories are the water we swim in, and we commonly don’t grasp the weaknesses and limits of stories, a problem because we think exclusively in stories. Part 2 starts with a quite different perspective on stories, which expands our view of stories to increase the breadth of our thinking. Then we look at feedback, because if we are going to think, we’ve got to have something useful to think with and about. Next we look at the OODA cycle, a model for effective action and that part concludes with the key question: what problems should I be solving? Which is NOT the same as the problems shouting at you right now. Part 3 is getting what we want - or not. It starts with planning ideas and concepts, but spends most of the time on failure, because failure is both more interesting and more useful than success. Success is too often smoke and mirrors and moving the goalposts, whereas failure is that stinking mess sitting in front of you-or the best tuition you’ll ever pay. Part 4 looks at problem solving-if such a thing is possible. It talks about complex problems and systems and approaches to solving the unsolvable. Finally, Part 5 is Dancing in the Storm-ideas for dealing with the chaos coming at you.