TFDT Getting Started: 3. How to Read This Book

Start Anywhere. Go Anywhere

We have design the book to reward browsing in any direction. Cross-references, for example, point out meaningful links. Zoom in where you feel engaged. Here are some starting points:

• "why Bother?" -- The benefits of this book: pages 9 and 13.
• "Moving Forward" -- Peter Senge's essay proposing a strategic framework for designing a learning organization effort: page 15.
• "Defining Your Learning Organization" -- A solo exercise defining what kind of organization you want to create: page 50.
• "designing a Learning Organization: First Steps" -- A team exercise for getting started: page 53.
• "Opening Moves" -- Entry paths for different organizations: page77.

Margin Icons

To make browsing through the book easier, we use margin icons to indicate different types of material:

Solo Exercise: An exercise which you practice alone.

Team Exercise: An exercise for a group of people working together, sometimes conducted by a facilitator or team leader.

Guiding Ideas: A principle which meaningful as a philosophical source of light and direction.

Infrastructure: Innovations in organizational design which affect authority, structures, information flow, and the allocation of resources.

Theory and Methods: Techniques and the theoretical underpinnings which give those techniques their power.

Cameo: The voice of a guest contributor.

Lexicon: A guide to the roots of the words we use, and the way we use them now.

Systems Story: Stories which incorporate systems archetypes or other applications of systems thinking.

Tool Kit: A practical device or technique.

Resources: Recommendations of books, articles, and videotapes which we have found valuable.

 Senge, P.M. et.al., (1994) The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook., Doubleday, NY. P7~9.