Wow, Leo Apotheker’s gone already?

Unbelievable that Leo Apotheker has already fallen on his sword.  There has been tons of chatter about Leo and his demise (Dennis Howlett here, Larry Dignan here, Michael Krigsman here, and the #leogone Twitter feed is here).  Here are a few of my thoughts and questions:

• Everyone at must be relieved that Hasso is back in charge, morale at SAP has been a mess for a while.  The honesty from Hasso in his press conference was refreshing…the lack thereof is one of the reasons I’m not there.
• Blaming Business By Design on Leo seems ridiculous…I’ve seen that mentioned a couple of places (here’s Bloomberg).  Didn’t Peter Zencke fall on his sword for this already?  Anyway, absurd.
• How can anyone have any confidence that giving the development side more power will be fruitful? (see “Blaming Business By Design on Leo seems ridiculous” above)  I agree this represents a shift back to product development.  But what then? 
• What does the field have left?  Leo supposedly represented the field, but IMO the field has been carrying SAP for a long time.   Will Werner Brandt’s beatings continue until the field’s morale improves?
• Who else is leaving?  I’m not sure that current leadership gets what Peter Goldmacher states bluntly: “I think SAP is structurally impaired.”  The rot runs much deeper than Leo.

Shiny, happy objects all around

My brother introduced me to the concept of the “shiny object” — the distracting, alluring thing on which the unwary fixate.  Seth Godin uses the concept to get us focused on our goals and milestones.

This post shows [again] why Seth is one of the wise marketing minds.  To the unwary, marketing is a kind of magic that can put a shine on anything or even polish a you know what. 

Many, of course, only sell that shine.  Seth reminds us to begin with the end in mind if we want it to be more than a veneer.

Week 4 Performance Report — Operation Dunk 2010

Making good and steady progress.  I’ve made higher and higher scores on some of the multi-player games, but unfortunately I can’t seem to save and track my ongoing progress on those.  Of course, my son regularly humiliates me on the snowball fights so maybe I should be grateful for no tracking!

• Weight — Down 4.5 lbs from week 2 (249 from 253.5)
• Wii Age — I’m still at 55, though the missing week’s age turned out to be 45.

The balance tests are still a bit of a problem.  I’m standing straighter — my center of balance is just about in the middle now — but I still have some issues w/ shifting my weight.  Also, I find that my right leg is feeling the workouts more.  There clearly was something I missed in rehabbing from my long-ago broken pelvis.

Using questions “within” your personality

What in the wide world of sports is goin' on here?

The second topic in my Q&A with Gary Cohen, author of JUST ASK LEADERSHIP: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions, focused on personal transformation.  His answer was not quite what I expected, for he rejected my assumption that transformation would needed as  “a matter of course.”

• Crossderry:  Of course, so many of us will be moving through different firms and roles that change will be a constant in our careers.  Any suggestions for making personal transformation a “core competence” that we leverage as a matter of course?
• Gary Cohen: Well-designed questions will enable you to learn as much as you can about each firm, role, and set of coworkers, as quickly as possible. Questions signal a desire to learn from and work with others, not compete and contest. If you’re an exceptional question-asker, wholesale personal transformation may not be necessary to successfully navigate each and every career change.

“Just Ask” Leadership

Just Ask Leadership Fail

I finally have a few minutes — semi-snowbound here in Evansville — to catch up on old posting themes.  Earlier this year I had a chance to do a Q&A with Gary Cohen, author of JUST ASK LEADERSHIP: Why Great Managers Always Ask the Right Questions.  Gary is a serial and successful entrepreneur — ACI Telecentrics was his major liquidity event I believe — and he’s currently partner and cofounder of CO2Partners, LLC, operating as an executive coach and consultant.  

The book is based on a fundamental insight: As leaders advance, they tend to ask fewer questions and provide more answers. Which is exactly backwards according to Cohen: “Leadership is about allowing others the chance to flourish and you do that by asking questions.”

Luckily, I had the chance to ask Gary a few questions myself.  I’ve been struck by the fact that many Crossderry readers are relatively new managers in technology-driven industries. They’re coming from roles where they were rewarded for knowing answers, not asking questions.   So I asked Gary: “What do new leaders need to unlearn before they try to use question-based leadership?”

Toddlers and young children are bursting with questions: Where does the water from the faucet come from? Where does it go? Why? Questions are the entry point of most significant learning–because they generally indicate an investment in the answer. But parents and teachers can’t or don’t entertain every question from every child and every student.

Sound and fury, signifying nothing

Pay no attention to the project behind the curtain...

Communications practices are a gold mine for the troubled project prospector.

Another sign that a project is headed for trouble is another communication quirk: discussions aren’t reflected in any documented issue, action, risk, deliverable, etc.  The most familiar example is a colleague who can always “fill in the details” on a topic during the discussion, but never seems to have the details at hand.

You might as well tell me: “Dig here… plenty of goodies buried in this team, project, etc!”

Best and Worst Project Names

The name of an initiative is an oft-overlooked aspect of communications.  You’ll get a decent name if you work with an experienced OCM crew.  However, the most effective names I’ve seen weren’t focus-group tested so to speak.  Here they are:

• Everest: Used for a SAP project that was challenging with a tight time line; however, the customer expected good returns from the initiative.  This name conveyed these attributes well: Everest is dangerous, has a short climbing window, and signifies the ultimate achievement.
• OASIS: This was an acronym used to describe a SAP upgrade for a customer that had had a troubled initial implementation.  The name conveyed danger and privation.  More importantly, it reflected the key goal of the project: to provide a stable and modern ERP platform (the customer had waited years to upgrade).

Finally, I have a soft spot in my heart for Project BOHICA, a name we used on a project simulation team.  I’ve always wanted to use that one “for real”.

Any other best or worst names?

Week 3 Performance Report — Operation Dunk 2010

Now that I finally have published that promised post on performance reporting, I owe an update on Operation Dunk 2010.

• Weight — Down 3.5 lbs from week 2 (253.5 from 261)
• Wii Age — Forgot to measure this week… will assume I’m still at 55.

I’m using the games to get some basic endurance and balance improvements underway.  I notice the difference already in the pace that I can keep up in my 1/4 – 1/3 walk to my office from the parking lot. 

Finally, I’ve started the WiiFit strength training.  This has put some pressure on my balance issues, as the calisthenics in the program need me to balance on one leg often!

Portents of Impending Doom

...and another thing: I told everyone that we needed daily meetings!

How do you know if a project or program is going off the rails?  IMO, the first signs show up where you might expect, in communications.  Remember that the core of project communications consists of presenting the progress, status, and forecast for the various elements the project is supposed to deliver.

Perhaps that is the first sign: project communications don’t substantively cover at least one of those three elements.  For example, I get worried when issue reviews only contain the issues’ current condition (status) with giving a sense of what was done (progress) or what remains to be done (forecast). 

Neglecting or ignoring an issue’s “bigger” picture — e.g., a timeline of what was done and what comes next — has been a warning sign that there isn’t much of a plan behind those issues.  Without putting the issues into context, the review can devolve into an “Airing of Grievances” that has nothing to do with moving the project forward.

Week 2 Performance Report — Operation Dunk 2010

I was about to post on how unreliable performance reporting — progress, status, and forecast — is one of the first signs of project trouble.  However, I realized that I hadn’t posted on my own “Operation Dunk 2010” performance, so here goes:

I’ve made some progress on my weight (the weight reduction KPI is related to the improvement of my jumping capability):

• Weight — Down 3.5 lbs from week 1 (257.5 from 261)

Also, I forgot to mention that I’ve started work on my balance and coordination capability with my Wii Fit.  There is a basic balance test that combines with my BMI to give me a Wii Age.  That’s probably as good a proxy for balance and coordination improvements as any, so it will be KPI #2.

• Wii Age — Down six years from week 1 (55 from 61).