For Steve Kickert, chaos theory isn’t about the butterfly in Brazil whose flapping wings start a chain of cause and effect that ends with a blizzard in Russia. It’s about the IT guy who felt harried during the software implementation so he didn’t keep good records, and then the day five months later when mysterious software problems are lousing up inventory and customer service is overwhelmed with complaints.
Kickert spent 16 years as chief technology officer for Twin Cities–based HighJump Software and says, “No matter what we did at the executive level in terms of planning and strategizing, it really came down to the individual and their contribution to that overall plan and the choices they made day in and day out.”
A realist about chaos—“it never really goes away”—Kickert cofounded Shakopee-based Riverock Technologies last year to help people manage chaos as best they can. The company’s OnePlace project management and collaboration software just came out of beta testing in September. The innovation Kickert likes best: Users can keep both workplace and personal accounts, where data are secure and employees each get a blended view of what they need to do on the work, family, and volunteer or personal-interest fronts that day. Rather than distracting people from their jobs, Kickert says the personal accounts make people better employees, because they’re not distracted by the idea that they’re forgetting to do something: “The key is that in order for me to manage chaos, I have to manage it across all facets of my life.
