“The purpose of any business is to create and keep a customer” – Peter Drucker Five years ago, even two years ago, I would have said that the purpose of a business is to create value. Before that I would have said that the purpose of a business is to make a profit or to…
Culture
The Beast
You adopt practice to “make the team go”. However, every practice you adopt has a cost. The time you spend “making the practice go” is somewhat then a cost of making the team go. I like to talk about the cost of your practices as “Feed the Beast!” But what you really want to make…
A Fascination With Governance
If a little is good, then a bunch must be better, until it isn’t. I was having a conversation on the train the other day on the way home from work. I was sitting with an acquaintance that I ride with from time to time and we were both complaining about the week we were…
Being Agile (is not the goal)
Just reacting to a thought that floated around me in a meeting today. Someone complained that a certain way of doing something “wasn’t very agile”. That’s not very agile. I recognize that I have said it myself. That’s not very agile. As if… Agile is the goal.
Measurement and Management
Over the years this blog has evolved, as my job has changed. From software delivery manager, consulting architect, to enterprise business architect. It has often been about management and leadership because those topics have been at the front of my immediate list of problems in delivering software. Today I read this thoughtful post… by Henry…
A Proliferation of Architects
One of the things that I have observed over the course of this century is the transition away from traditional “Data Processing” titles like programmer, programmer analyst, systems analyst, etc. The key evidence of this trend is the proliferating of self-aggrandizing titles involving the term architect. In 1985 when I graduated, I don’t remember…
Learn To Code – Now
I recently spent some time working my way through “Learn Python The Hard Way” by Zed A. Shaw. Zed is a programmer who has accomplished more than most in his short time on Earth. He is outspoken and often edgy, and has a reputation for being both brilliant and blunt. Zed is the creator of…
Learn To Code – Languages
Its 2014, almost 2015 and conventional wisdom about computers and programming have changed dramatically in the last 30 years since I graduated college. The number of people who use computers have changed from 10% to 90% in that period of time. My Google Nexus phone has way more memory and compute power than the mainframe…
Five Lessons Learned From Consulting Engagements
In a recent post about consulting engagements, I talked about some of the challenges with consulting organizations and their standard practices. I thought maybe some might benefit from some insight. These are some specific suggestions for handling these kinds of challenges. 1) Consulting firms have “relationship” managers or “engagement” managers – these are people whose…
Packing The Box
Do you remember the last time you moved? Do you remember packing some boxes so full, that they were too heavy to lift after you were done? It happens. Especially books and vinyl records. When you are packing “regularly shaped” high density items, the volume of the box may be too large to contain the…