New School IT

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We explore why teams fail when their confidence peaks and how an intention to align on shared Moments of Truth can keep internal reality in sync with customer value. 

This episode features Tristan and Brit, two AI 'guests' discussing the Moments of Truth white paper article published here:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/moments-truth-roland-u-hoffmann-54ape

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Hard work doesn’t guarantee impact. We dig into why some projects soar while others stall, and how a few simple habits create a straight line from purpose to results. The core idea is alignment,  across the org chart, across functions, and across time as reality shifts.

We start by translating big ideas into clear execution, from purpose to measurable, real-world objectives that anchor cross-functional efforts and deliver results in weeks. Using Costco as a case study, we show how an enduring purpose cascades into strategy and store‑level key results, so every team understands how their pixel sharpens the overall picture.

We also describe how running a few checks helps ensure that teams stay aligned with reality rather than a plan that could lead to failure. 

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With Cheryl Haggerty, Chief Client Officer at Shalion, we explore nontraditional careers, values-driven leadership, and how AI reshapes teamwork and trust. 

From progress over perfection to building cross-team flow, Cheryl shares honest stories and practical tools:

• nonlinear career path and authenticity
• values as a compass for purpose
• progress over perfection as a team norm
• cross-team communication and effectiveness
• trust beyond titles and honest leadership
• AI for productivity with human empathy
• designing customer success from first principles
• practical ways to learn AI together
• advice at 15, 30, and last year

Follow the show, share it with some of those building teams, and keep an ear out for Cheryl's return after she finishes her London School of Economics degree, which she started just this year. 

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We challenge the people-process-technology cliché and show how companies behave like living systems shaped by perception, connections, and constraints. Six dynamics reveal why effort often fails, where leverage hides, and how simple rules can trigger better self-organization.

• spotlight logic driving silo dominance and clashes
• nonlinear effects turning effort into leverage or waste
• connection chains creating virtuous, vicious, and neutralizing cycles
• dominance shifts moving priorities as constraints change
• latency causing overcorrections and instability
• self-organization emerging from simple rules and incentives

We give you a simple experiment or exercise you can do this week that can leverage the system for big outcomes.

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What if the metaphor of feeling trapped in a massive, creaky corporate machine is wrong? What if your company actually functions more like a living organism: messy, adaptive, and surprisingly organic in its behavior? And why would that make a difference in your career?

In this eye-opening episode, we challenge traditional mechanical views of organizations and reveal how seeing your workplace as a living system can empower your career. We explore five fundamental aspects of organizations that explain why companies behave less like predictable machines and more like organisms: purpose (the DNA that drives behavior), resources (the nutrients that fuel growth), flow (the circulatory system that moves value), connections (the neural pathways that coordinate action), and accumulations (the energy reserves that provide resilience).

This biological perspective explains perplexing workplace realities: why handoffs between teams break down, why change faces resistance, and why some workflows never improve despite obvious inefficiencies. Most importantly, it reveals how a few strategic "tiny tweaks" can create enormous positive change. 

Whether you're leading change or simply ready to move past dysfunctional execution, this episode offers a powerful new lens. 

Ready to see your organization with new eyes? Listen now and discover why the key to your success might be recognizing that you're not a cog in a machine, but a cell in a living system with the power to heal, grow, and evolve.

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"Complex systems that work have invariably evolved from simple systems that worked." This powerful insight anchors this episode as we explore how system dynamics determine the success or failure of efforts in organizations of any size.

Why do most change initiatives fail? Because they attempt to overhaul complex adaptive systems through structural changes alone (new processes, new managers, new org charts) without addressing the system's fundamental purpose. As our panel of experts reveals, a system's true purpose isn't what we claim it to be, but what it actually does. And systems fail reliably by doing what they've evolved to do best: repeating familiar patterns.

Through illuminating examples from companies like Procter & Gamble, Netflix, Google, and Verizon, we unpack four counterintuitive principles to help you navigate complex systems. We examine how System Dynamics predicts that successful digital transformations, either small or driven by a bold leader with a new purpose, can enable or obstruct performance, and why functional boundaries are not as effective as purpose-aligned structures.

We leave you with a powerful framework for approaching change: understand the system's current purpose, start small when building something new, and recognize that meaningful transformation requires more than superficial restructuring. The path to sustainable success lies in aligning purpose, paradigm, and practice in ways that embrace both discipline and agility.

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What happens when the Agile methodology becomes just another rigid process? Agile Theater. In this thought-provoking episode, we dive into the critical difference between that and the actual ability for individuals and teams to adapt.

Drawing parallels to athletics, we explore how business agility resembles a boxer's split-second reactions or a hockey player's ability to change direction at 30 mph. These skills don't come from processes alone—they come from practice, muscle memory, and instantaneous coordination between perception and action to follow a purpose. Similarly, your organization's true adaptability comes from people pursuing outcomes, not from following project management frameworks to failure.

We trace the evolution of Agile from its revolutionary beginnings in 2001, when it offered an alternative to the rigid structures that caused 70% of software projects to fail, to today, when Agile terminology often masks rigid processes that produce, literally, the same 70% failure rate from the 1990s. Then, as now, many company cultures considered it 'safer' to blame a process for lackluster results than to adapt quickly and produce real impact. 

The heart of the episode features our team taking SODA's agility assessments and discussing the results in real time. This unscripted conversation reveals how trust enables honest self-reflection, how teams can identify and address performance gaps, and whether to focus improvement efforts on strengths or weaknesses. You'll witness firsthand how psychological safety creates the foundation for true team agility.

Whether you're leading a business or AI transformation, managing software development, or simply trying to make your team more responsive to change, this episode provides practical insights for building disciplined agility among real people—not just implementing another process.

Ready to assess your team's true agility? Message us on LinkedIn for access to the same assessment tools we demonstrate in this episode, and join us in two weeks for our season finale on building systems that guarantee transformation success.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-school-it/

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What if the secret to successful transformative programs isn't experimenting harder but working with discipline? Our fourth episode tackles this powerful concept head-on, diving deep into the three crucial levels where discipline transforms organizations.

We begin by exploring how leadership discipline transcends titles and hierarchies. It's about people at any level insisting on good decision-making and aligning everyone toward a shared purpose. The Leadership Diamond, an approach used by industry titans, examines how balancing vision, ethics, realism, and courage creates the foundation for sustained transformation.

The conversation shifts to operational discipline, where we unpack how OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) create clarity around outcomes while permitting flexibility in execution. This methodology, credited with Google's extraordinary success, helps teams navigate the tension between rigidity and chaos in digital transformations.

You'll leave this episode understanding why Andy Grove's observation that "there are so many people working so hard and achieving so little" perfectly describes failed transformations—and how discipline provides the remedy.

Whether you're leading or contributing, these principles will help you focus your energy where it truly matters.

Referenced in the episode:

Goals Gone Wild: The Systematic Side Effects of Over-Prescribing Goal Setting. Working Paper No. 09-083. By Lisa D. Ordóñez, Maurice E. Schweitzer, Adam D. Galinsky, and Max H. Bazerman. Boston: Harvard Business School, 2009. https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/09-083.pdf

Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness, A Philosophy for Leaders. New and revised, updated, subsequent edition. By Peter Koestenbaum. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.

stackoverflow 

• https://stackoverflow.co/

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What if there was a framework that could transform your organization's AI, data, and digital efforts from struggling projects or never-ending program pivots into a powerful operation that drives real business results? The System of Disciplined Agility (SODA) might be exactly what you're looking for.

The New School IT team confronts the sobering reality that 70% of digital transformations fail despite trillions of dollars in spending. Roland, John, Nasheed, and Ryan bring their decades of combined experience to introduce SODA - a systemic framework that goes beyond traditional process methodologies to create lasting change across organizations.

This episode breaks down the three pillars of SODA: discipline (accepting digital transformation as a competency journey), system (defining boundaries and recognizing organization-wide impact), and agility (building behaviors that allow for effective pivoting). The hosts examine how these elements work together to create an environment where software development becomes a core business capability rather than just another IT project.

Through practical examples like Domino's Pizza's remarkable transformation into what one host describes as "essentially a tech company," the team illustrates how SODA principles can revolutionize any business. They share specific indicators to look for - from how initiatives are funded to what status reports measure - that signal whether an organization is truly embracing this approach.

The conversation delves into why traditional approaches fail, how SODA spreads beneficial behaviors throughout an organization, and what leaders need to understand about digital competency development. As Roland puts it, "Working in a SODA way makes employees happier because you go to work with a purpose... and you get stuff done."

Ready to transform how your organization approaches digital initiatives? Listen now to discover how SODA can help you build the discipline and agility needed for true digital transformation success. Stay tuned for our next three episodes, where we'll deep-dive into each SODA element individually!

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Transformations to become more data-driven aren't just an upgrade; they're a full-scale business shift that requires the ability to develop good software, which in turn requires trust, discipline, and cultural alignment across departments. 

We break down why software development is so challenging and what sets forgettable tools apart from those that become indispensable.

In this revealing episode of New School IT Digital, hosts Roland, John, Nasheed, and Ryan tackle the uncomfortable truth about why these initiatives are so difficult. Through candid stories and real-world examples, we show how even the most well-intentioned software projects can fail when developers lose sight of the people who will use their tools. 

The conversation moves beyond technical challenges to expose the cultural and organizational barriers that derail transformation efforts. We learn how departmental silos create language barriers, turning what should be simple collaboration into a game of corporate telephone. We contrast "old school" IT mindsets focused on project completion with "new school" approaches that embrace continuous evolution, revealing why companies stuck in delivery-mode thinking struggle to create software people actually want to use.

Whether you're a business leader frustrated by failed IT initiatives, a technical professional trying to bridge the gap with business teams, or someone caught in the middle of a transformation gone sideways, this episode offers both validation and practical guidance. Join us on this journey to reimagine how your organization approaches software development and digital change.