The Jazz Process: Collaboration, Innovation, and Agility

by Adrian Cho

"An insider’s guide to translating the creative techniques of jazz to the business world.” Scott Berkun, author of The Myths of Innovation What Can Your Team Learn From Jazz Musicians? Experienced jazz musicians apply specific principles to collaborate, execute, and manage change in real time--delivering extraordinary innovation in the face of non-stop pressure and risk. Now, jazz musician and collaboration expert Adrian Cho shows how you can use the same principles to dramatically improve any team’s performance. Cho systematically introduces the Jazz Process and demonstrates how it can help cross-functional teams improve teamwork, innovation, and execution. You’ll learn new ways to encourage and integrate strong individual contributions from passionate and committed practitioners, and give them maximum autonomy while making sure your project’s “music” never degenerates into chaotic “noise.” Through multiple case studies, Cho shows you how high-performance teams achieve their success. • Master five core principles of working in use just enough rules, employ top talent, put the team first, build trust and respect, and commit with passion • Establish a realistic framework for effective, continuous execution • Collaborate more effectively with team members, consumers, customers, partners, and suppliers • Master the essentials of team listening for change, leading on demand, acting transparently, and making every contribution count • Reduce the “friction” associated with collaboration--and increase the synergy • Use form, tempo, pulse, and groove to maintain constructive momentum • Learn about the importance of healthy projects and teams • Innovate by exchanging ideas and taking the right measured risks • For every practitioner, leader, and manager interested in getting better results

Genres: Management

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 14, 2010

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, the analogy is really interesting and having worked on the IBM Jazz project it would have been interesting to see more of how his ideas were applied to the team and how the team embodied these ideas in the product.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an in-depth experience sharing on how to do team work with lots of real-life examples. Personally I list all the chapter title as rules to run my team and project because they're very valuable and worth to follow.

[Remember Footsteps]

“Jazz demands cooperation, enterprise, creativity, measured risk, and so much more—and so does business. Adrian’s book is an entertaining guide for importing the jazz process into the world of business.” —Jack Chambers