Thinking in Promises
Designing systems for cooperation
Imagine a simple set of principles that could help you to understand how parts combine to become a whole, and how each part sees the whole from its own perspective. If such principles were any good, it shouldn't matter whether we're talking about humans in a team, birds in a flock, computers in a datacenter, or cogs in a Swiss watch. A theory of cooperation ought to be pretty universal, so we could apply it both to technology and to the workplace. Such principles are the subject of Promise Theory. The goal of Promise Theory is to reveal the behaviour of a whole from the sum of its parts, taking the viewpoint of the parts rather than the whole.
This book is aimed at general readers with a technology background. The book draws on examples from the real world, with a special emphasis on computers and information systems.
Promise Theory Courses
Popular articles
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Forrester Report: Promises, Not Obligations, Are The Basis Of Future Operating Models Empower Team Collaboration Through A Framework Of Mutual Commitments
- Promise Theory - what is it? (Linux Journal article)
- Thinking in Promises for an Internet of Things
- Promise Theory: Can you really trust the network to keep promises?
- Why you need to know about promise theory
- OpFlex-ing Your Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure
- The Quest to Make Code Work Like Biology Just Took A Big Step (Wired 2016)
Case studies in fundamental processes:
- Virtual motion I: Motion of The Third Kind
- Virtual motion II: Notes on kinematics, dynamics, and relativity in Semantic Spacetime
- Trust in Sociology
- Authority in Sociology
Case studies in social discourse:
Additional book resources
- Online Promise Theory Course (Open Leadership Network)
- Online Promise Theory Courses
- Promise Theory Course Notebook (for use with online course).
- Formal development of promise theory.
- Author's original illustrations from Thinking In Promises.
- A Promise Theory Perspective on Data Networks.
- Research relating to semantic spaces
Tools for doing it!
- Latex for promises (pdf)
- Latex source for promises (with promise macros)
- Working Notes/Guidance for IT professionals
- Draft notes on using promises for system resilience modelling
Video short films
A series of short films introducing promise theory.
- 1. Basic Concepts
- 2. The Rules of Delegation
- 3. Scaling Cooperation With Modularity and Trust
- 4. Scaling Goals, From Leadership to Microservices
Also on audio/video
- Promises applied to networking (podcast)
- Aaron Blythe, Great 30 minute intro to promise theory
- Thinking in Promises for the Cyborg Age - Percolate Transition conference NYC 2015
- Interview on Promise Theory and Software Wind Tunnel: Velocity SC 2014, October 2013
- Podcast on promises: part1 and part 2
- Mark Burgess, Promise Theory talk At Google, St Monica (2008)
- John Willis, Promise Theory for Dummies (2011)
- Promise Theory: Understanding how to scale and create positive team cooperation