We’re excited to announce The Value Flywheel Effect Podcast Series! Our book, The Value Flywheel Effect, has been out for a while now. The three of us worked on it with IT Revolution, and it’s gradually gaining traction, as books often do. To complement the book, we’ve decided to create a podcast series.
Why a Podcast Series?
If you have the book, this series might provide additional insights and context. If you don’t, you’ll still be able to follow along and enjoy the content. We’re not saying you must buy the book to benefit from this series. We’ve seen other authors take this approach, and it’s a nice way to discuss the work and share our ideas. After spending so much time on the book, we thought it would be worthwhile to delve deeper into its concepts through this podcast.
Why Did We Write This Book?
The three of us have worked together for a long time, alongside many others. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we’ve done a lot of exciting work that we’re very proud of. We discovered cool techniques and learnings that we felt should be shared, especially since many people suggested we write a book. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our insights and help others. This book wasn’t written to get rich or famous—neither of those things happened!
We’ve benefited immensely from content, books, blogs, and videos throughout our careers. This book is our way of giving back to the community and acknowledging those who helped us. We noticed recurring principles and patterns as we moved through different parts of the organisation, making changes and improvements. We collected good ideas, patterns, nuggets of wisdom, and principles, forming a substantial body of material including Wardley Maps, blog posts, books, references, articles, patterns, and code snippets.
The Power of Collaboration and Serendipity
Working together for an extended period, we experienced many evolutions and emerging capabilities in the industry, like the rise of serverless computing. We navigated enterprise partnerships and learned what worked and what didn’t. We validated our thinking collaboratively, figuring out our preferences and advising others based on our experiences.
Luck played a huge part in our journey. We were fortunate to work within a big company like Liberty Mutual, where we could experiment and collaborate with brilliant people in Belfast and beyond. It was serendipity. Given the ups and downs of the global economy, we wanted to ensure our teams were high up the value chain, delivering meaningful outcomes and learning good skills and principles, regardless of the economic climate.
Embracing Change and Making Better Decisions
Moving away from traditional enterprise approaches allowed teams to move faster and make better decisions. This shift required teams to think and operate differently. Reflecting on that period, it’s clear how quickly things evolved. Helping organisations plan and prepare for such changes was a key motivation for the book.
One thing that used to bother us was the idea of engineers being mere cogs in a machine. Engineering is about using our brains and being innovative. A book that influenced us was Accelerate by Nicole Forsgren, which emphasized that IT is a value differentiator, not just a cost center. Our book aims to convey that engineers can be incredibly productive and impactful by understanding business opportunities and creating the right environment.
Who Is This Book For?
The techniques in our book apply to anyone leading change, whether a junior engineer or someone in the C-suite. It’s a framework, a mindset, or an approach to driving modernisation. We wanted it to be accessible and useful for everyone, not just a technical manual.
Inspired by Pioneers
We were inspired by pioneers like Adrian Cockcroft and Simon Wardley. Adrian’s work at Netflix and his stories about serverless adoption were influential. Simon Wardley’s mapping techniques provided situational awareness and strategic thinking, helping us navigate through complex projects.
The landscape of technology is constantly changing, but some basic techniques remain the same. Our book is a guide for anyone trying to drive change and figure out what to do next. It’s not about specific technologies like Node or Lambda but about a way of thinking and acting that can have a significant impact.
Leading Change and Ensuring Sustainable Success
For those leading change, the book offers guidance on making good decisions and setting teams up for success. It’s about sustainable, long-term success, not just rapid changes. We hope this podcast series will be an educational companion to the book, offering additional insights and ideas.
Thanks for reading and listening! Follow us on Twitter, and give us a like. Stay tuned for the first episode where we’ll dive into the first chapter of The Value Flywheel Effect.
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