2010

By Bob Lewis | March 8, 2010
Topics: ManagementSpeak | No Comments »

ManagementSpeak: Humor me.

Translation: I heard everything you just said, and you’re right. I know it’s a bad idea. My boss is making us do it, but I can’t tell you that.

KJR Club member Natalie Bueno Vasquez knew sharing this phrase with us was a good idea.

Who’s a business and what isn’t

By Bob Lewis | March 8, 2010
Topics: Career Management, Industry Commentary, Organizational Effectiveness | 5 Comments »

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: IT generally shouldn’t run itself as a business that sells to its internal customers. It should, instead, act as an active, integral part of the organization, collaborating with everyone else to create value for Real Paying Customers.

Something else I’ve often recommend: Don’t think of yourself as an employee. Think of yourself as the business named You. Your employer is your customer, to whom you’re selling your valuable services.

Isn’t there just a tiny bit of contradiction between these two positions? Read the rest of this entry »

ManagementSpeak, 3/1/2010

By Bob Lewis | March 1, 2010
Topics: ManagementSpeak | No Comments »

ManagementSpeak: Once you’ve identified the members of your team who are critical to achieving your department’s business goals, aim to spend roughly 80 percent of your time with the top 20 percent of your staff.

Translation: Micromanage the best, ignore the rest.

This week’s anonymous contributor couldn’t ignore this instruction from his company’s internal management newsletter.

In defense of specialists

By Bob Lewis | March 1, 2010
Topics: Organizational Design, Process Management and Improvement | 2 Comments »

Four words to eliminate from your vocabulary are good, bad, right, and wrong.

No, I’m not promoting rampant immorality, abandonment of your ethical code, or abolishment of truth, righteousness, and the American way.

What I want people to do is to avoid using these as categories, into which they file ideas so that later on they know which ones to pay attention to and which to ignore.

Take, for example, last week’s column, which suggested non-IT business managers might benefit from Agile’s way of organizing work around generalists, rather than the more usual reliance on coordinating multiple specialists. Read the rest of this entry »

Great Quotations, 2/22/2010

By Bob Lewis | February 22, 2010
Topics: ManagementSpeak | No Comments »

“My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.” - George Washington

And thanks to David Mott for bringing this quote to our attention.

Specialists, generally speaking

By Bob Lewis | February 22, 2010
Topics: Industry Commentary, Organizational Design, Organizational Effectiveness | 14 Comments »

Generalists, according to the old joke, know nothing about everything, as opposed to specialists, who know everything about nothing.

Their managers know nothing about anything, which is why they hire consultants like me — people who know everything about everything.

Or at least know how to create that impression. Read the rest of this entry »

ManagementSpeak, 2/15/2010

By Bob Lewis | February 15, 2010
Topics: ManagementSpeak | No Comments »

ManagementSpeak: The company wants the analyst’s report this way.

Translation: The CEO wants the report to support the decision he’s already made.

This week’s anonymous contributor wanted the translation this way.

Chasing the what?

By Bob Lewis | February 15, 2010
Topics: Industry Commentary, Leadership, Organizational Effectiveness, Strategy and Tactics | 7 Comments »

To operate a computer, you point, click, double-click, or right-click. To operate a car you push on the gas, stomp on the brake, or crank the steering wheel.

Which is why you have to feel sorry for Steven Spear.

Spear, you’ll recall, authored Chasing the Rabbit (2008) — an in-depth analysis of what makes high-performance organizations tick. It’s a fine book. Spear based much of his analysis on Toyota, though, which has managed to mess up gas, brakes and steering … pretty much the entire driving experience.

The easy conclusion is that Spear is a chump and his book a waste of time. Read the rest of this entry »

ManagementSpeak, 2/8/2010

By Bob Lewis | February 8, 2010
Topics: ManagementSpeak | 1 Comment »

ManagementSpeak: It looks like you’ve thought of everything.

Translation: I have no ownership in this idea, and no reason to care about it. Good thing you won’t need my help.

This week’s anonymous contributor might not have thought of everything, but he did think of an excellent translation.

Red rover, red rover, let NASA come over!

By Bob Lewis | February 8, 2010
Topics: Industry Commentary, Leadership, Project Management | 8 Comments »

BIG/GAS stands for “Business Is Great/Government and Academics are Stupid.”

It’s a popular proposition among the shouting classes, but NASA — specifically Spirit and Opportunity — have, over the past six years, driven a few more nails in its coffin. While unpopular in some circles the two Mars rovers have, as of this writing, exceeded their planned mission lives by more than 2,500%.

Very few business successes play in that league. Read the rest of this entry »