I think of civilians organizing in the face of disaster -- like the Cajun Navy after Katrina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_Navy https://en.wikipedia.org

I think of civilians organizing in the face of disaster -- like the Cajun Navy after Katrina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_Navy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun_Navy Or the anarchist collectives during the Spanish Civil War. or the mutual aid org, Common Ground Collective, formed after Katrina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_%28organization_theory%29#Hurricane_Katrina https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_aid_%28organization_the... but 'self organizing' is, to me....a bit of a fairy tale for children, not reality for adults. everything is on a sliding scale. like, if a former state senator organizes the first core part of the Cajan Navy, does that make it 'self organizing'? and, does it matter? as for Agile and 'self organizing', i don't think anyone actually takes it seriously. people, bosses/managers, instructors, web pages, videos, CIOs maybe -- they might seem to be taking it seriously, or even claim to take it seriously, but about that most charitable way i could look at that is...it's just self-delusion, it's difficult to help or make people understand something when their salary depends on them not understanding it, etc. or as commenter 'ah88' mentions, if you have a team already -- they can 'self organize' when presented with some problem/mandate -- i'm guessing that was the core part of the spirit of this agile principle of 'self organization', even if it was never going to be possible for most of the corporate world.