Catalyzing Conversations Podcast Plexus Institute

Marc Narkus-Kramer’s timely story focuses on specific events that led to the major organizational changes in the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) at MITRE. A companion story, The Alaska Capstone Project, examines how complexity thinking and agile management practices led to the development of revolutionizing surveillance technology.

David Hurst's story of how his organization was thrown into crisis by an
ill-advised takeover on the eve of a sharp recession contains valuable
insight into the surprising conditions of current day events. He shares a
useful ecological model that maps the trajectories of complex systems in
space and over time and helps managers deal with the dilemmas and paradoxes
they will encounter.

Bruce Waltuck, MA, Complexity, Chaos, and Creativity, and host Prucia Buscell have a conversation that builds on the piece written by Bruce as part of the Catalyzing Stories Project, Buck The System: Sense-making and Acting Into Complexity at the United States Department of Labor. Bruce Waltuck shares his story of acting to create change without the awareness of the optimal patterns and methods for acting into complexity, and the consequences that followed.

Advocates for multi-age education believe children flourish in environments where youngsters of different ages learn together in settings that feature collaboration, leadership, empathy, and social awareness along with academic achievement. They think linearity is a fine principle for some types of manufacturing, but not for kids. So why are most U.S. schools organized by grades that restrict classes to children of the same age? A Catalyzing Conversation with Dr. Sandra J. Stone and Peter A. Barnard, educators who have profound knowledge and experience about multi-age learning. Hosted by Plexus Catalyst Prucia Buscell.

What is Agile Fluency? Fluency is routine practice mastery that persists under stress. Anyone can follow a set of practices in a classroom setting. A team’s true fluency is revealed under pressure and in the face of distraction. In this Catalyzing Conversation Diana Larsen, a leading voice in the agile community and co-founder of the Agile Fluency Project,shares how this initiative addresses the deeper considerations of an agile team can be effective in complex adaptive systems.