Most of my clients want to change something: they want to deliver software faster, reduce the number of defects the software they do deliver, and improve financial results. Affecting these changes neither simple nor easy. Improving organizational results involves...
“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, Act II, Scene 2 The other day I was skimming the Harvard Management Update when a section in bold red print caught my eye: “Why don’t more organizations...
ac-count-a-ble adj. 1. Subject to the obligation to report, explain, or justify something; responsible; answerable. 2. Capable of being explained; explicable. (The Random House College Dictionary, Revised Edition, 1988.) Did you know that’s what accountable...
Came across this quote today–seems a propros the discussion of management and leadership. It seems to me that whereas power usually means power-over, the power of some person or group over some other person or group, it is possible to develop the conception of...
I’m uncomfortable with the manager vs. leader dichotomy that’s bandied about lately. Most of the time, the conversation is reduced to a sound bite: “Managers do things right, leaders to the right thing” (from a Warren Bennis quote). Cute, but...
(c) 2003-2010 Esther Derby This column originally appeared on Computerworld.com Twice a week, I go to the gym and weight train with Brooke Darst, a Certified Personal Trainer. As I perform my exercises, Brooke provides a constant stream of feedback: Minor corrections,...
“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea, when it’s the only one you have.” Emile-Auguste Chartier There are three states in problem solving. Not enough ideas Too many ideas Just the right number of ideas In the first case (stuck) the task is to...
When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness A few months ago, I began writing a “Technically Speaking” column for this issue and just couldn’t make myself finish it. I...
At the start of my series on Performance without Appraisal, I listed the goals that organizations hope to achieve with annual performance appraisals and so-called performance management systems: improve individual performance improve organizational results determine...
Part of my definition of a successful team is that the members of the team increase their knowledge and capacity as a result of their work on the team. That means that giving the team the opportunity to learn is part of the job. One of challenges I see when managers...
