Beyond Agile (6/52): System of Systems
As Technical Program Managers, we develop and manage many processes and frameworks.
Each comes with its own set of complexities and scale. Their effectiveness is not always a guarantee but we believe that everything we do will be the right solution.
Being at a startup, I have an opportunity to build frameworks and processes from the ground up.
I have spent a lot of time recently thinking about why the processes that made Apple an execution behemoth were difficult to execute at Google. Why solutions that we built never did what was intended and why the platform we designed while reading sounded simple but was extremely complex to implement.
I have been hunting for the answers in systems theory.
All Systems are a composition of many individual systems coming together leveraging a shared resource pool to achieve a purpose.
One mistake that we, TPMs, make is when developing processes or frameworks we only see the single system in front. We fail to give thought to how this system will behave when it is connected with other systems - this includes human systems.
The concept of systems is not limited to only technology. When people come together, like an engineering team, they are acting like a system that has the same elements any system does: input, output, processing.
John Gall is his 1975 seminal work “General Systemantics” notes that complicated systems produce unexpected outcomes [Generalized Uncertainty Principle].
No one sets out to make a complicated system. However, TPMs must always make sure that they develop a system that is as simple as it can be to achieve the solution to the problem AND to place it in the context of how it will interact with other systems already in place.
When leadership comes to you and says “we need a better process for decision making”, don’t just look at how the current decision making process works.
Look at all the systems that come together to enable the system of decision-making at your organization. Perhaps the solution isn’t you need to move away from slide decks to Amazon style 6-pagers. Perhaps it is that your engineering teams do not feel empowered enough to raise the alarm early enough because it brings unnecessary scrutiny for the wrong reasons which means leadership reacts when things are off rails and the team feels more pressure; cycle continues.
Switch your mindset to this system of systems. Look at everything as both its individual parts and the sum. It will make you a better TPM.
Systems theory is perhaps the single most important subject that all TPMs, regardless of whether they work in software or hardware, must constantly be learning. You can leverage it to learn a new technology or adopt to a new team you will be supporting or be an effective member of a cross-functional team.
Until next time 👋.
-Aadil
Feedback: What did you think about this week’s newsletter?
Excellent succinct write up, Aadil. I've come to think of complex systems as when in which there is no discernable relationship or predictability between inputs and outputs. Big fan of systems thinking. Recommend other product leaders read up on a branch of systems thinking -- Domain Driven Design. Nick, author of Leading Product