Chapter 15. Be Adaptable

 

No doubt, machines and hierarchies provide easier metaphors to use than markets and gene pools. So it is no wonder that most people are still more comfortable thinking about organizations in fixed, mechanical terms rather than in adaptive, decentralized terms.

 
 --Robert Axelrod and Michael Cohen, Harnessing Complexity

The Mustang Team at Cellular, Inc.

Jeremy and his product team at Cellular, Inc. [a fictitious name] in Toronto, Canada, epitomize the headaches, heartaches, and tensions of working in highly uncertain business environments. The product team—code-named “Mustang”—faced major business, organizational, and technical hurdles in its quest to make up a five-year competitive deficit. The project's goal (generally, ...

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