Does anyone take pride in the quality of software?
April 28, 2005In a ZDNet article James Coplien is quoted as saying …
the only area of the industry where people still take pride in the quality of the software they deliver is the open source community.
Having worked in the commercial software development space for the last 5+ years, I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree!
Software quality suffers as a direct result of business as usual attitudes such as time to market, impossible deadlines, unclear requirements and lack of vision. The sooner consumers start to demand better quality software, the better.
MBA - Masters of Bugger All?
April 24, 2005Tom Peters
Did I believe that? Do I still believe that? I’m not quite sure. I think (know) that my own definition of “success” has changed since 1998, when I started my MBA. I’d like to think that my motivation was the pursuit of knowledge. Since I’d completed an Arts degree prior I had limited exposure to the world of business and I had a thirst for undetstanding. In hindsight, I probably was blinded by the pursuit of what I saw as ’success’. My daughter Madelyn was born the year before I started and I think that my motivation to ’succeed’ was in-part, driven by the new found repsonsibilties of being a father.
Has it given me all the skills required to be successful in business? Probably not. I have definitely developed some fantastic skills and a deep undetstanding of a number of business theories and models. But Business School does not encourage, or teach you about “right-brained” activities. They don’t teach you how to ’sell’, ‘hustle’, ‘imagine’, ‘have fun’. Jim Carroll says that we should move beyond the thinking that led us to a world of MBA’s …
The world doesn’t need more administrators. It needs more MBI’s – Masters of Business Imagination!
His Masters of Business Imagination Manifesto is an interesting and compelling read. If I had a choice between an MBA and MBI now, I’d definitely choose the later.
An ‘Army’ Personality
April 21, 2005Left, Right, Left, Right, Left … (this is also how I play golf!)
In the last week or so, I’ve been thinking a lot about MBTI and the seemingly contradictory nature of my own personality type.
My type (INTJ) are usually, inciteful, creative sysnethizers and conceptual long-range thinkers. Yet, on the other hand we use thinking to make logical decisions. We tend to be clear and concise, rational, detatched and objectively critical. These observations of type are amazingly close.
The contradiction I see in this is the polarity between the left-brain and right-brain functions. On this, I recently came across a Tom Peters interview with Dan Pink, author of ‘A Whole New Mind: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age’ . Dan believes that …
We’re moving into a world where the scales are tilting away from left-brain thinking and more toward right-brain thinking. Away from pure logic and deductive reasoning, toward artistry and empathy.
… then, low and behold, I just read Johnnie’s latest post and
he coincidentally refers to Tom Guarriell’s exploration of the same topic. He even references an article written by the same author. Talk about the twighlight zone! The article is a thought provoking piece. I’m definitely going to grab the book for a more detailed read when I get an opportunity.
The prospect of further developing my “right-brain” functions isn’t going to be all that easy, given my propensity towards the logical (I’m off the scale on the MBTI scoring!), but then again I do have a very creative side, and I should shift the empahsis to, as Dan puts it…
supplement well-developed high tech abilities with aptitudes that are “high concept” and “high touch”
I’m turning right … (not Pink)!
They Just Don’t Get It!
April 20, 2005Something that is really top-of-mind for me at the moment, and coincidentally came up in conversation this morning with Peter, is the way organisations (and individuals) approach problem-solving.
I love working with concepts and ideas and often find that people “just don’t get it” — they move immediately into problem solving without a conceptual framework or any understanding of what they are doing, or trying to achieve. In my mind, this is madness, and I’m sure it has something to do with the number of failed IT projects, particularly those cited as failing because of ‘poor requirements’. Perhaps we should create a new measure of project failure … ‘poor conceptual understanding’?
Tony’s Podcast
April 19, 2005I listened to Tony’s interview of Johnnie Moore last night — his first attempt at a Podcast (or a PomCast, MP3 Broadcast, whatever …), and a great effort. I really enjoyed the interview. The rapport between Tony and Johnnie is obvious, and the ensuing discussion was interesting and entertaining.
I’ve come away thinking about a number of inciteful pieces or ‘bricolage’ from it. One particular thread I found intersting was Johnnie’s description of himself as being someone who …
spends too much time thinking and theorizing and wondering if things will work and not enought time trying stuff and see if it works
He explans how he is spending more time at the momement ‘throwing mud at the wall‘ and trying some different things. I relate to this — and it provides some inspiration to do the same!
