Wide Mind: Leadership Strategies for Complexity

@derek w wade www.kumido.com
Wide Mind
Leadership Strategies for Complexity
Derek W. Wade
@derekwwade
dwade@kumido.com
#WideMind

www.kumido.com (C) 2009-2011
Human Skill: Mental Models

IS ATOTAL LIE
REALITY AS WE EXPERIENCE IT
MADE UP BY OUR BRAINS
TO TRY AND BRING ORDER TO A SYSTEM THAT IS
COMPLETELY INDIFFERENT TO OUR EXISTENCE
Kristina A. Curro, Ph.D.
UMass, Cognitive Science
(Communication Disorders)

(Blanchﬁeld 2011)
Complexity is Winning
Eclipse 2.1 = 740k—1.5M LOC
ACL project = ~68 diff stakeholders
Code commits = every ~1—12 hrs/committer
(Nagesh 2011)
‘WannaCry’ ransomware attackcould have been prevented
(Carlin 2017)

Effective Mental Models: 
Rapid, Accurate, Continuous Mapping of Reality
To Map Mapping Mapped
Unrealized/
Undetected
Ideate/
Investigate
Prototype/
Attempt to Solve,
Address Symptom
Implement/
Solve Root Cause
Innovation/
Solution
HOW LONG to USEFUL mapping?
HOW MANY FALSE “mappings”?

Hard Lessons: Team Mental Models
70% accidents in 1950s-80s
> 70% of 2455 
“sentinel events”
(Leonard et al. 2004)
V - U - C - A

Team Mental Model: #WideMind
+
+
Note: not additive!

4 Agile Leadership Strategies
Challenge  
your models
Manage  
cognitive load
Use  
boundary 
objectsMaintain  
team awareness
Intro to

Challenge  
your models

Outcome
Effects & Reactions
Mental Model
Action
WhatYou Do
single-loop: 
action and reaction
double-loop:  
challenge/update your model

Challenging vs. Reacting?
✅
👑
👼
⁉
hopetests
confirmationdissonance
🎓
🔬
advantageinsight
easeeffort📚
derekwwade.net “Warning Signs of Dangerous Landings…”

Challenge  
your models
Maintain  
team awareness

Awareness: Tasks and Team
What we think 
we need to do
Who we think
can help us

“How are you  
feeling today?”
(Sakata, 2006)

Challenge  
your models
Manage  
cognitive load
Maintain  
team awareness

Cognitive Load: Good and Bad
Baked-In
(‘Intrinsic’)
Waste
(‘Extraneous’)
Solving
(‘Germane’)
totaltaskload
maximum
yourcapacity
Overload!
Available

Common ‘Waste’ : Fragmentation
Task 2
Task 1
Solving
Solving
TIME
50%
Waste

IF
THEN

Challenge  
your models
Manage  
cognitive load
Use  
boundary 
objectsMaintain  
team awareness

“Just talk to each other” 
scales poorly
n (n-1) / 2 
interactions
Forming/Using Team Mental Models

Central
coordination
(boss/proxy)
loses fidelity 
with layers
Forming/Using Team Mental Models

Discipline1 Discipline2
D
C
Communication: Connecting Concepts

Sender
Sender’s
Knowledge
Transmitted
Message
Received
Message
Receiver
Receiver
Sender’s
Knowledge
Transmitted
Message
Received
Message
Sender
The Problem With “Communication”

Boundary Objects 
facilitate  
Team Mental Models
Offloading (some of the) Team Mental Model
Local
understanding
Local
understanding
Community activity
communication
for cross-check

All Can Read/Write/Modify
Tasks and Team
info

Boundary Objects: Examples
All can read/write
Task and TeamawarenessSignal vs. poll

Boundary Objects: Examples

Docs vs. Boundary Objects

Agile Leadership Strategies

The Meta-Game: Beating Complexity
Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4
Personal win/loss ratios over time
TEAM ratio 
was strictly
increasing

Raise the game
Leverage feedback mechanisms 
Signal intentionally
Agile Leadership Strategies
Challenge  
your models
Manage  
cognitive load
Use  
boundary 
objects
Maintain  
team 
awareness

Our Business is Complexity
‘WannaCry’ ransomware attackcould have been prevented
Eclipse 2.1 = 740k—1.5M LOC
ACL project = ~68 diff stakeholders
Code commits = every ~1—12 hrs/committer
You
Competitors

“Go to the ant; consider her ways, and be wise.”

Media
“All this for me?” 
theycantalk.com
Destiny “Crucible” screen shot 
AttackOfTheFanBoy.com
End graphic - Fish 
Gary Larson, The Far Side
Fireflies - "All That Glitters" 
Tsuneaki Hiramatsu 
Smithsonian.com
Inside Out 
Disney Pixar
Mental Islands 
"Isle-spat," “Isle-prop” by Mrausch at English Wikibooks. Licensed
under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Hall & Oates/Google - “Maneater” 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfl7DGhaSco
Naval Air Warfare Center Logo; Pilot 
http://www.navair.navy.mil/nawctsd
Pheromone Marking in Ants 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WCQ1Q6Xoek 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p-IjqVOjic
Quiet Room 
http://commackpubliclibrary.org
Synchronizing Fireflies 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGvtnE1Wy6U 
http://ncase.me/fireflies
Logos are trademarks of their respective companies.
All other images Creative Commons CC license  
or by Derek W. Wade
Sources
Works
Blanchfield, S. (2011). Taking software seriously. Retrieved from
seanblanchfield.com/taking-software-seriously
Carlin, J. (2017). The ‘WannaCry’ ransomware attack could have been
prevented. Here’s what businesses need to know. Retrieved from
www.cnbc.com
Curro, K. (2017, February 7). Personal interview.
Dudfield, H. (2009). The development of shared mental models during air
battlespace collective training using dispersed networked systems. In Human
performance enhancement for NATO military operations (science,
technology and ethics). Sofia, Bulgaria.
Fujimura, J. H. (1992). Crafting science: Standardized packages, boundary
objects, and “translation.”. Science as practice and culture, 168-211.
Kolassa, C. Riehle, D., Salim, M. A. (2013) The empirical commit frequency
distribution of open source projects. In Proceedings of the 2013 joint
international symposium on wikis and open collaboration.
Leonard, M., Graham, S., & Bonacum, D. (2004). The human factor: the
critical importance of effective teamwork and communication in providing
safe care. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 13(suppl 1), i85-i90.
Mathieu, J., Heffner, T., Goodwin, G., Salas, E., Cannon-Bowers, J. (2000) The
influence of shared mental models on team process and performance.
Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(2), 273-283
Nagesh, G. (2014). Health website problems weren’t flagged in time. Wall
Street Journal, December 3 2013.
Mohammed, S., Ferzandi, L., & Hamilton, K. (2010). Metaphor no more: A 15-
year review of the team mental model construct. Journal of Management,
36(4), 876.
Sakata, A. (2006). Niko-niko calendar. Retrieved from http://
www.geocities.jp/nikonikocalendar/index_en.html
Salas, E., Rosen, M. A., Held, J. D., & Weissmuller, J. J. (2009). Performance
measurement in simulation-based training. Simulation & Gaming, 40(3), 328.
doi:10.1177/1046878108326734
Steven, J. (2002). Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and
Software.

Derek W.Wade
dwade@kumido.com 
/in/derek wwade
@derek w wade 
www.derekwwade.net
www.kumido.com
complexity
#W
ideMind
widemind.org
Questions?
frameworks
rigidity
Boundary
Objects
Team
Awareness
Focus

Wide Mind: Leadership Strategies for Complexity

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