InfoWorld: More about telling unpopular truths.
IN THIS ISSUE
* More about telling unpopular truths. * Shrink-wrapped processes after all?
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- MORE ABOUT TELLING UNPOPULAR TRUTHS.Dear Bob ...
I understand your point about how sometimes we think we are right when maybe we aren't ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=C8B341:353CA35), but too many times I have seen where someone could be proven to be right and yet it didn't matter.
Gaby, We need permission to be right. That has always been the case.
I tell people quite often in corporate America that ego matters as much or more than right or wrong. I have seen millions spent to cover up mistakes. In the end, one such effort to make something that cost $210 appear to cost $180 actually lead to the REAL cost being around $1000 per unit over thousands of units. All to protect the fragile ego of a couple of VPs.
This is what scares me about business decisions. I think that if people could really do like many companies say and try to do the best thing for the customers and the health of the company, business would run much better. Instead, politics, egos and inertia seem to rule the day most of the time. At my current job, I watch us throw money to prop up a badly broken system because our CIO is a big supporter of it. And I know that people who have tried to seriously talk about alternatives have their jobs threatened and feel that there is no real recourse with the company. Heck, I'm here in a large part because I chose to tell the truth in my last job.
Gaby: I hate it more when stock holders prevent inovation to protect their 2 week inventment. It's a great balance?
- Tired of the games
Dear Tired ...
It isn't entirely games. As I said in the posting you referenced, few of us have easy access to the truth. This might sound like a trivial difference, but it isn't: You and I have access to facts; we both are capable of reasoning. Couple the facts we can agree on with logic we both agree is sound and we still can end up with different answers - the result of starting with different underlying assumptions.
That's the nature of logic.
Which isn't to say you're wrong - there is a lot of corporate decision-making that has nothing at all to do with what's best for the corporation. That isn't entirely surprising, nor is it entirely wrong, either. In a capitalist society, as I've pointed out many times, we're each supposed to look out for our own self-interest first. Sacrificing our own self-interest for the good of our employers is a chump's strategy. How many companies would return the favor these days, do you think?
So in a highly political company, and there are many, managers have to take the politics into account in making their own decisions. Take for example, the CIO you describe. I'd bet a lot he (or she) has his/her name on the project and would be terminated if it was to fail. In a healthier environment, the CIO would acknowledge that this one didn't work out as planned, pull the plug, and move on. But it isn't ...
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=C8B342:353CA35
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People who don't care take over, if they cant improve their own skill thats never good. Pretend to have skill should never work. It can only mean people buy it.
SHRINK-WRAPPED PROCESSES AFTER ALL?
Dear Bob ...
I think you are missing the point [regarding the chances for shrink-wrapped ERP ( http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=C8B33F:353CA35 )].
Accounts payable has very well some "industry best practice". The emphasis is on "industry". Wal-Mart and EDS might be corporate giants, but they are hardly in the same industry. Where EDS might be in multiple industries, but certainly not in Retail, as Wal-Mart is. However, Wal-Mart and Target or Sears should have mostly the same procedures with a bunch of variants that can be configured. And your local hardware store or kids boutique should benefit from many of the same precesses as well.
This is just my experience of many years looking on the business processes of large and not so large corporations. As much as every new customer screamed that they were different, about 85% was the same and the other 15% was split between very suspect and really unique. Rarely were the differences of any relevance to the core business or success. Sometimes they were part of the problems the company had. And small businesses have in the aggregate almost all the same requirements than large one's. Not every small business needs multi currency billing, but some need it and then they can benefit from currency hedging, etc.
If you want to build software for a large enough market, you have to throw in many features. The trick is to quickly be able to customize the things out, that are not needed.
The trick is to stop saying "we cant do this and that" and do what it takes to obtain the correct user expirience, never take no for an answere.
Kind regards K
Dear K ...
You're right on target. I only wish more business consultants and pundits who bandy about phrases like "best practice" were as accurate.
It's like I've told more than one client, "Yes, you're unique - just like every other company." Which is to say, every company had better be unique in some respect or it's going to be out of business very, very soon. That doesn't mean they have nothing to learn from other companies, only that they need to be judicious in choosing what they learn.
I don't, however, think that makes the case for shrink-wrapped ERP. Every case a company makes to do things differently has, I suspect, a ripple effect through the rest of the company, which means the chance of adhering to an industry standard practice is reduced.
Nor is that the end of the story. Beyond process definition is the level of process adherance. Some companies stay as flexible as they can; others rigidly adhere to process standards as a way to minimize costs. Which further complicates any ability to simply stick with a shrink-wrapped process design.
Still, it's possible I'm just trying to keep the tide from coming in, and business processes really are turning into commodities.
I sure hope not, though, because if they are, the world of business is about to become very, very boring.
- ...
http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=C8B340:353CA35
Bob Lewis is president of IT Catalysts, Inc., http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=C8B347:353CA35 , an independent consultancy specializing in IT effectiveness and strategic alignment. Contact him at rdlewis@issurvivor.com .
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- Bob Lewis
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I'm happy I know being wrong is a skill, look at how well you take it, improve that or lack it.
posted under
business, by Gaby de Wilde at 10:02 PM
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