// archives

Change Management

This tag is associated with 20 posts

Art, with some elements of Execution
More on (sic) experience with wikis

By ⋅ February 1, 2007 ⋅ One comment

no, that’s not a typo … Preamble: This starts out sounding like a diary entry, but some interesting wiki-focused observations are found below – including metrics! Catching up on old items in my feed reader: Back in November, TechCrunch had an item on AboutUs, which at first glance looked at little self-referential, a web site [...]

Execution
Thoughts on Why Tech Folks Hate Documentation

By ⋅ July 8, 2006 ⋅ 4 comments

I’ve had some flashes of insight on why technical folks don’t like to document stuff. Currently, I’m thrashing thru a skunkworks project that is evolving into something that will need to be reasonably available, robust, etc. I’m also trying to lead by example; I ask my teams to build for sustainability and document so they [...]

Execution, with some elements of Inspiration
My Favorite Paradox

By ⋅ August 13, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

Entropy (again), the great oxymoron/paradox of our universe … constant change. I like the concept because it’s simple yet confusing, short/terse, and powerful (actively, passively, and conceptually). I think I picked this up from my Thermodynamics professor – an anti-Hesburgh Hindu at Notre Dame (love those tight loops). There is a link to my current [...]

Execution
Transitioning Process and Projects

By ⋅ July 30, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

When transitioning projects last week, I realized a nice little payoff for my focus on process and documentation. On the whole, quite an uneventful series of meetings – most of the conversations were around minor tools and systems that never got the level of documentation they might need, simply because they were lower priority. One [...]

Alt TExt
Euphemisms, and a career-extending paradox

By ⋅ July 11, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

I use a number of euphemisms all the time, in my conversations with folks, trying to balance complete yet brief communications. A common phrase when trying to show that you’ve seen a similar situation before is … “In a previous life …” (IAPL), as in “In a previous life, we did consolidated financials within the [...]

Execution
12 Steps to Prevent Organizational Change

By ⋅ February 18, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

Here’s an article sure to start some firey conversations. It’s tongue-in-cheek style goes nicely with it’s difficult message, please read the whole thing. My favorite parts, compared and contrasted with classic systems development thinking (as well as observations from a current major project): Step 4: Ah the subtlety … classic change management says get the [...]

Execution
Fast ticket to getting left behind

By ⋅ February 15, 2005 ⋅ Post a comment

We’re contemplating some significant system changes / updates / re-entrenchments, and finally forcing the organization to deal with some “elephants on the table”, simmering old disputes or differences of opinion that were just benignly put away, but kept in reserve until “the future”. Well, for some of these topics, the future is now, and what [...]

Execution, with some elements of Art
Crazy busy but I gotta post something

By ⋅ November 26, 2004 ⋅ Post a comment

I’ve had these two articles / subjects earmarked in my Bloglines lists to comment against, gotta do some catching up here … Blown Away: an interesting post from Loosely Coupled, for a couple of reasons … The first bullet – contrasting custom and packaged software – really speaks to the concept that most companies developing [...]

Execution
It’s Official

By ⋅ October 1, 2004 ⋅ Post a comment

Our new owner’s have officially taken possession, now let’s see when and how the excitement will start. As I have noted in the past, we have been feeling the effects to a degree, but now it’s full steam ahead. I look forward to this – we’ve been in a state of perma-hold for the last [...]

Execution, with some elements of Art
Customer Service, Roles and Responsibilities

By ⋅ September 25, 2004 ⋅ One comment

This week the marketing group is getting a bit frustrated, because we’re having a difference of opinion about service levels, resource availability, access to databases and servers – all exacerbated by the new owners handing down edicts for reporting requirements that are absolutely taking priority over all other work, no matter what expectations may have [...]

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