Book Review: Complexity

Last week I finished Complexity and must say it was quite good. It is considered equal to Chaos, but I do not agree. I loved Chaos due to its attention to detail and careful explanations. Complexity offered very enlightening views, but presented the material in more of a story line that followed the life trials of the actors in the science.

I loved the concept of Emergence, and the idea that “constantly seeking mutual accommodation and self-consistency, groups of agent manage to transcend themselves and become something more.” There are a lot of insights in this simple idea, and some very scary predictions based on this concept, and the Edge of Chaos Theory thoroughly discussed.

Overall, worth the read and something that deserves more than a few flights…

Best,

James DeLuccia

Book Review: IT Governance by Weill & Ross

I recently finished this book and found it quite interesting. The authors, through research that included interviews and surveys, examined how organizations today structure their IT Governance environments. Based on the identified structure they then determined which corresponded to successful organizations. They characterize success based on a couple of metrics and take into account profit and non-for-profit organizations. They do a nice job outlining the mechanisms that are important to practitioners and executives. The true wow factor of the book was the case studies where practical guidance and implementation were broken down.

There is a great deal of cross analysis presented in the book that can be confusing, but readers will find this book very powerful in assessing their current organization’s governance structure. I would definitely recommend this book. For those executives that are low on time I would advise focusing on understanding the mechanisms, the two main charts in the beginning, and the study benchmark best practices highlighted about mid-way. These tools combined with the case studies can rapidly bring up ones understanding. However – It is a quick read, and could easily be knocked out on a round trip flight between SFO and EWR.

A great wrap up of the 10 principles are available here by HBS Working Knowledge

Best,

James