Since almost all of the ideas on this site came from someone else or are a synthesis of multiple ideas from others, we believe it important to acknowledge the sources of those ideas. These are notes to give credit where credit is due and to acknowledge those who have most influenced our thinking, and the books or other reading material which is most important to us.
Images and Graphics
Banner Page Image
I need to thank a friend, and often mentor of mine, John Gurgel for allowing me to use one of his photos as the banner image on this site.
Among his other attributes, John was a superb photographer and I prized his advice and philosophy. He passed away on April 28th, 2022. I will forever miss his sage advice.
A note here: This is actually a photograph of Mount Hood, in the Cascade range in Norther Oregon. This photograph captured a mood which made it great for a page banner, but the company is actually named after a much smaller peak in the Columbia River Gorge just a few miles to the north east of Mount Hood.
There is intentionality in using Wind Mountain as a company name, as it borders a slow moving landslide, which makes a good metaphor for change. The forest which grows on that land slide shows remarkable adaptions to this changing landscape, which is our primary theme. For more on why we chose Wind Mountain, see What’s in a name.”
The company logo was designed for Wind Mountain Group by Micaela Grover when she was at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics in Vancouver, WA. I had reached out to the school career counselor to see if any of the students would be interested in making some money, and I was put in contact with Micaela. She put together a couple of possibilities in an evening, and I picked this because I liked the way she combined the “W” from Wind and the “M” from Mountain to form the image of a Mountain.
Sadly, this talented young woman passed away as Micaela M. Pewo on January 30, 2014 as a result of cancer, leaving behind a husband and young daughter. She was 23. While the consulting group has been dissolved, I keep the logo as a testament to the talent of this young woman.
wén — The Art of Inquiry
Artwork by Lichen Dai. This is a calligraphy version of the traditional Chinese symbol wèn, meaning learning, knowledge, or scholarship. It is used here to represent inquiry. Two ears surrounding a mouth; to listen twice as much as one speaks. I use it in situations in which I want to stress the importance of the Art of Inquiry. See in particular, the Thomas Question.
Onions
Some people find onions to be smelly and offensive. I find them to be beautiful, and living in the land of the Walla Walla Sweet Onion, sometimes good enough to bite into like one would an apple. They are also a wonderful metaphor for the many layers of behavioral dynamics in us as individuals, and our organizations.
This is one of the several photos of onions created for me by a former colleague of mine, Sharon Hoffman in 2004. I was preparing for a graduate school project, and knowing she was an amateur photographer, asked her for advice on how to take photos of an onion. The following Monday she had several photos on my desk that went well beyond anything in my creative sphere. “It was a fun exercise,” she said. I offer her my eternal thanks.
Influential Books
The Web of Life — Fritjof Capra
This was my introduction to complex adaptive systems, and the book that hooked me on the subject.
Adaptive Software Development — Jim Highsmith
I came upon this book just after reading Fritof Capra’s book, “The web of life,” which focuses on complex adaptive systems. This work fits right into Capra’s complex adaptive theory base. Highsmith’s metaphor of mountain climbing is an apt metaphor for product development, software or otherwise. When learning about Six Sigma or the Toyota Way, I see the theory bases described by Highsmith. This has become a primary resource of mine on project management, and the primary impetus for my focus on Adaptive Project Management. I’ve read many books on agile, and while they are typically strong on process, they don’t do much to explain the underlying theory. Highsmith has clearly done his research in this regard.
Agile Software Development — Alistair Cockburn
Software as a collaborative game. An intriguing and radical concept. Cockburn built these ideas from debriefing highly successful software development teams, and finding that they didn’t follow the established “best practice.”
Managing the Design Factory — Donald Reinertsen
This is the best book I’ve read on the underlying theory of Agile methods. Reinertsen’s book is focused on new product development, not specifically software, however the theoritical underpinnings, economic value, feedback, queuing theory, information theory, systems theory and organizational theory go a long way to explaining what Agile practices work, in what context, and why. If you understand the theory, you are more likely to be successful in any improvement effort of a development process.
The Fifth Discipline — Peter Senge
The book that introduced the world to systems thinking and system dynamics. A must read for any aspiring organizational change agent.