Tackling Socio-technical Complexity in the Heart of Your Team
summary
Rising code complexity creates hidden social complexity, so teams should treat their work as socio-technical systems rather than focusing only on technology. The talk presents concrete tools—Cynefin for context classification, visual practices like eventstorming and impact mapping, maturity mapping, and Theory of Constraints—to surface dependencies and improve flow. It also describes practical experiments (open-office observations, five-minute check-ins, visual workshops) that led to fewer miscommunications, clearer decisions, and less rework.
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chapters (11)
- 0:00Socio-technical intro
- 3:35Social vs technical teamwork
- 10:00Psychological safety
- 16:03Autonomy vs collaboration
- 22:25Managing complexity tools
- 28:03Biases in decisions
- 34:37Visualizing systems
- 41:23Fundamental attribution error
- 48:11Slow meetings better
- 53:30Team dynamics check-ins
- 59:02Q&A
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