The Inner Building Blocks

The Inner Building Blocks

by Abhishek Rai
Released May 2022
Publisher(s): Business Expert Press
ISBN: 9781637422205

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Agile is the ability to quickly and naturally adapt to respond to changes.Most companies are inherently fragile and not agile – when they are hit by new developments, shifting consumer behavior or fast-moving competition, they struggle and even cease to exist!

Inner Building Blocks is a novel about Neil Frost, a Director of Digital Transformation and Agile Centre of Excellence at Walkers Mart. The company is already grappling with a failing transformation and on the verge of bankruptcy when COVID-19 strikes!

Sid, the Coach instils constructive discomfort through a series of probing questions to:

  • Rethink agility and reimagine the future of work with hybrid operating models.
  • Launch a series of experiments to reinvent the Building Blocks (e.g., strategy, talent, culture, structures, practices and digital technologies).
  • Discover twenty-six solutions to embrace lean-agile mindset for strategic agility.

Could the company survive amid the global pandemic and ensuing supply chain challenges?

A compelling storytelling approach and provocative dialogues provide relatable context to adopt the concepts. The principles and techniques are delicately camouflaged within the underlying characters, their conversations and situations.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Description
  7. Contents
  8. Introduction
  9. Acknowledgments
  10. Prologue
  11. Characters
  12. Chapter 1 The Discovery: Background, Key Players, and Situations
  13. Sprint 1 Current State Assessment
    1. Chapter 2 Building the WALL: An Inclusive Approach to Define Problems
    2. Chapter 3 Obligation to Waste Avoidance and Removal (WAR): Relentless Focus on Value
    3. Chapter 4 Gemba WALK and Candid Talk: A Value Stream-Based Diagnostics
  14. Sprint 2 Reflection and Reimagination
    1. Chapter 5 Organization as a LIVING Organism: Systems Thinking to Rebuild an Enterprise
    2. Chapter 6 “You Are on Mute!” A New Definition to Reimagine DIGITAL
    3. Chapter 7 The INNER Agility: The Power of Pause and Mindfulness
    4. Chapter 8 The Shibumi Sprint: The Zen DESIGN (Re)Thinking Cadence
  15. Sprint 3 Analysis and Improvements
    1. Chapter 9 Fragile FRAMEWORK: Limitations of Emulating Scaling Frameworks
    2. Chapter 10 Structural Side Effects: Bureaucracy of a Hierarchical ORGANIZATION
    3. Chapter 11 Flattening the Curve: Shift From Vertical to HORIZONTAL Organization
    4. Chapter 12 Vultures of the CULTURE: Critical Role of Leaders in Mindset Shift
    5. Chapter 13 TALENT Escalator: Establishing the Continuous Flow of Capabilities
  16. Sprint 4 Rebuilding and Recovery
    1. Chapter 14 DOJO: A Place for Experiential and Immersive Learning
    2. Chapter 15 Platform as a Strategy: The Roadmap to STRATEGIC Agility
    3. Chapter 16 HOME–Agility: Hybrid Operating Model for Enterprise–Agility
    4. Chapter 17 The ACT FAST Building: Codifying the Company’s Experiments
  17. Summary of the Chapters
  18. Acronyms
  19. Glossary of Terms
  20. List of Problems and Solutions
  21. Bibliography
  22. About the Author
  23. Index
  24. Backcover

Product information

  • Title: The Inner Building Blocks
  • Author(s): Abhishek Rai
  • Release date: May 2022
  • Publisher(s): Business Expert Press
  • ISBN: 9781637422205