PM Quote of the Day — Anatole France

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

Why SAP ramp-ups are hard to get into

Another note from the Dave Rosenberg post on cloud services (Dave’s post here)  inked to in my last post on software engineering (my post here).  I was often asked why SAP made it so hard to enter ramp-ups for new or upgraded solutions.  The answer is pretty simple and Dave put the reason succinctly in his post: [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Beatrix Potter

Thank goodness I was never sent to school; it would have rubbed off some of the originality.

Was software engineering ever alive?

The second phase of reanimating my blog is to re-start reading other bloggers. I gravitated back to Glen Alleman and Herding Cats, where his post Software Engineering is Dead? caught my eye.  Two comments: Google and Wikipedia are the “shining” examples used by detractors of planning and controls.  Funny that they never reference Technorati — [...]

PM Quote of the Day — William Blake

I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

How Managers Exert Influence

I run hot and cold on Henry Mintzberg, but I was taken with his thoughts in a Monday interview (published in the most recent “MIT Sloan” special section of the WSJ, here).  Mintzberg’s observations on influencing action — and the limits of that influence — are particularly acute. He outlines three “planes” of influence: through [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Diogenes

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.  

Balancing today’s and tomorrow’s business

Scott Anthony had a post on Bloomberg that summarizes what must have been a bang-up discussion on growth and innovation (post here).   He captures the balance we must strike between “winning the game” and “changing the game” well in his opening graf: Take a deep breath, and repeat after me: “My [business model, product, business [...]

PM Quote of the Day — Horace Greeley

Common sense is very uncommon.

Is forensic science isn’t a science, can PM be a profession?

I enjoyed this Popular Mechanics piece on the problematic foundations that underpin forensic science — CSI Myths: The Shaky Science Behind Forensics.   Per the piece’s header: Forensic science was not developed by scientists. It was mostly created by cops, who were guided by little more than common sense. In fact, I was reminded of the [...]