Jazz Process, The: Collaboration, Innovation, and Agility, Portable Documents

"An insider’s guide to translating the creative techniques of jazz to the business world.” Scott Berkun, author of The Myths of Innovation   What Can Your Team Learn From Jazz Musicians?   Experienced jazz musicians apply specific principles to collaborate, execute, and manage change in real time--delivering extraordinary innovation in the face of non-stop pressure and risk. Now, jazz musician and collaboration expert Adrian Cho shows how you can use the same principles to dramatically improve any team’s performance.   Cho systematically introduces the Jazz Process and demonstrates how it can help cross-functional teams improve teamwork, innovation, and execution. You’ll learn new ways to encourage and integrate strong individual contributions from passionate and committed practitioners, and give them maximum autonomy while making sure your project’s “music” never degenerates into chaotic “noise.”   Through multiple case studies, Cho shows you how high-performance teams achieve their success.   • Master five core principles of working in teams: use just enough rules, employ top talent, put the team first, build trust and respect, and commit with passion • Establish a realistic framework for effective, continuous execution • Collaborate more effectively with team members, consumers, customers, partners, and suppliers • Master the essentials of team execution: listening for change, leading on demand, acting transparently, and making every contribution count • Reduce the “friction” associated with collaboration--and increase the synergy • Use form, tempo, pulse, and groove to maintain constructive momentum • Learn about the importance of healthy projects and teams • Innovate by exchanging ideas and taking the right measured risks • For every practitioner, leader, and manager interested in getting better results  

Table of Contents:
List of Figures     xv Foreword     xvi Preface     xx Acknowledgments     xxiii About the Author     xxv Introduction     1   PART I: WORKING Chapter 1  Use Just Enough Rules     21 The Need for Rules     21 Employing Just Enough Rules     23 Breaking the Rules     26 Defining a Process     28 Documenting a Process     30 Evolving and Improving a Process     32   Chapter 2  Employ Top Talent     35 The Human Element     35 Individuality     37 The Importance of Awareness     40 Enabling Organizational Agility     44 Managing Human Resources     45   Chapter 3  Put the Team First     47 Putting the Team First     47 Absorbing Mistakes as a Team     49 Avoiding Groupthink     51 Team Awareness     52 Acknowledging Everyone’s Efforts     53 Avoiding Team Elitism     54   Chapter 4  Build Trust and Respect     57 Trust and Respect     57 Benefits of Trust and Respect     58 Developing Trust and Respect     60 Acknowledging Efforts and Results     63 When Trust and Respect Are Lost     65   Chapter 5  Commit with Passion     69 Commitment     69 Less Work Requires More Commitment     71 Be Willing to Make Mistakes     74 Those Who Support the Team     77 Performing with Passion     78 Performing in Social Media     80   PART II: COLLABORATING Essentials of Execution     85 Feedback and the Birth of Cybernetics     86 Feedback Loops     87 Hunting Cause 1: Trying Too Hard     89 Hunting Cause 2: Reacting Too Slowly     90 Breaking Out of Positive Feedback Loops     91 John Boyd and the OODA Loop     92 The Lessons of Blitzkrieg     95 OODA and the Jazz Process     97   Chapter 6  Listen for Change     103 Observing     103 What We Observe     107 Identifying and Ignoring Noise     111 Data Versus Information     113 Measuring Success     115 Change Is Unavoidable     119 Consideration 1: Cognitive Biases     121 Consideration 2: Thinking Outside the Box     124 Consideration 3: Seeing Through the Fog     125 Responding to Change     127 Identifying Change     129   Chapter 7  Lead on Demand     133 Our Fascination with Leadership     133 Taking Initiative     134 Decentralizing Leadership     136 Helping the Team Navigate     140 The Importance of Following     141   Chapter 8  Act Transparently     145 Transparency in the Execution Cycle     145 Authenticity     150 Openness     154 Timeliness     157 Clarity     159 Considerations     161   Chapter 9  Make Contributions Count     165 Contributing in Collaborative Scenarios     165 Measuring Contributions: Saying More with Less     170 Timing     178 Location and Proximity     179   PART III: EXECUTING Chapter 10  Reduce Friction     185 Concepts of Friction     185 Reducing Friction     188 Optimizing Friction     190   Chapter 11  Maintain Momentum     197 Concepts of Momentum     197 Form     199 Tempo     202 Pulse     205 Groove     207 Momentum in an Organization     210 Maintaining Momentum     212   Chapter 12  Stay Healthy     219 The Importance of Health     219 Causes of Injury     223 Prevention     225 Chronic Conditions     227 Recovery     228 Shock     231 Monitoring Health     231   PART IV: INNOVATING Chapter 13  Exchange Ideas     237 Creativity and Innovation     237 Benefits of Innovation     239 Enabling Innovation with Collaboration     240 Enabling Innovation with Diversity     242 Enabling Innovation with Dialogue     244 Fostering Innovation     246   Chapter 14  Take Measured Risks     251 Managing Risk     251 Risks of Failing to Diversify     252 Risks of Applying Best Practices     253 Taking Risks     255   Coda     267 Works Cited     269 Index     281

About the Author :
Adrian Cho is exceptionally well-qualified to draw parallels between the worlds of jazz, business, and software. As a bassist and conductor, he leads the critically acclaimed symphonic jazz ensemble, Impressions in Jazz Orchestra. At IBM, he manages development of IBM® Rational® Team Concert™, the first product built on IBM’s Jazz® team collaboration platform, as well as Rational’s Collaborative Application Lifecycle Management project. As a manager of intellectual property, Adrian plays a key role in IBM’s Eclipse open source and Jazz Open Commercial Software Development efforts and serves as an invited expert on the Eclipse Foundation IP Advisory Committee.