So I did.
That is to say, I’ve completed a draft manuscript. I’m seeking to gather a small group of beta-readers for iterative reviews as I move this project from draft to final manuscript.
The Benefits For Participants
Early access to valuable insights on system thinking.
Influence over the book’s development in a way that makes it more valuable to you.
Insight into modern self-publishing tips.
Acknowledgement, if you choose, of your contribution in the book.
A free copy of the final and future editions.
The Commitment
Sections/chapters are short and you can review at your own pace. There are no time constraints or expectations.
There’s no need for in-depth critiques or lengthy comments. Make short comments, highlight confusing parts, ask questions - no matter how brief or sharp - are all welcome.
I anticipate communicating progress and sharing manuscripts about every 2 weeks or so, depending on how well this process rolls.
Not everyone will receive communications about all changes so as not to overwhelm the generosity of my reviewers.
Participation is opt-in. Click on the “Please Include Me!“ button or send an email expressing your interest to “firefly408@geckopad.com“. I’ll need an email address and name. A few words about why you’re interested would be great, too. You can opt-out any time you wish by letting me know via Substack DM or a message to “firefly408@geckopad.com“ and you’ll still receive a copy of the first edition. I’d like to start sending out a chapter or two second week of January.
Let’s do this! I promise you’ll learn more than a few useful things about systems thinking.
And now for the rest of the story...
Seems like it, but that doesn’t deter people who read my articles from telling me “You should write a book.” Alright already. It’s a short (50-75 pages, lots of illustrations) non-fiction book on the subject of systems thinking, project management, and team performance - an incredibly bloated market with tens of thousands of choices on Amazon.com alone.
The prospects for selling many copies aren’t all bad, though. More like absolutely horrifically catastrophically bad. Once upon a time the number of books published each year were known with accuracy, but the advent of self-publishing and e-books has blown a sizable hole straight through the guarded walls of traditional publishing. Estimates, depending on the source, for just the number of English books published in 2025 range from 250,000 to 1,000,000. Working to stand out as signal from such a tsunami of noisy noise is...well, I’m sure it’ll be more fun than putting socks on a rooster.
One would think the vast flotsam and jetsam of published books would be sufficient disincentive for starting such a project. And if not, the invasion of artificial intelligence into just about every aspect of our lives, threatening to choke the life out of professions once thought of as secure, ought to do the trick.
In the area of technology, AI automation is projected to contribute to the loss of 250,000 jobs in 2025 alone.
It’s a safe bet this trend will accelerate in 2026 and beyond.
Will there be anybody left who’ll need what I’ve written? I don’t know, but I aim to find out.
As long as there are teams of humans working toward complex or long-term goals with a deadline and fixed budget, the underlying human system dynamics are likely to remain a significant factor in any project’s success.
It’s clear the methods and practices for project management will experience seismic shifts in response to AI’s capabilities. But I doubt the profession is likely to disappear altogether. AI, in my view, is just the latest tool to be leveraged as we continue to accomplish great things. This view is shared by people who will figure out how to adapt and move with the changes. Those who expect to stay where they’ve been or feel entitled to their false sense of security will suffer of their own accord.
The key point is that how we manage projects will change, not that project management will eventually be eliminated. Over the last 100+ years project management has undergone numerous “radical” changes in response to technical advances. Taylorism, for example, was once a ubiquitous management methodology. Although elements of scientific management are still in use as part of an overall project management strategy, particularly in manufacturing, to my knowledge no one is managing people strictly according to Taylorism.
AI won’t eliminate the need for negotiating with stakeholders, making decisions that respond to market shifts, coordinate team efforts, or dozens of other aspects of project management that demand human guidance. There will still be uncertainty in the face of rapid change. Agile, in particular, was designed to thrive under such conditions. Even so, I anticipate a lot of what has been considered essential to Agile will diminish or fall away completely. Eliminating tedious tasks like creating and refining product backlogs, for example, will be a beautiful thing. And I, for one, will enjoy being free from the elaborate rituals and “ceremonies” that have become overused, dogmatic, and cultish in many Agile implementations.
As long as there are teams of humans working toward complex or long-term goals with a deadline and fixed budget, the underlying human system dynamics are likely to remain a significant factor in any project’s success.
“Writing forces us to put a structure around life. To make sense of it.” - Eric Barker
Since there doesn’t seem to be anyone who ISN’T writing a book and AI is both flooding the sea of products with garbage and eroding the market, why bother? Several reasons...
I love writing and a few folks seem to think I’m good at it.
The focus of my topic is laser sharp.
I think I have something unique to offer (of course I’d say that!)
My motivations are modest:
a. The primary objective is to create something that draws from my 45 years of experience and offers lasting value.
b. The secondary objective is to learn-by-doing the modern process for publishing a book.
The big arc is about systems of human communication and interactions. The smaller arc is how these systems play out in the context of managing projects. The common thread is how to develop systems thinking in a way that reduces risk and increases the odds for success. While my background is in technical industries (chemistry, computers, medical devices), the systems map I present is more broadly applicable to any endeavor where teams of people have been tasked with coordinating their efforts to achieve a larger objective.
While I use Agile methods to illustrate important points, the goal of this book isn’t to advocate any particular project management practice or methodology. Rather, the goal is to highlight common systemic issues I’ve encountered across a wide variety of projects and management methods and how to successfully manage them.
The focus of the book is more about the people doing the work and less about the nature of the work they are doing. Adopting this perspective makes it much easier to identify project performance issues and predict the likely success of any proposed course of action or intervention. From the Introduction:
“I’ve had to work and produce within the constraints of just about every project management methodology imaginable - from undefined ad hoc approaches to the monolithic confines of CMM and everything in between. Along the way I learned each approach had strengths and weaknesses. They all had their own set of context dependent requirements in order to serve as successful methodologies. And they all shared one confounding factor: People.”
If I get this right, the book will serve as a working example of how to leverage systems thinking in a way that can be applied in any context where groups of people are tasked with accomplishing complex or long-term goals.
Writing this book has been an unacknowledged work-in-progress for quite some time. It hasn’t been a heads-down dedicated effort, rather an effort scattered across the past 4-5 years. The result is an accumulation of bits and pieces, some shared on various blogs, until enough of them coalesced into something that looked like it might be a book. What I have now is a book I’ve pushed across the first draft line.
I’ve never pushed my writing this hard or this far. As I mentioned, my motivations are modest. I have a lot to learn and a lot of experiments to run. For preparation, in the last several years I’ve taken classes and read a lot about designing, testing, and marketing a book, but have yet to actually do it. The next phase of this effort is to start putting the book out there for criticism and feedback. The last several months have been spent setting up the tools and strategies I need to do this efficiently and effectively. That’s where you, dear reader, come into the frame. I can’t do this without your help.
It’s time to let bits, pieces, and parts of it escape as I continue shaping them into a final first edition. So it’ll be available when it’s available. Probably late Q1 or early Q2 2026. Definitely NOT on Amazon.com. Probably multiple places like Leanpub and Gumroad.
With deep appreciation,
Gregory Engel
PS. I use AI to research relevant topics for this book, but the organization, writing, and editing are my own.
If you have any questions, need anything clarified, or have something else on your mind, please send a DM or email me directly. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Doing so supports my writing efforts and grants me the most precious of all resources - dedicated time for writing. And for that, I am deeply grateful. If you prefer, buy me a cup of coffee if there is an article here and there that you enjoyed or found valuable.
Image credit: Grok 4.1
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