Slack

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Having previously read both Peopleware and The Deadline by Demarco, both about managing people and project management (a big part of my daily life), I wanted to see what the authors latest thoughts on the subject were...

I was pleasantly surprised to find this book actually leaves, for the most part, those themes behind and tackles the subject of the over-efficient organization and managing knowledge workers. Demarco suggests that for an organization to adapt and change (an absolute requirement in these times), there must be "slack" built into the company. For his first example of describing over-efficiency, Demarco uses one of those sliding puzzle games (you know, a grid with 9 squares, filled with 8 tiles, the player attempts to arrange them into a pattern or order by sliding the tiles into the free space left by the one unfilled square.)

If you've read Peopleware or The Deadline you'll remember that Demarco makes compelling, but subjective arguments about his theories on project management. He then attempts to back these arguments up with a sort of quantifiable or objective methodology. I think its the engineer in him. He uses a similar formula in Slack, stating his theory, giving some real-world examples, and then attempts to provide more scientific proof of his theories. Given the nature of the subject, the pure science approach isn't as useful (to me) as the real-world examples. These anecdotes and stories Demarco tells from his consulting experiences far out weigh the various attempts at proving the theories with a graph or other means.

The book touches on the value of retaining employees (both monetarily as well as keeping knowledge within your organization), proper training, and risk management.

Of the three books I've read by Tom Demarco, I believe slack is the most useful for helping to manage knowledge workers and organizations. The previous books seemed to deal more with project management, and specifically software project management. I'd say this is a pretty solid book for any manager. I'll probably read it again to reinforce some of the points and remind myself of the signs that my organization is missing slack.


Posted by ben at 12:00 PM
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Into Thin Air

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Recommended by Shandon, who also loaned me his copy... this is a great pick. Thanks very much Shandon.

Into Thin Air tells the exciting and chilling story of the writer's personal experience summiting Everest in 1996. Primarily on the team as a journalist writing about the commercial guides taking mere mortals to the summit. Jon Krakauer writes with a passion and experience for a sport that is the center of his life. This book is Jon's account of the '96 tragedy that took two famous climbers (among others) live's, Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. A personal tale told with frankness (including questioning Jon's own culpability in some of the deaths) and honesty.

This book leaves you with an understanding of what it takes for a human to reach the top of the world. Besides the extreme physical strength and conditioning, people "surviving" these trips above 8,000 meters require a drive and mental capacity to get up and back down again that few have.

One thing that this story really hit home was sheer lack of support available in extreme places and situations. With the regular news stories about someone being rescued from a remote forest or desert and living with the comforts most of us do, you forget there are truly isolated places. Places where a rescue team can't be called, where a helicopter can't just swoop in and save the day... Everest is one of those places.

The book that was loaned to me was a later edition with an addendum by the author reflecting on the experience since publishing his article for Outside magazine and the book itself. Because Krakauer told his story (backed up by intensive interviews of the others involved) many survivors were named in the book. My take on the book was not as tell all or blame game, but a frank explanation of the events. I did not finish the book thinking that anyone person was responsible for the events, in fact the book made it quite clear that the tragedy was most likely due to a series of bad calls and misjudgments. Many of the same people who (in hindsight) made mistakes were also shown as the heroes they were.

Some people were not satisfied with Jon's answers or account of the story. He also explains his personal reasons behind staying quiet while another climber, Anatoli Boukreev (now deceased), involved in the tragedy attacked his book (and personal account). Jon comes to realize that it is his responsibility as a journalist to rebut the attacks and does so quite eloquently, including his now clearer hindsight into the events -- a worthy addition to the book.

I found his candid writing and observations to make a very clear case. Many believe Into Thin Air is the best and clearest account of what happened on top of the world in 1996, and I can understand why. While reading further about the tragedy online, I came across this incredible panoramic photo from the summit -- careful, it requires QuicktimeVR and is 1MB in size.

Posted by ben at 09:54 PM
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Pattern Recognition

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I spent about a week getting to know the characters in William Gibson's most recent novel and first book placed in "the recent past" or "near future". Although the story built itself up quite well, it ended rather abruptly -- Gibson spent much of the time creating and developing the characters and their relationships, which in the end made the book a worthwhile read.

William Gibson, one of the 'founding fathers' of the cyberpunk sub-genre of sci-fi, gave a recent interview about Pattern Recognition and apophenia. He defines apophenia from the book as:

Gibson's previous works were usually set in a dark future. This book does an excellent job of setting the reader up in the character's world, which is essentially the high-tech, consumer driven society of today. This isn't the first time Gibson worked in the present though, one of my favorite X-Files episodes, Kill Switch, was co-written by him. You can find out more about Gibson by delving into his own musings on his blog.

Pattern Recognition, centers on Cayce (pronounced 'case') Pollard, a 'coolhunter' -- someone who sees patterns in society before they more clearly emerge and can detect concepts before they enter the meme. Professionally she hunts cool and works as a marketing consultant using her "special condition" to steer companies in the right direction. Cayce is also a devout fan of 'the footage', a series of short film segments of (presumably) a larger work that keep appearing on the Internet. With her online friends, she discusses what the footage means, where its from, and anything else dealing with strange and compelling films.

While working and playing in modern day England as a consultant to the Blue Ant marketing firm she meets the president of the firm, Hubertus Bigend. Once her consulting gig is complete, Bigend convinces Cayce to take a special assignment, tracking down the maker of the footage. Bigend is *very* interested in this new "marketing technique" that the footage is employing -- he wants to commercialize it. Using her new expense account, Cayce teams up with some old and new friends and trots about the globe unraveling the trail that leads to the maker of the footage.

One of the clues that emerges from the investigation is a watermarking technique called steganography. Cayce learns that each segment of the footage is watermarked (invisible unless decoded properly) with a series of numbers. The maker can use these encoded numbers to scour the Internet and track where the film segments have been.

Steganography really exists today -- it can be used to encode a message *inside* another message.

In the case of our friends, the RIAA, they are attempting to use it to watermark CDs and music with trademark information.

Another not-too-far-fetched idea put forth in the novel is the idea that marketing companies pay people to go into society and "talk up" a particular product, movie, or even idea. One of characters explains how she gets briefed and instructed to go to a certain club or bar. Once there she's to casually bring up 'the product' and start conversations with people. She's then debriefed afterwards. This seems like a marketing scheme that could very well be in use today.

I enjoyed the characters in Pattern Recognition and I hope this is just the first book of one of Gibson's trilogies.

Posted by ben at 10:55 PM
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A Love Supreme

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Ashley Kahn gives the reader enough background about John Coltrane leading up to A Love Supreme, to better understand his motivation, his personality, and his life, but mostly to understand his signature album. This book is about John Coltrane, but more so, it is about his album.

Ashley spends about 1/3 of the book on background, 1/3 on the album, and about 1/3 on the "aftermath" of the album. It's clear that Ashley spent a great deal of time researching Coltrane, interviewing friends and peers, and listening to his music.

Although the book only gave an overview of Coltrane's life leading up to the production of the album, the details really come out in the exploration of the album itself. Ashley delves into the music, the motivation, and the production of A Love Supreme with the intensity of a true fan. The book is filled with quotes and anecdotes of John's life, many interviews with his friends and peers. In the final section of the book, Mr. Kahn highlights what Coltrane did following the album's release. His tours, albums, and projects. Ashley attempts to cover the massive influence this album had on the people in Coltrane's life and on his fellow musicians, as well we on Jazz and other genres in general.

Ashley Kahn includes some great resources for further information: the massive bibliography from the book, Coltrane's discography, and an index including all artists mentioned in the book.

I'd suggest this book to even the mildest Coltrane or amateur Jazz fan. Even better, is the two-disk deluxe re-release of A Love Supreme, featuring a live recording of the entire suite in 1965 and some un-released breakdowns from the night the original recordings were made.

Posted by ben at 08:00 PM
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Designing with Web Standards

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My big complaint of Designing with Web Standards is that the author, Jeffery Zeldman, makes the assumption that the reader is not yet convinced that building websites with the combination of XHTML/CSS/usability (aka: Web Standards) is the right thing to do. The author spends 5 chapters discussing the pros and cons of developing websites this way. If the reader is already convinced of the arguments, doesn’t need ammunition to convince a partner or manager, or already knows the sordid histories of the various technologies, they should feel free to skip or skim the first 5 chapters... Besides this, my only other tiny complaint is about the references to other areas of the book appearing in parenthesis just following the applicable material. With such long chapter and section titles, some of these spanned several lines and made reading somewhat disjointed at times. I’m probably nitpicking now, but it was annoying enough that I still remember it now.

Throughout the book Zeldman lays out the gory details about what works and what doesn't. He outlines the facts on various hacks required to make a design compatible with several of the leading browsers (both PC and Mac). He makes no qualms about suggesting a hybrid approach to designing with standards -- no standards nazi here, just plain realistic advice about what you can and can not currently do with available browsers. Very nice to find up front and realistic books when dealing with “standards”, normally you tend to find purists who won’t even discuss an hybrid approach.

If you are looking for heavy technical reference material, look elsewhere. Overall, I found this book to be a good quick primer on the subject, but unlikely one that I would re-read or turn back to for reference. The author's corny commentary was just the right amount to keep the material readable -- of course I'm a sucker for corny material. I'd still recommend this book because the material is presented quickly and without bias, plus it is a very quick read. Jeffery also keeps his errata section up-to-date.

Posted by ben at 09:46 AM
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Da Vinci Code

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Just completed Da Vinci Code (quick read, especially as an eBook). Definitely not a book to read for its deep message or crafted writing, but still incredibly entertaining. Entertaining and page turning similar to the way "The Firm" was all those years ago. Written like any of the popular suspense/thrillers, from Clancy to Crichton. But well worth the few days it took to read.

The book has gotten a lot of people talking. Some Catholics feel the book portrays the church in a poor light. Having read the book with no catholic/christian affiliation at all, I don't really agree. (But this does bring one annoyance with the work to light.) I don't think most readers could look at the catholic characters in the book and believe they represented the actual church or church opinion. Without spoiling any plot lines, it's fair to say the reason why the church and its faithful are upset with the book is obvious and the reasoning behind the complaints I've been reading appears to be a pretty weak attempt at discrediting a great work of FICTION. Another group probably has more genuine reason to complain, Opus Dei is portrayed much more harshly then the catholic church. Again, as a fairly unbiased reader, I didn't really believe the things written about the Opus Dei faction in this book.

That said, the "annoying" (albeit, the reason many people are talking about this book) thing about this book is how hard it is for the reader to tell fact from fiction. As with many well written historical fictions, unless you are a historian, it is hard to tell when the author is using his artistic license or when he's laying down the facts. I even read a suggestion online that facts should be printed in a different color! (Wouldn't that be easy with digital paper?)

What's even more crazy (to me) is the lengths some people will go to counter 'the message' of this book. While searching for resources on Amazon.com, the website 'christianitytoday.com' even paid for the 'Da Vinci Code' keywords to bring up a link to their 'rebuttal' of the book. Curious, I searched on Google using similar keywords and got a similar result in the TextAds (with the same link)!

Want to know more? Well, there's an interview with the author, an upcoming movie, and a reader's guide. Some previous research on the theories brought to light in the book are available online too (with specific treatment of the book even). Also, apparently, the 'secret society' (Priory of Sion) that features in the book has existed, but with a sordid past and is most likely responsible for much 'false history'. For a less thrilling account of the various theories, it appears Holy Blood, Holy Grail is a must read.

Posted by ben at 07:30 PM
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John Adams

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"John Adams" provides a very personal view of the events that transpired in the years leading up to and then following July 4th, 1776. David McCullough used a unique (to me) style of linking direct quotes from various personal diaries, correspondence, and public writings to create a third person biography "written", almost entirely, by the man himself. I imagine the amount of research required to find and then organize a book like this was incredible. Beyond the cold facts of what was going on in the world during that time, using the immense volume of personal letters and diary entries, McCullough was able to bring the story of Adam's life a very personal touch. The acknowledgements section brings to light just how extensive the collection of writings from the entire family is -- thousands of letters and journals, 600+ microfiches packed with the inner thoughts of the 2nd president, his wife, and his family.

The book did a wonderful job of presenting Abigail Adams (his wife and life long friend) as an incredibly intelligent human, and who provided Adams with a huge amount of support throughout his life. They wrote over 1000 letters to each other over the course of their life and were still incredibly close when she passed away in 1818. I can not say enough how influential she was in making Adams the man he was.

Other interesting tidbits:

During the revolution in the late 1700's, Adams would spend most of his time in Europe both as an ambassador to France and Britain, but also in the Netherlands. In fact, without his work with the Dutch, the US may not have been recognized as a sovereign state -- which led to a much needed loan for the US to continue to fund its war efforts. While the US needed Washington (and our French allies) back in the states battling the British, without Adams in Europe, we would have certainly been in a much worse position when it came time to treat for peace, if that ever happened at all without his work. For much of his time in France, his son, John Quincy was with him learning and schooling throughout Europe. For certain, this type of exposure and training made John Quincy the man that he became -- the 6th President of the United States, an event that was one of Adam's proudest.

While Adams and Jefferson spent their years in office (following the revolution) in a continual battle over political differences (sometimes very bitterly), they remained life long friends. They exchanged numerous letters, in retirement, right until the end. They died on the same day, July 4th, 1826 (yes, on the US's 50th birthday, "the voice" (Adams) and "the pen" (Jefferson) of the Declaration of Independence died. Jefferson at 1pm, Adams at 6:20.) All right, I admit it, the thought of that gives me chills.

The book is filled with such a personal voice and obvious admiration for the man, I couldn't help myself but to be amazed at what Adams accomplished while remaining largely unchanged from his simple farmer background. When I get time I will probably read both Truman and Theodore Rex, by the same author.

Posted by ben at 11:59 PM
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Don't Make Me Think

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Thankfully web interface design has come a long way since 97/98 (the last time I was actively researching the subject for a large project). At that time Jakob Nielsen was *the* authority on the subject. Nielsen's rules for web design were simple and to the point, but many times the rules on interface seemed to ignore the obvious need for compelling and attractive design.

Don't Make Me Think presents the latest rules and conventions. Steve Krug, the author, purposefully wrote the book to present need to know information and nothing else. This makes the book quite an efficient read and a good primer on current techniques and best practices. It has quickly become required reading amongst the current crop web designers pushing XHTML/CSS and standards based design.

The book moves quickly and is probably worth a second read to digest all the information. The book begins by discussing the various interface design standards and conventions. Steve Krug spends a good portion of the book reviewing how typical design meetings go... almost word-for-word. It was amusing to think just how close his examples hit home. I kept thinking, "I've been in *this* meeting myself". He also spends some chapters on the topic of office/redesign politics and how they play into the aspects of a design. The final third is devoted to guerilla style usability testing. The author reviews some simple test examples and then offers some additional test design advice. He offers some simplified methods to create cost effective tests that any company can afford (or NOT afford, as the case may be) to run.

What this book is not:

• information architecture & design
• details on designing w/ web standards
• web disability certification
• graphic design / layout

I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone that needs a refresher in web usability design. It is a quick and dirty guide to guerilla interface testing. I'd also recommend this as a primer to anyone new to web usability design.

Other points of interest:

• Interview with Steve Krug and Lou Rosenfeld on Webreference.com
• Interview with Steve on WebWord
• Yet another interview at since1968.com
• (People really like talking to Steve) Interview at Usability Centre

Posted by ben at 01:00 PM
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Good to Great

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Although I finished this book sometime ago, I haven't had a chance to write up a 'review'. It's sort of a follow-on, or prequel (the author suggests the later), to Built to Last. I haven't yet read Built to Last, but I certainly will be after how much I enjoyed Good to Great. Good to Great was assigned as part of a course I took over the summer and was well worth it. Without a doubt this is the best 'business' book I've ever read, but includes much on leadership and ethics. The amount of research done to produce this book is staggering and forms a solid case for the findings. If you want more info, you can read and hear excerpts from the book on the Jim Collin's website.

Also, if you are interested, I've included my notes on the main chapters of the book. Feel free to use these notes for yourself, however if you want to reproduce or publish them I'd appreciate an email asking.

Also, these notes were taken for my own personal use, so please ignore typos and spelling errors. By no means should you assume I've nailed all the important points from this book -- in many cases too much context was required for important 'take aways', so those didn't end up here. Hope someone finds these useful:

Chapter 2

• Level 5 Leaders show _humility_ & _modesty_
  • ambition, first and foremost for the company and concern for its success, rather than one's own riches and renown
  • set your successors up for success

• Unwavering resolve for goal
  • fanatically driven, infected with an incurable need to produce results
  • 'plow horse' work ethics

• going for a high-profile, outside change agent is negatively correlated with sustained transformation from 'good to great'

• window & mirror patten: level 5's look out the window for who to credit with success (if they can't see anyone, they chock it up to 'luck'), and they look in the mirror for who to take responsibility (themselves) for failures or missteps

• professional will, personal humility

Chapter 3

• Pick the team first
  • Before vision, strategy, tactics, organizational (re)structure, and technology
  • Avoid the 'genius with a 1000 helpers' model

• Executive compensation proved to NOT be a factor
  • Pick a reasonable model and stick with it
  • Getting the right people 'on the bus' is more important -- the right people will be self-motivated
  • Good line level compensation could be of help: "Get 5 good employees, work them like they are 10, and pay them like they are 8. -Nucor"

• Place a greater weight on character attributes (like experience, work ethic, etc.) than on specific educational background, skills, or specialization

• Good to great: Not ruthless cultures, RIGOROUS cultures

• Rigor applies first to the top, focused on those who hold the largest burden of responsibility

• Do not compromise on hiring the right people. When in doubt, keep looking...

• Act on people changes immediately
  • Under performers frustrate and ultimately drive away performers
  • Move people around before terminating -- try to find a good fit somewhere else in the organization if you feel the person has the right character attributes

• Put the best people on the biggest opportunites, not on their biggest problems

• Thoroughly debate a question -- to the point of eyeball-to-eyeball, screaming and storming out. Once a decision is reached you MUST unify behind that decision.

Chapter 4

• Confront the brutal facts facing the organization -- Projects can fail because of ignoring reality.
  • All projects should perform some level of risk analysis early to expose the underlying facts - the good, the bad, and the ugly

• Charisma can be as much a liability as an asset, as the strength of the leader's personality can deter people from bringing the brutal facts.

1. Don't ignore the reality of politics
2. Can create unrealistic expectations
3. A dynamic leader can cause investment in a project that does not support the corporate existence.
• Create the climate for truth within the project team. Give positive feedback for truthful comments.

• Stockdale Paradigm -- Accept the reality of the project - be determined to prevail in the end.
  • Stockdale created mini-successes

• Good leaders need to create a culture whereby the voices of the team are heard. Projects are team based - and knowledge and expertise is distributed - you need to build a team culture that encourages sharing.
  • Lead with questions
  • Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion
  • Conduct autopsies, without blame (e.g. conduct lessons learned throughout a project)
  • Build red flag mechanisms that turns information into information that cannot be ignored.

• Leadership does not begin with just a vision. It begins with getting people to confront the brutal facts and to act on the implications.

• A project team needs to understand the justification for a project prior to engaging in completing it. Sometimes this may not support the corporate reason for existence.

Chapter 5

• Hedgehogs: strategy founded on the three circles - translated into simple, crystalline concepts to guide them

• The Three Circles

1. Knowing what you can be the best in the world at (and what you can't be the best at)
2. What drives your economic engine -- what "profit per x" (or "cash flow per x")has the greatest impact on your economies
3. Focus on what you are deeply passionate about -- find the activities that ignite your passion

• The Hedgehog Concept is finding the SIMPLE strategy at the intersection of these 3 circles

• Wells Fargo focused on the few things they could do better than anyone else... not being distracted by areas that would feed their ego but couldn't be the best at

• Hedgehog Concept: *Understanding* of what you *can* do best, not what you *want* to do best

• Just because something is your core business does not mean you can be the best at it

• Use the question of key economic denominator to gain understanding and insight into your economic model

• If you have the right hedgehog concept and make decisions relentlessly consistent with it, you will create such momentum that your problem will not be how to grow but how not to grow too fast.

• Four years (on average) for 'Good to Great' companies to clarify their hedgehog concept

• When you get your hedgehog right, it has the quiet ping of truth -- the quiet truth speaks for itself

Chapter 6

• Most companies build their bureaucratic rules to manage the small percentage of wrong people on the bus, which drives away the right people and increases the number of wrong people...

• Avoid bureaucracy and hierarchy and instead create a culture of discipline...

• A culute of discipline and ethic of entrepreneurship equals superior performance and sustained results.

• Abbott recognized that planning is priceless, but plans are useless...

1. Build a culture around the idea of freedom and reponsibility within a framework.
2. Fill that culture with a self disciplined people who are willing to go to extreme lengths to fullful their responsibility -- they will "rinse their cottage cheese".
3. Don't confuse a culture of discipline with a tyrannical disciplinarian.
4. Adhere with consistency to the hedgehog concept, exercising and almost religous focus on the intersection of the three circles.

• Create a "stop doing list" and systematically unplug anything extraneous.

• Management and people must believe in the system and do whatever necessary to make the system work.

• Many small disciplined steps create a consistent program of super-discipline

• Do whatever it takes to become best within carefully selected areans, then seek continual improvement from there...

• Disciplined action without disciplined understanding of the three circles cannot produce sustained great results.

• The more an organization has the discipline to stay within its three circles, the more it will have attractive opportunities for growth. A great company is much more likely to die of indigestion from too much opportunity. The challenge becomes not opportunity creation, but opportunity selection.

• Budgeting is about determining which activities best support the hedgehog concept and should be fully strengthened and which should be eliminated entirely.

Chapter 7

• Technology is an accelerator *after* a company clarifies its hedgehog concept

• Of all the 'Good to Great' companies, the pioneering application of technology usually came late in the transition, never at the start

• If the technology fits directly with your hedgehog concept, then you need to become a pioneer in the application of that technology
  • if it doesn't, but you still need the technology, then you only require parity

• Technology by itself is never a primary cause of either greatness or decline

• Technology can't turn a good company into a great one, nor by itself prevent disaster

• When linked to a simple, clear, and coherent concept rooted in deep understanding -- technology is an essential driver in accelerating forward momentum

• Harvey (Pitney Bowes): "I've always wanted to see Pitney Bowes as a great company. Let's start with that... We're not there today. We won't be there tomorrow. There's always so much more to create for greatness in an ever changing world."

• Sanders (Kimberly-Clark): "We're just never satisfied. We can be delighted, but never satisfied."

• Of the 84 'Good to Great' interviews, 80% did not mention technology as one of the top five factors in the transformation

Chapter 8

• No defining event started the transition... no launch, program, or project.

• Lasting transformations follow a general pattern of build-up followed by the breakthrough.

• When you let the flywheel do the talking, you don't need to fervently communicate you goals. The need for 'aligning employees', 'change management', and 'culture changes' fall away...

• The flywheel effect let's the results speak and the energizies people from the accumulated results...

• A consistent hedgehog drive the flywheel and gains momentum. A constantly shifting strategy stops forward momentum... continually shifting leaders, strategy, programs, etc. starts the doom loop.

• Two prevelent patterns to the 'doom loop': misguided use of acquisitions and selection of leaders who undo work of previous generations.

• Acquisitions should happen post hedgehog and used as a flywheel accelerator of mementum, not a creator of it.

• Page 183 has a great comparison table of the 'flywheel effect' versus the 'doom loop effect'.

Chapter 9

• Great companies don't exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders

• Great companies need core values, but they don't have to be anything specific

• Enduring great companies preserve their core values and purpose while their business strategies and operating practices endlessly adapt to a changing world. This is the magical combination of 'preserve the core and stimulate progress'.

• Connecting Good to Great with Built to Last:

1. Clock building, not time telling. Build an organization that can endure and adapt through mutiple generations of leaders and product life cycles -- not a single leader or idea.
2. Genius of AND. Don't choose A or B. Purpose and profit, continuity and change, freedom and responsibility.
3. Core Ideology. Instill core values (essential and enduring tenets) and core purpose (fundamental reason for being beyond just making money) as principles to guide decisions and inspire people.
4. Preserve core / Stimulate Progress. Core ideaology as an anchor point while stimulating change, improvement, innovation and renewal in everything else.

• Bad BHAGs (BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goal) set with bravado, good BHAGs set with understanding.

• To remain great over time requires:
  • a) Staying squarely inside the three circles (your hedgehog) and...
  • b) willing to change the specific manifestation of what's inside the three circles at any given moment.

Posted by ben at 10:00 PM
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Execution - Getting things done

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It's ironic the same course that required me to read Good to Great (G2G) also required this book. In one of the first chapters of G2G the research indicates what type of leader is required to take a company to "great" status. The author of G2G goes about describing the qualities of a "Level 5" leader. The qualities of a 'Level 5' are almost the exact opposite of those displayed by the 'star' of Execution (the book appears to be written by the co-author, who integrates stories from Larry Bossidy, the 'star'...).

Larry comes off as the type of leader that research shows can probably 'turn a company around' (as he did for AlliedSignal), but who will lead with a style that doesn't embed the traits of 'a great' into the company's culture. It's likely that companies with this type of a leader (a 'level 4') will do well while the CEO is in place, but slip back once he leaves. Larry admits as much in this book and returned to AlliedSignal to 'right the ship'. Unfortunately for AlliedSignal this is likely not a long term solution.

The book's "insight" is mostly derived from the stories of Larry injected into the text. These stories tend to follow the same formula: Spend a few sentences building up context, or just enough lack of context to make certain the storyteller comes out on top. Then, an employee makes a patently moronic statement or worse, does something obviously stupid. Larry (I assume in a suit of shining armor, backlit by the heavens) asks a piercing question that cuts to the heart of the issue, makes perfect sense (within the lack of context) and likely humiliates one or more of the staff within earshot. The stories became so predictable midway through the book, you can start skimming them.

The few nuggets that come out of this book are likely from Ram Charan, the 'co-author'. Certainly the book's title and overall theme is a reminder to all "manager types" that you cannot simply make a plan (or 'have a vision') and disconnect from the process.

• You need to build the process AND you need to build the process of "building processes" into your company's culture. Paying attention to the nuts and bolts of your organization is just as, if not more, important than strategy and "big thinking".
• There's an interesting bit about handling talent, maintaining a skills database of your employees, preparing succession plans if a manager moves up our out (at least 4 layers deep!) and using risk analysis techniques to determine which of your star employees might need special attention.
• Remember to balance the short run with the long run. Don't forget, you need to address what your organization does in-between now and when the long-term strategy takes affect.
• A large section is devoted to how to prepare and challenge a strategy plan on a yearly basis -- concentrating on operational issues is a big theme.
• For all the ego-centric stories in the book, there are sections devoted to hiring and how important that process is (from G2G: "Getting the right people on the bus"). We are reminded to never delegate that task, including calling on references ourselves and not leaving that to HR representatives.

I guess my overall impression was this book rated "average". Perhaps reading G2G at the same time was too stark a contrast or perhaps the personality that came across the pages was to grating on my own. I wouldn't recommend this book necessarily, but if you are looking for some ideas on leadership and operations, you might skim the pages and read the sections of interest.

Posted by ben at 08:30 AM
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Blood Passion

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Long time soccer mate and family friend, Scott Martelle, recently held a local reading for his new book, Blood Passion. Hol and I attended the reading here in OC instead of braving the traffic to attend the earlier party in LA. Scott read a short passage from the book, talked about his motivation and research techniques, and answered questions from the crowd. The book is already getting some solid reviews. Having heard Scott talk about this project for the past couple years, I know he's put a lot of time and energy in (plus his day time gig at the LA Times) -- I'm quite certain his efforts were worth the outcome. Many, many congratulations to Scott!

Posted by ben at 09:00 PM

Micro Credit

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Just finished this book, which starts off as a autobiography by Muhammad Yunnus, but becomes a biography of his life's pursuit: micro credit. Yunnus won the Nobel Peace prize for his work in 2006.

Like any entrepreneurial idea the execution required persistence, energy and passion. The concept is simple, provide simple and tiny loans (usually less than $100US) to the truly poor, based on the merit of their "business plan". Allow the poor access to capital for materials, tools, etc. Additionally, studies show that if you raise the income of women, their entire family tends to benefit (the whole family eats better, kids go to school, health care is provided), so focus on loaning to women. To do this, Yunnus started the Grameen Bank and associated foundations. They've done an impressive amount of good -- look at these stats from Wikipedia:

• Total number of borrowers is 6.67 million, and 97% of those are women
• The Bank has 2,247 branches (as of May, 2006) covering 72,096 villages, with a total staff of over 18,795.
• Loan recovery rate is 98.85%
• Since inception, total loans distributed amounts to Tk 290.03 billion (US$ 5.72 billion).

Many organizations have replicated the Grameen Bank program in countries throughout the third world.

At Slate's annual conference on Philanthropy, guest speaker Bill Clinton commented on the good that micro credit can do, even in the US. He suggested that while big donors (like those recognized by Slate) are important, everyday people can have more impact than ever. His complete remarks from 2006 are online at Slate.

Like the idea of micro credit and lending, as opposed to charity? Thanks to the brilliant folks at Kiva, anyone can now get involved. Hol and I gave this book and a kiva.org certificate as a white elephant gift at my company party this year.

Posted by ben at 10:00 AM