To Acquire

People have a fundamental drive to acquire things and experiences. In business terms, this often expresses itself as a desire to improve the bottom line; to increase sales; to increase group productivity. Of course, there are many ways to do this. Our socio-technical pattern language focuses primarily on patterns that help improve group productivity.

There are special varieties of how to do this. For example, one important class of patterns has to do with change management. Change is somewhat difficult and requires wise handling.

A General pattern about Change Management More specific Patterns relevant to change management include:

Jump Start

Providing extra motivation to get something going before it evolves into a self-perpetuating system. Jump Start

Support Flow and Breakdown

Of course, we try to design systems that do not break down. But, in reality, they will. Breakdown is far less destructive if it is planned for by good system design. Support Flow and Breakdown

Incremental Value

Change will be more easily accepted if each step in the change has some value (as opposed to waiting for some large reward at the end of the change process). Incremental Value

Rachet Social Change with Infrastructure

At first, changes might be only informally supported by a new social practice. For long term change, however, it is necessary to implement changes in organizational structure, policy, procedures, physical plant, assembly lines, forms, software and so on. Rachet social change with infrastructure

Many ways of making a group more productive revolve around the use of special roles or special processes. Example patterns that deal with Special Roles include the following:

For a general discussion of Special Roles, see: Special Roles

Special Processes include the following:

Active Reminders

Building Common Value Stories

Context-Setting Entrance

Controlling the Rate of Growth

Eliciting from Cultural Diversity