Should we retire Accountability & Commitment and find a better alternative?
summary
Argues that traditional accountability & commitment tied to the iron triangle fails on innovative, complex work and proposes Promise Theory and empirical risk management as the alternative: break big promises into many small co‑created experiments, share voluntary responsibilities with customers, use minimal checklists to guarantee core practices, and run rapid feedback loops. Gives concrete examples where old model works (Amazon, spare parts) and where it fails (custom dress, state‑of‑the‑art projects), and reports that checklists and mutual calibration used in Ferrari Formula 1 and ThoughtWorks improve safety, trust and outcomes.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction to accountability
- 3:23Speaker background
- 8:47Promise Theory basics
- 17:20Accountability in complex work
- 22:53Introducing dependability
- 26:10Case study Ferrari Formula 1
- 30:31Empirical risk management
- 35:42Co-creation with customers
- 39:50Revisiting Agile principles
- 44:29Q&A and discussion
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