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Category Archives: IT
Sub-Optimize
From the “you call this agile?” department by Joel Spolsky: Yes, context switching is painful. Yes, you need to take into account the costs of context switching when you interrupt someone’s work. But every decision has pros and cons and when I hear a manager who is just talking about the cons without considering the pros, that manager is not doing their job. This is a simple article about basically choosing to sub optimize a part to optimize the whole. … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management, Software Development, Systems thinking
2 Comments
Five Pragmatic Practices
Becoming a Great Manager: Five Pragmatic Practices by Esther Derby [the broken link was removed] 1) Decide What To Do and What Not To Do Deciding what to do and what not to do helps focus efforts on the important work – work that will contribute to the bottom line of the company. Articulating a mission has another benefit: When everyone in your group knows the mission and how the work they do contributes to it, they will be able … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Management, Management Articles, Software Development
Tagged coaching, Management, prioritize
2 Comments
Investing in Six Sigma
Bank of America: Investing in Six Sigma [the broken link was removed] by Thomas Hoffman: To help the bank’s IT organization align more strategically with its businesses, Desoer has challenged her IT staff to learn more about the bank’s external customers and their needs. “The voice of the customer is what you start with when you embark on a Six Sigma piece of work,” she says. I think in reality there are several things needed at the starting block but … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, IT, Management, Six sigma, Software Development
Tagged Six sigma, Software Development
No Customer Focus
John Battelle writes the excellent searchblog. A recent post, Rant: The Comcast HD DVR Is Simply, Terribly Awful, provides another example of a company lacking customer focus. See the comments for even more confirmation of the lack of customer focus. The interface is simply abominable. Unintuitive and careless, it copies the major features of Tivo’s approach but fails at every single detail – and in UI design, everything is in the details. No surprisingly, it utterly misses the core purpose … Continue reading
Posted in Customer focus, Fun, IT, Management
Tagged bad customer service, culture, design, usability
4 Comments
Management Improvement Search Engine
Google has launched a nice new feature that allows users to create customized search results. I have talked about this idea before: Improve Google. Last year I posted about Rollyo, which allowed what Google now does (using Yahoo for the underlying search). I liked Rollyo but the new Google offering is better, so I have switched to using Google. Try our Management Improvement search engine This searches, using Google technology, over 50 management improvement web sites that I have selected. … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, curiouscat.com, Fun, Google, IT, Management
Tagged Google, tips
Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy
Another interesting post from Panta Rei: Lessons from Toyota’s IT Strategy [the broken link was removed]: In order to use IT effectively as a tool, we think that it is important for the top management to not see IT as something that can be applied superficially. First they must see the facts of the business, the facts of the gemba, and on top of this foundation further consider the feelings of people and how to motivate them. Then rules must … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS)
Tagged strategy, technology, Toyota
Management Consulting – Web Site Evidence
In, How Wipro Adapted the Toyota Production System to IT Work [the broken link was removed], Jon Miller highlights several keys to adopting lean thinking: involve everyone, learn and then do, and learn together. In Wipro’s case they should also take advantage of what is available on lean IT thinking such as: Lean Software Development. As I have mentioned before a look at Wipro’s web site does not provide me much confidence in their commitment. Read their overview of IT … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles
Tagged Customer focus, design, internet, usability
Designing In Errors
TiVo’s “self-destruct button” destructs [the broken link was removed] In so doing, they’ve created a bunch of potential failures in which the user is locked out of her own equipment. It’s like those movies where an accident or a bad guy triggers the “self-destruct button” on a spaceship. Often the self-destruct button is locked away behind plexiglas and padlocks for safety, but wouldn’t it be safer not to include a single command that blows up the whole space-ship? You know … Continue reading
Hiring the Right People
The job market is an inefficient market. There are many reasons for this including relying on specification (this job requires a BS in Computer Science – no Bill Gates you don’t meet the spec) instead of understanding the system. Insisting on managing by the numbers even when the most important figures are unknown and maybe unknowable. Using HR to find the right person to work in a process they don’t understand (which reinforces the desire to focus on specifications instead … Continue reading
Posted in Career, Customer focus, IT, Management, Performance Appraisal, Popular
Tagged Career, curiouscat, Deming, hiring, management, managing people, Popular
15 Comments
Google Shifts Focus
It appears Google has decided it is time to put more resources into improving their many existing products (Gmail, News, Video, Maps, Picassa, Spreadsheets, Checkout, GoogleTalk, AdSense for Radio, GoogleReader, BlogSearch, GoogleGroups,…). That makes sense to me. When Google had few other products I think it was likely wise to push a bunch of stuff out the door quickly. Now that they have a bunch of decent, but not really great products, adjusting and taking the opportunity to improve those … Continue reading
Posted in Google, IT, Management, Software Development, Systems thinking
Toyota IT Overview
What’s Driving Toyota? by Mel Duvall is an interesting, long article discussing Toyota overall and focusing on Toyota’s Information Technology systems. Technology does not drive business processes at Toyota. The Toyota Production System does. However, technology plays a critical role by supporting, enabling and bringing to life on a mass scale the processes derived by adhering to TPS. “What strikes me about Toyota is, if you were to ask them if they have a technology strategy, they would probably say … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Management, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS)
9 Comments
Making Changes and Taking Risks
Sales Force by Curtis Hartman, 1996 explores Ron Rodin’s use of Deming’s ideas at Marshall Industries. Ron Rodin’s book, Free Perfect and Now, is excellent. The system had to change. “We eliminated commissions, incentives, promotions, contests, P&Ls, forecasts, budgets, the entire functional organization chart,” Rodin says. It was a radical move. Contests and commissions — internal competition — were a way of life in the industry, the universal motivational tool. Rodin was hammered when he unveiled the plan in an … Continue reading
Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Management Articles
Tagged Books, commissions, Deming, Systems thinking
4 Comments
Internet Access at Work
Providing internet access at work can create some management issues. However, the correct solution to those problems is not to be overly restrictive on access to the internet. Obviously, the most important thing is doing the work of the organization: there is no excuse for employees ignoring customers or pressing needs to IM with their friends or browse the web. However, if you hire responsible people and manage properly – maintaining a proper work culture, etc., you should respect and … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Management, Respect
Tagged internet, IT, managing people, Psychology, respect for people, technology
1 Comment
Patent Review Innovation
Michael Crichton wrote an essay critical of the current patent law: This Essay Breaks the Law. I believe the US is making significant mistakes in how we are proceeding with the patent system, see: The Patent System Needs to be Significantly Improved. A recent article from Money offers an interesting idea (to try anyway) for one part of the problem. Patent review goes Wiki That’s the basic concept behind a pilot program sponsored by IBM (Charts) and other companies, which … Continue reading
Posted in Creativity, Economics, Innovation, IT, Management, Process improvement
2 Comments
Competition
Why I hate programming competitions [the broken link was removed] by Mike Vanier Most aspects of Deming’s thinking seemed natural to me from the start. Some ideas have taken longer (it took me awhile to be won over to the harm caused by performance appraisals, for example). Competition is another area that I still struggle with. I have been moved greatly by my experience and the thoughts of people like Alfie Kohn (No Contest: The Case Against Competition). But I … Continue reading
Posted in IT, Management, Psychology, Software Development, Systems thinking
Tagged Management, organization as a system, Psychology, respect for people
Interviews with Innovators
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days by Jessica Livingston is an interesting looking book to be published in a few months. The book consists of interviews with founders of technology companies exploring the initial efforts to create a new company. Interviews include: David Heinemeier Hansson [the broken link was removed] (who many of our readers may not have heard of but who has recently done a great web development framework [Ruby on Rails] and development philosophy very compatible … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Creativity, Innovation, IT, Management, Management Articles, Software Development
Tagged Books, business, entrepreneur, Innovation, leadership