Quote: The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that results exist only on the outside.
Quotes
Don’t Talk About Being Professional
In the context of crowing about coming to work even though you are sick: Professionals don’t talk about being professional they just are professional. Mark Horstman, Manager Tools podcast “Yes, Go To Work Sick.” 19:23
responsibility for contribution defines the manager
Responsibility for contribution (rather than rank or title or command over people) defines the manager. And integrity (rather than genius) is the manager’s basic requirement. Peter F. Drucker, Management (Revised Edition), Chapter 2, 40:32
Buffet’s ABCs of Corporate Decay
[The] ABCs of business decay… are arrogance, bureaucracy and complacency…. When these corporate cancers metastasize, even the strongest of companies can falter. Warren Buffet in letter to stakeholders as reported in http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-28/buffett-says-next-ceo-must-fight-decay-complacency-at-berkshire
Agile: The Good and Bad Parts
Agile: the Good Parts (according to Bertrand Meyer): developing in short iterations of two to six weeks … has profoundly transformed the software industry for the better. absolutely no one, regardless of rank, is allowed to add anything during [an] iteration. And now, some bad bits of Agile: the general rejection of what’s derisively called… Continue reading Agile: The Good and Bad Parts
Drucker’s Five Basic Operations of the Manager
There are five basic operations in the work of the manager. Together they result in the integration of resources into a viable growing organism. A manager … sets objectives. … She makes the objectives effective by communicating them to the people whose performance is needed to attain them. A manager organizes. … He classifies the work. He divides… Continue reading Drucker’s Five Basic Operations of the Manager
Love of Status Quo Signals Decline
An organization that seeks to maintain the status quo is already in decline. Peter F. Drucker, Management (Revised Edition), Chapter 1 25:50
What Works isn’t Stupid
The second rule of the Army is, “If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid.” We could modify that to say, if it’s awkward, but it works, get over your awkwardness. Mark Horstman, Trinity Rollout Email Course, “But it feels awkward!”