Tag: training

Agendashift roundup, October 2025

Posted on by Mike Burrows

In this edition: A personal note; Two keynote talks; Articles; Upcoming

To begin on a personal note, Sharon and I are immensely grateful for your kind donations in Florence’s memory. More than £1,500 has been raised for Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, and the Lean Agile Brighton conference also raised a four-figure sum this month (exact amount to be announced) for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. On both counts, amazing! Thank you!

Two keynote talks

I’m sort of back to work now, mainly speaking engagements for the moment. We’ll be taking a holiday also – it will be the first time Sharon and I have been able to travel together since 2018. I’m not sure yet what 2026 will bring, but that’s ok, and I’m very open to ideas.

Just this month I have given my talk Introducing the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation four times now! It turns out to be very adaptable: twice this week (and next week at Øredev 2025) it took the form of a quick 30 or 40 minute talk. But earlier this week I had no trouble filling 90 minutes, and two weeks ago, nearly three hours! That last one was for a hybrid seminar at Hull University’s Centre for Systems Studies in association with the Operations Research Society, and it prompted plenty of thoughtful conversation.

Given my impending travels, I have already written my new keynote for Kanban India 2025, which takes place in early December. It’s called Thinking Organisationally about Process, and it puts the kanban of my first book, Kanban from the Inside, into the kind of organisational frame described by my fifth book, Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, with some of the glue provided by my middle book (and audiobook), Right to Left: The digital leader’s guide to Lean and Agile. If the clock starts with my best-known (not to mention career-changing) blog post, Introducing Kanban through its values, that’s a journey of nearly 13 years, but you can get the gist in some 45 minutes!

I mention these because if you run a meetup or conference, you might consider one or even both of these talks. For a fee, I do private events also, as I did only yesterday. Either way, I have availability from mid-December onwards.

Articles

I wrote two this month. Most recently, and prompted by that seminar in Hull and also by a panel session I did with Philippe Guenet and Jen Le Marinel for the International Coaching Federation (ICF):

Before that:

Upcoming

With home life very much in transition, I’m honouring my remaining commitments for 2025 but deliberately keeping 2026 open. My public calendar now looks like this:

Blog-wise, that’s it for October, and with my travels, quite possibly November also. See you in December if not before!

Agendashift roundup, September 2025

Posted on by Mike Burrows

I wasn’t sure if I would produce a roundup this month, but given the overwhelming response to my personal update last week, I had to! I did not feel able last week to respond individually to each of the many messages received, but let me take the opportunity now to say that they were all very much appreciated.

Some have asked if they could make a donation in Florence’s memory. To the benefit of Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, there is a page set up for that purpose:

They do great work and I can’t speak highly enough of them, but for something less local, you might also consider the Make-A-Wish Foundation (UK) or its equivalent in your country.

Work-wise, and in clarification to last week’s message, the online and Copenhagen-based trainings are off (leaving a couple of days free pre-Øredev in Copenhagen/Malmö if you have ideas about those), but the two India-based trainings remain very much on. This is what my events calendar looks like now:

I can’t honestly say when I’ll add further public trainings, so you may want to give serious consideration to joining me in Pune or Bengaluru for TTT/F or LIKE (respectively). Even with travel from outside of India, they look pretty cost-effective, and there’s the conference too. You wouldn’t be the first to make that choice!

Under the current circumstances, there are no new posts or videos; check out the media page and recent roundups for pointers to what’s out there. There is some interesting activity happening behind the scenes in relation to the recent book, and if that matures, I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, there is the book itself of course:

Best regards,
Mike
agendashift.com/mike

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A short personal update

Posted on by Mike Burrows

The time has come for me to share the sad but not entirely unexpected news that our daughter Florence passed away at Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice a week ago today. Although it was indeed a very difficult summer, the combined efforts of Sheffield Children’s Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation enabled us to enjoy a very special family weekend away together last month, and the two-week period we spent at the hospice was a peaceful and precious time for which we will always be grateful.

Work will take a back seat for the next few weeks, and we will be travelling in November. Accordingly, I am cancelling the online and Copenhagen LIKE trainings (though still attending Øredev), and the extent of my December trip to India is under review. Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience; refunds for the two LIKE trainings will be issued this week.

Mike

Agendashift roundup, August 2025

Posted on by Mike Burrows

Following the travails reported in last month’s abbreviated roundup and my mid-month update with better news, I should say that things are stable enough at home now. Despite another step change in Florence’s care needs, I (with Sharon’s full support) remain fully committed to my published autumn schedule below, the first event of which takes place next week.

Speaking engagements aside, let me point out that the Autumn LIKE cohort begins September 30th – just four weeks on Tuesday! The in-person version in Copenhagen/Malmö takes place on November 3rd and 4th, and there are two different trainings planned for two different cities in India in December.

In lieu of new content, I leave you with a selection of recent videos:

See the media page for more.

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Better news

Posted on by Mike Burrows

I mentioned in an abbreviated July roundup that Sharon and I had already spend a couple of weeks with our daughter at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, with few more days still to go. Thank you to all who reached out! I’m pleased to report that Florence came home on Friday, three weeks to the day after admission. Now, and with the hospital’s full support, we have a previously-planned long weekend away coming up, facilitated by the wonderful Make-A-Wish Foundation who are kindly providing ambulance transport and some equipment. Things feel a lot less fraught than they did, but I don’t expect to make much progress on anything work-related before mid next week at the earliest. And that’s ok!

Meanwhile:

  • Another 5-star review for Wholehearted
  • Training starts up again at the end of September
  • Also a busy conference season

Another 5-star review for Wholehearted

This from Jasenka Rapajic:

Finally, a book that brings the experiential reality of tech and business to the forefront of leadership thinking. Wholehearted highlights the critical role of interdependencies between people, processes, and technology – key drivers of organisational outcomes often overlooked by mainstream leadership when faced with complexity.

What sets this book apart is Mike’s ability to expose the limitations of generic organisational models – and the technologies that support them – which fail to reflect the real-life complexity of specific organisations. It shows how such models often compress rich, lived experiences into narrow frameworks, stripping away their relevance and effectiveness.

This is a rare and valuable insight into the heart of business – one that supports the creation of adaptive organisations and leadership practices. It provides a practical foundation for fostering innovation that is aligned with the actual needs of the organisation.

The book doesn’t just address surface-level symptoms of dysfunction; it guides the reader toward understanding and resolving deeper, systemic issues. In doing so, it calls for a more sustainable and humane approach to business – especially relevant in the digital age, where adaptation to real-world complexity, service delivery, and tech support are becoming inseparably linked.

You’ll find Jasenka’s review on Amazon here. You can find Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (April 2025) in both print and Kindle editions on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.de and other Amazon sites around the world. The e-book is also available on LeanPub, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play Books. Enjoy! Be like Jasenka! Leave a review!

Training starts up again at the end of September

Online, Copenhagen, Pune, and Bengaluru:

Book-wise, LIKE (online, Copenhagen, and Bengaluru) corresponds to Wholehearted – i.e. it is a deep dive into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation. TTT/F (Pune) corresponds to Agendashift and Organizing Conversations, focusing on participatory, generative, and outcome-oriented change.

For the online and Copenhagen training, ping me if you need a discount code. All the usual reasons (gov, educational, non-profit, etc) apply, and the more the merrier.

Also a busy conference season

Beginning in just three weeks:

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An abbreviated Agendashift roundup, July 2025

Posted on by Mike Burrows

Real life introduces big time! My wife and I have spent most of the past couple of weeks with our daughter at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, and we have a few more days to go yet. Consequently, for reasons both of opportunity and headspace, my output has been minimal of late. I did however manage this LinkedIn post today, and our media page includes at least one new video that I haven’t mentioned previously here. Most of the recent ones are of course Wholehearted-related.

The events calendar hasn’t changed much, but the autumn cohort beginning at the end of September seems not so far away now, and I’m keen to learn who’s interested in attending in Copenhagen/Malmö in November also. Here it is with all kinds of events together, speaking engagements included:

For the online and Europe-based training, ping me if you need a discount code. All the usual reasons (gov, educational, non-profit, etc) apply, and the more the merrier.

A post-Wholehearted version of my white paper, Everywhere all at once

As previewed in last month’s roundup and announced this month, there is now a new version of the white paper, Everywhere all at once. Watch the short video and download your copy of the paper here:

As for the book, you can find Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (April 2025) in both print and Kindle editions on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.de and other Amazon sites around the world. The e-book is also available on LeanPub, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play Books. Enjoy! Leave a review!

That’s all for now. Hoping that August will be considerably less fraught, but being the holidays for many, I expect that I’ll be keeping the next roundup light too. If you’ll be taking a break, enjoy!

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Everywhere all at once, 2025 edition

Posted on by Mike Burrows

In 2023, I published two versions of my white paper Everywhere all at once. That was well before Wholehearted (2025), so it’s high time it was revised! Not having dared to look at it for quite a while, I was relieved to find that the old version had stood up pretty well; nevertheless, I have enjoyed realigning it with the book.

Over the summer (if not longer) I will be producing frequent short videos, so here’s a quick overview:

Content-wise, the video follows the white paper pretty closely, though in less depth:

  1. A relational approach
  2. A model for every organisational scale
  3. Between scales: the space between
  4. Organising at human scale
  5. What lies beneath: Constraints
  6. Not your grandfather’s VSM / A model for the digital-age organisation

Grab the white paper itself at agendashift.com/everywhere. 

Whether you watch or read first, enjoy!

Cheers,
Mike

Agendashift roundup, June 2025

Posted on by Mike Burrows

In this edition:

  1. Autumn programme: conferences, LIKE, and TTT/F
  2. Concluding the “Leadership as…” series
  3. A post-Wholehearted version of my white paper, Everywhere all at once

1. Autumn Programme: conferences, LIKE, and TTT/F

In the form of my talk “Introducing the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation”, I will be taking my new book, Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation to three quite different conferences:

  • SysPrac25, the System Thinking Practitioners Conference, in Milton Keynes, UK
  • The big technology conference Øredev, in Malmö, Sweden
  • Kanban India 2025, in Bengaluru, India, to which I have been coming more years than I can remember!

My trips to Scandinavia and India create some training opportunities – two LIKEs and a TTT/F:

There are a couple of things to note about those. First, the Copenhagen one (which might join the conference on the Swedish side of the bridge in Malmö) needs a venue. Can you help? Would your organisation like to host it in return for free &/or discounted places or some other arrangement? It will be the first in-person training of its kind since the publication of Wholehearted, and it would be great to get at least a small quorum together sooner rather than later.

Second, the TTT/F in Pune (not in Bengaluru as in previous years) is the only public TTT/F planned for the remainder of the year. If you travel to India for this or for LIKE, you won’t be the first to have done so – it can be surprisingly cost-effective. And take in the conference while you’re there!

2. Concluding the “Leadership as…” series

Seven articles inspired by Chapter 4 – the scaling chapter – of Wholehearted:

  1. Leadership as structuring
  2. Leadership as translating
  3. Leadership as reconciling
  4. Leadership as connecting
  5. Leadership as inviting
  6. Leadership as representing
  7. Untangling the strands (Or: How not to scale, and a remedy)

Those last two posts (which you can take in either order) bring the preceding five together nicely, so you might like to start with one of those.

It’s hard to say whether my experimental policy of publishing to LinkedIn first has made a significant difference, but I will stick with it for a bit longer. LinkedIn being what it is, reactions (likes etc) are great, but it’s comments that really bring posts to others’ attention. Tell us what you think!

3. A post-Wholehearted version of my white paper, Everywhere all at once

Earlier versions of my white paper Everywhere all at once: Introducing the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, an accessible, situational, and complexity-aware presentation of the Viable System Model were released in June and December 2023. Even that later version preceded the publication of Wholehearted by well over a year, and I have now reworked it. I’ll release this new version next month under an amended title, but if you’d like to review it meanwhile, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

As for the book, you can find Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (April 2025) in both print and Kindle editions on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.de and other Amazon sites around the world. The e-book is also available on LeanPub, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play Books. Enjoy! Leave a review!

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Some quick mid-month updates

Posted on by Mike Burrows

Some quick updates, all Wholehearted-related:

Articles five and six in the “Leadership as…” series are now out, published first on LinkedIn:

  1. Leadership as inviting
  2. Leadership as representing

You might like to start with that sixth one – indirectly, it gives an overview of what’s in the preceding articles. Still to come is just one concluding post, “Untangling the strands”, for which an alternative title might be “How not to scale”, so watch out for that!

The autumn LIKE training has moved to evenings, UK time, and expanded to eight online sessions to include one on “Organising without Organising” (aka “Organising at Human Scale”):

As always, shout if you think you might in any way qualify for a discount. The more the merrier!

November 5th-7th in Malmö, I’ll be speaking on Wholehearted-related matters not once but twice at the Øredev conference. To make the most of the trip, I’m looking into the possibility of doing an in-person LIKE there or across the bridge in Copenhagen on the 3rd and 4th. If your organisation might be interested in hosting it, do please let me know urgently – I have been asked to book my travel soon.

And then my near-annual visit to India for Kanban India 2025 in early December, and not for the first time, a two-city trip. Beginning this time with a Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator (TTT/F) in Pune, I’ll also be doing LIKE in person in Bengaluru, where the conference is. Fingers crossed, the event page for that second training will be up in time for the end-of-month roundup. These events (training and conference) attract people from outside as well as inside India, and I’d love to see you there.

Finally, to Wholehearted itself. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning again just how crucial your Amazon ratings and especially reviews are to its success – and hugely appreciated! Candidly, it could do with a few more. You can find both print and Kindle editions of the book on amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, amazon.de, and other Amazon sites around the world. Outside of Amazon, the e-book is also available on LeanPub, Kobo, Apple Books, and Google Play Books.