For the second year in a row, Nearsoft has ranked as one of the Most Democratic Workplaces in the world.  We are honored (and giddy!) to earn a place in this list again this year.  There's a method to the madness.

In a recent post, Tim Kastelle pointed out that "how you define a problem determines if you can solve it."  But even if you start with the right question, how you approach the solution makes the difference between whether you'll up with an innovation or more-of-the-same.

Just finished reading "The Invisible Hook" by Peter Leeson, about pirates, economics and workplace democracy.  The main takeaway is to let the needs and structure of your market drive your organization, not the other way around.  Pirates did so and very successful at it.

Last night's Churchill Club's event turned out to be great on many dimensions.  Even the chicken dinner was remarkably good.  Most striking to me was the contrast in culture between Hastings and Eisner.  I hope the video is made available soon because it really illustrates the chasm between traditional and modern business culture.

In any industry, organizations that innovate constantly and relentlessly have a big competitive advantage over those that do not.  So how can you make innovation part of your company's DNA, an integral element of its culture?

Here's an actual, practical example of how a company can come up with better solutions by applying Agile principles throughout their business.

This month we are happy to feature Innovation Games by Enthiosys, serious games that help companies understand their customers better.  These games are a fun way to give customers a voice into the product development process.  But don't let all the "fun" fool you: these are powerful tools with bottom line impact.

I am not sure if this is good news or bad but recent rulings show that courts are increasingly more willing to uphold Open Source licenses.  People who have taken them seriously have suffered the consequences.

We first published this reading list on June 9, 2009 of books for people interested in creating great workplaces.  This is the first update to the list to include my review of The Starbucks Experience by Joseph Michelli (hint: not recommended)

I cannot recommend The Starbucks Experience, by Joseph Michelli.  This book is little more than a long infomercial for a company that does not need one.  What Starbucks has done, and continues to do is extraordinary, but this book does not do it justice.