Michael Zargham, founder and CEO of BlockScience and Board Member of the Metagov Project, shares his views on how Blockchain and other emerging technologies are making new ways of organizing possible. Yet, Michael believes that, so far, we are not  fully using the potential of these affordances to create something new. 
Smart contracts are becoming widespread, but does the relationship between crypto and organizing stop there? What’s next? Which new “non-familiar” possibilities of design will we see unlocked in the next few years? Michael describes how systems designers will need to be humble and leave space for systems to evolve through enabling constraints. He also believes that the gap between the complexity of organizational design and transparency of decision-making is closing through “healthy DAOs”, blurring the line between those making the rules and those acting upon the rules.    Michael holds a Ph.D. in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania where he studied optimization and control of decentralized networks. Thanks to his experience, Michael Zargham has a non-common point of view on designing beyond the machine.
Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: boundaryless.io/podcast/michael-zargham Key highlights:  


S04 Ep. 07 Michael Zargham – Designing beyond the machine: Tokens, Blockchain & Contracts

Boundaryless Conversations Podcast is an ongoing exploration of the future of Platforms & Ecosystems. 
Here we explore new perspectives about how we organise at scale in a rapidly changing world.
From Boundaryless SRL

Technology

Tech News

Podcasting

Gadgets

Software How-To

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

News

Entrepreneurship

We have a three-time returning guest on the podcast today, Sangeet Paul Choudary - certainly one of the most influential minds in the world of modern business.
Sangeet, an advisor and best-selling author, known for his work on platform economics and network effects, joins us to take us through the next era of competition in business: Sandwich Economics.
He speaks on the principles of the new phenomenon and shares insights into how organizations are now increasingly  "sandwiching" markets vigorously consolidating profits and power. As this happens, Sangeet argues, it’s not always a driver of quality improvement in services and products.
Sangeet’s episodes are always packed with insights on the future, and this conversation is no different - in the closing, we even walk through AI agents, AGI, societal and ethical considerations, and much more. Tune in, this is not an episode to miss. 
As our close followers and general practitioners of Platform Ecosystems know, Sangeet is not only one of the most distinguished thought leaders, renowned for his pioneering work on platform economics but also someone who can spot the intricacies of the impacts that such phenomena have on society. 
He has authored two bestselling books, "Platform Scale" and "Platform Revolution," and comes with over a decade of expertise in advising global firms and governments on crafting effective platform strategies through his organization, “Platformation Labs”. His work has also been featured on leading platforms such as Harvard Business Review, The Economist, and the World Economic Forum, to name a few.  
Sangeet always has golden insights, and this episode is packed with them. He takes us through the new term he coined to describe dangerous market dynamics that key players use to “sandwich” value across multiple layers of value chains and grounds them on examples from various industries. He further challenges conventional thinking and brings fresh perspectives on the ongoing dynamism and complexity of the market. 
So, if you wish to learn what’s really happening in platforms and ecosystems and how markets are evolving…Tune in!
 
Key Highlights


#98 - Sandwich Economics: a New Era of Competition with Sangeet Paul Choudary

On today’s podcast, we host someone who - has been at the forefront of the Agile revolution, and, at the same time, became one of Agile movement's most vocal critics, to the extent, that he dared to say: “R.I.P Agile”.
Cliff Berg, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Agile 2 Academy, and a leading figure in Agile and DevOps advising joins our podcast bringing his fresh perspectives on the decline of Agile. He also gives us a peek into the story of a book he recently co-authored, ‘Agile 2: The Next Iteration of Agile’.
Cliff takes us through what it means to re-imagine organizational practices and challenges the conventional framework-oriented approach, that often needs more contextualization and grounded action-based research.
Join us, as we discuss balancing leadership and self-organizing, and explore pragmatic approaches to operating successful businesses with agility and accountability. 
This episode goes through a journey - we talk about Cliff’s viral post on the demise of Agile, and what he and a team of co-authors have done to consciously course-correct it, and publish a whole set of new ideas on how to approach Agile with a more contemporary and less ideological stance: Agile 2. 
Cliff dismisses the narrative of “You don’t need managers”, and challenges why it’s important to reel our thoughts back in when it comes to decentralization of organizations. 
He lays it out as it is: structure is not a bad thing per se, and the conversation goes through healthy ways of administering structure in organizations.
Tune in, if you’re interested in non-ideological ways to embrace agile practices, mixed with some of Boundaryless's staple topics: building optionality, entrepreneurial organizations that go big with skin in the game, and more.
 
Key Highlights


#97 - R.I.P. Agile, Long Live Agile 2 with Cliff Berg

We rarely (if ever) get to host a cyborg anthropologist on our podcast, so we are thrilled to have Amber Case join us as a special guest for this episode. 
Amber, who works at the intersection of human and technology interactions, shares her journey into envisioning what a calm technology is. Calm Technology is a design philosophy that advocates for technology to integrate into our lives, enhancing our ability to focus rather than distracting us. She takes us through everyday objects that have been designed this way and leaves us challenging what’s really “transparent technology”?
We stretch the boundaries to include a conversation on organizations and governance: a leading thread is that of keeping asking questions and not drinking the kool-aid of truthiness in how we think about tech and organizing. 
Tune in to this provocation that leaps into the future of technology, its impact on society, and how you can navigate these landscapes with mindful intent.
This podcast started on a personal note - Amber shared her experience being a child of engineers, and also having early exposure to the natural world - both of which she believes set the precedence for what she does today. 
She takes us through a wealth of experience she gained in her multifaceted career - having been a renowned book author, TED speaker, serial startup founder, advisor, co-founder of DAOs, Research Director at the Meta Governance Project, and most recently the founder of the Calm Tech Institute.
Amber advocates for a future where technology "gets out of your way and lets you live your life."
This episode will elicit new questions for you and your career.
 
This episode has been occasionally recorded as “sound only”.
 
Key Highlights


#96 - Building Calm Technology and Organizations with Amber Case

In today’s episode, we are joined by João Rosa and Trond Hjorteland, two organizational consultants with a unique point of view, who take us through the depth of Open Systems Theory, and what it means to be socio-technical practitioners, passionate about transitioning democratic organizations to fast-flowing operational models. 
With many years of experience in large and complex contexts, they delve into what it means to create a collaborative and democratic organization, and how to balance mission, business outcomes, and cognitive load.
Join us on this episode, as we debate the role of “purpose”, entrepreneurship, and autonomy and learn how to avoid the creation of agile bureaucracies.
Tune in, and get inspired.
In the conversation with Rosa and Hjorteland we started from an original question that Simone threw out at a small conference recently: how do we avoid building Agile Bureaucracies? 
What does it mean to develop a business that achieves agility without having to exert total control on flows and processes?
With increasingly complex and dynamic environments, it becomes pivotal for organizations to recognize and adapt to change, if not stay ahead of it and rigidities are more than dangerous - even the cultural ones.
Emphasizing learnings from different methodologies like Open Systems Theory, Domain Driven Design, and Team Topologies; our guests advocate a team-centered, and democratic approach over industrial and hierarchical practices. A unique episode to look out for. Tune in.
 
Key Highlights


#95 - Avoiding the Agile Bureaucracy with Rosa and Hjorteland

An independent tech consultant with over 20 years, Susanne Kaiser joins the podcast and shares her insights on what makes a robust socio-technical system.
Integrating takeaways from different approaches like Wardley Mapping, Domain Driven Design, and Team topologies, she helps the listeners understand how to mold systems into ones that are adaptable to change, how to invest in the right things, and how to avoid wasting resources on things that do not make a competitive advantage. 
We further touch upon topics like building in bounded contexts and unbundling the right way. This episode has an ocean of information, which can help listeners achieve better strategic awareness of their company, products, and initiatives. Grab a coffee cup and a notebook and listen. In this episode, Susanne takes us through what it means to operate a business with a strategic perspective. 
An organization’s evolutionary journey goes through high levels of change and uncertainty. With insights on bounded contexts and evolution, Susanne takes us through how you can enforce modularity and cohesion among the different parts of the system, to deal with such a journey.
With significant experience working as a consultant in the software development world, Susanne shares real-world examples of how organizations can create architecture and team structures that are dynamic and play to an organization's competitive advantage.
 
Key Highlights


S04 Ep. 07 Michael Zargham – Designing beyond the machine: Tokens, Blockchain & Contracts

Download our free app to listen on your phone