Frank Patrick

In Defense of Corporations

Corporations are people. Yeah, they really are. But not in the way someone else once meant it.

Learning about Lean: The Orbits of PDCA

An almost poetic observation on the cycle of improvement.

Management Link: "Why measure it if you are not going to do anything about it?"

A good question (and answer) from Joe Ely.

Management Link: 10 CEOs Who Became 'Job Killers'

Linking to Neutron Jack in the slide show…

I can’t figure out for the life of my why CNBC has darn near beatified Jack Welch, while GE is just now coming out from under the impact of his “leadership”.

Link: Defining the problem

Jack Vinson points out in his piece, Defining the problem, that…

…the first blush “solution” to problems is often a treatment of the symptoms, rather than a solution that will remove the symptoms altogether.

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves…

Strategy Link: Why Facebook Is Still A Startup

From Why Facebook Is Still A Startup at TNW Social Media…

Facebook…has defined a space in the digital sphere. But crucially, it hasn’t stopped defining that space.

Facebook has blazed a trail; it is actively inventing the rules of engagement as it progresses and, as such, it has come in for a lot of criticism on a number of issues, including privacy and also how it supports businesses on Facebook.

But Facebook doesn’t have other peers in the same space to look at and say ‘oh, that’s how we should be doing things’. It has been trial and error, but it is getting there.

…When Facebook no longer innovates and starts to stagnate, it won’t be a startup.

How Information and Communication Technologies Affect Decision Making

The medium is - or at least messes with - the message.

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Link: Help Wanted: A Few Good Generalists

This piece from Steve Rubel extols the need for Systems Thinking in the digital age…something I’ve been writing about (not only about digital) for a long time.

I’ve always considered myself a generalist of sorts, proud of being able to find my way out of the trees and understand the forest. As an old Industrial Engineer, which of all the engineering disciplines, is most conducive to “generalist”, transferable “system thinking” and problem solving, I find the old “not invented here (or at least in our industry)” attitude is a common obstacle to respect and confidence from others.

In the similar issue of the perennial question surrounding the need of a project manager to have intensive experience in the domain of the projects’ industry, I tend to fall on the side that says that a PM with no domain experience can do as good, if not a better job, than someone with industry experience but no PM experience. Project management is more about facilitating the arrows between the boxes than the technical content of the boxes themselves. Sure, there’s a bit of a learning curve at the start, but for me, whether moving between consulting clients back in my Focused Performance days or transition to the interactive marketing world back in 2004, I’ve been able to get up to speed quickly and start asking smart “dumb questions” and staying away from the really dumb ones.

It’s my view that when a generalist moves into a new environment, the technology or industry is not as much an issue as moving into a new organization and learning it’s policies, practices, and politics. But even then, the forest-not-only-trees view of the generalist also helps.

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Link: Are they metrics or are they numbers?

A good question, well posed.

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Seth's Blog: The right price the first time