In autobiographical sections of Critical Path, Buckminster Fuller wrote about the importance of precession in his own learning and in the evolutionary process of humanity. To put it simply – in most life processes, it is the spin-off, seemingly secondary, effects that are critical to survival, rather than the more obvious intended results.
Peter Senge connected this to his model (see previous post) and wrote (in 5th Discipline Fieldbook)
"Focusing on the triangle i.e. devoting time and energy to operational changes can produce results.....
Yet while we are focused on the triangle we must be mindful of the circle where the changes that really matter are represented.
Buckminster Fuller used to talk of the
'Principle of Precession'
being a characteristic of many significant change processes. When you spin a top, the primary mode of movement is rotation about its axis
After a while a secondary mode of movement develops....to precess
the axis itself gradually begins to move about its original position
It is quite mysterious as there is no obvious causal connection
The activity of the triangle is the rotation.....
as people discuss ideas
practice the application of tools and methods
design and implement changes in infrastructure
Other more subtle deeper changes will also be happening, often unnoticed:
changes in peoples' belief systems
increases in peoples' skills and capabilities
heightened awareness of self and belonging
and analogous to the gyroscope......
stop the rotation and the precession ceases.
Maybe this can be a model of emergent behaviour around products. if we think of visualisations, models and prototypes of our proposed products and services as catalysts to energise the rotation,
then the behaviours that we observe around them - both internal to the team and external to it can contribute to improving the design space- the involvement and learning needed to make it a success.
It is that interface between activity and insightful learning that is the killer ~ bridge it and we have an iPod; without connection we have products and services that deliver less than expected experiences, often late to market, over-budget and with quality issues., and a demoralised team! The energy required to correct or mitigate these is usually far greater than the effort to get it right first time! But avoiding issues is not as well rewarded as fixing them. As someone 0nce said to me.
" Its very commendable to avoid excess product cost from day one but a lot of people's bonuses come from achieving cost reduction targets. You are just making their jobs more difficult so don't expect praise."
Maybe that's why the spinning top falls over.
Peter Senge connected this to his model (see previous post) and wrote (in 5th Discipline Fieldbook)
"Focusing on the triangle i.e. devoting time and energy to operational changes can produce results.....
Yet while we are focused on the triangle we must be mindful of the circle where the changes that really matter are represented.
Buckminster Fuller used to talk of the
'Principle of Precession'
being a characteristic of many significant change processes. When you spin a top, the primary mode of movement is rotation about its axis
After a while a secondary mode of movement develops....to precess
the axis itself gradually begins to move about its original position
It is quite mysterious as there is no obvious causal connection
The activity of the triangle is the rotation.....
as people discuss ideas
practice the application of tools and methods
design and implement changes in infrastructure
Other more subtle deeper changes will also be happening, often unnoticed:
changes in peoples' belief systems
increases in peoples' skills and capabilities
heightened awareness of self and belonging
and analogous to the gyroscope......
stop the rotation and the precession ceases.
Maybe this can be a model of emergent behaviour around products. if we think of visualisations, models and prototypes of our proposed products and services as catalysts to energise the rotation,
then the behaviours that we observe around them - both internal to the team and external to it can contribute to improving the design space- the involvement and learning needed to make it a success.
It is that interface between activity and insightful learning that is the killer ~ bridge it and we have an iPod; without connection we have products and services that deliver less than expected experiences, often late to market, over-budget and with quality issues., and a demoralised team! The energy required to correct or mitigate these is usually far greater than the effort to get it right first time! But avoiding issues is not as well rewarded as fixing them. As someone 0nce said to me.
" Its very commendable to avoid excess product cost from day one but a lot of people's bonuses come from achieving cost reduction targets. You are just making their jobs more difficult so don't expect praise."
Maybe that's why the spinning top falls over.
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