Notes for engineering leaders on healthy teams, lasting change and leading in complex systems
I’m Ahmed Avais. For more than 25 years I’ve been learning how systems behave and how to help them change. The systems started out as machines, became teams, and today they’re teams working alongside AI.
Dynamical Change is where I write down what I’m learning. I start where a team is, ask questions rather than prescribe, and try to help you see your own system so you can find your own path. Some posts come with a small interactive toy, so you can watch a pattern play out and try one small change.
A new post goes out on Saturday mornings.
Where to begin
What shape is your team in? Why a team’s problems keep coming back, through Human Systems Dynamics’ CDE model, and three questions to see which of seven shapes your team is in.
Stop starting, start finishing Two teams, same people, same work. Watch what happens when a team is working on everything and finishing very little.
Chance of done A weather forecast for your backlog, with no estimates and no story points, and the storms your history never saw.
Compare notes
If something here matches what you see in your team, reply to any post. I’d like to compare notes.