Hot Groups: Seeding Them, Feeding Them, and Using Them to Ignite Your Organization

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Summary: Hot Stuff!
Review: Great book - Full of ahHAs and insights, as well as implied tips and watch-outs. I was able to pull a great deal of information out of the book and integrate it into what I do when helping kick-start project teams. Have dropped major thoughts and concpets from the book into the both curriculum of our School for Innovators and the process of Thinking Expeditions. This is a MUST READ for any manager or leader who wants to make some improtant things happen fast - with his or her eyes wide open to the ramifications of a Hot Group's impact on the rest of the organzition.

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Summary: Good overview for newbies, not much new for the experienced
Review: I've just finished Hot Groups and am somewhat disppointed. Since this book is well written and does give a good overview on the need for hot groups and how to use them effectively in organizations, I'm assuming I wasn't very impressed because I didn't realize it's absolutely an introductory book. I imagine it might be helpful for people who have never had experience creating or working on ad-hoc groups or on short-term critical projects. Additionally, it might help people working in very large and bureacratic organizations. However, for anyone who has experience in working on short-term projects or crisis management, this book doesn't offer much that's new. I work in an Internet startup on short-term projects and the authors suggestions to "build a sense of community in your hot group; be aware your team will need downtime so as not to burn out; be aware communication is important, be aware of the political sensitivities within your organization..." are simply too obvious for anyone with experience working on important short-term projects. If you have such experience, this book isn't for you.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: This book is about using and encouraging intense teams at work. Jean Lipman-Blumen and Harold J. Leavitt make it clear that hot groups are not a new management phenomenon. They have existed since the beginning of time. The ability of hot groups to respond to problems quickly with innovative solutions will make them an essential component of organizations in the future. Many of the techniques mentioned in this book can be used without instituting major changes in your organization. While the book offers many organizational case studies as evidence of the effectiveness of hot groups, it lacks hard numerical data showing the bottom-line results organizations get when they support hot groups. Despite that, we at getAbstract recommend this book to managers and leaders who want to introduce or use hot groups or are already using groups in their organization.