Learn, adapt, survive, repeat.
Who works in a learning organization? OK - what is a learning organization?
That’s the subject of Peter M Senge’s The Fifth Discipline, which explains organizations most likely to survive against the competition are those that encourage and capture new patterns of thought and nurture an on-going desire to learn from past experience. This helps repeat successes and avoid failures.
The Fifth Discipline outlines the five steps organizations should take to become smart learners. As the title suggests, it is the fifth discipline that’s the hardest to master: combining all those smaller experiences and wisdoms into one big picture.
Senge’s book has proved something of a management classic since first appearing in the early 1990. However, the book’s message applies strongly to application development. It’s that ability to record and learn from experience gained in previous software projects that is so basic and yet that has proved elusive.
Thinking like Senge’s marries with the 6th Sense philosophy. Giving organizations visibility into projects using metrics and tools helps capture past performance and will help turn IT shops and businesses into dynamic learning organizations.
Importantly, 6th Sense helps make that difficult fifth step - connecting the dots. Senge-like thinking and 6th Sense practice are going to become indispensable as software becomes more critical to the running of business.
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