I want to write about lots of things but …
I want to write about John Seddon’s fantastic work on apply Lean and Quality thinking to service organizations. Take a look at all of his articles and you’ll see why. John’s approach made a huge difference at a very large former employer and I’ve been influenced deeply by the stuff he taught them. For instance, John talks about two types of demand: value demand and failure demand. Value demand is the demand we want from our customers (e.g. can I buy a new product please?). Failure demand is demand we don’t want from our customers and is caused by mistakes we make (e.g. You’ve charged me the wrong amount again this month, can you fix it please). Value demand make money and is good. Failure demand causes rework and is bad. How much failure demand, BTW, is there in your software development system?
I want to write more about Fernando Flores work on Conversations for Action and Hal Macomber's brilliantly simple email course called Let’s play catch (it’s free too). This stuff is good and I’ve just started working for a fantastic consulting company that lives and breaths Flores stuff. But the trouble is … it’s hard stuff to learn, it’s hard stuff to teach, and I’m not allowed to talk about much of the training I’m getting in my new job since they (I mean “we”) consider it the major source of our competitive advantage. That said, I’ve been trying to read Flore’s and Winograd’s “Understanding Computers and Cognition” but OMG it’s hard reading. Hal’s course is much easier and much quicker. I’m going to write about this stuff but I need to get my head around it first. It’s too important for the world to not know about it. Stay tuned.
I want to write about Marcus Buckingham’s extraordinary new book The one thing you need to know about Great Managing, Great Leading and Sustained Individual Success. This book has changed my life. I read it in 2 days about 6 weeks ago and it’s absolutely changed how I manage and think about managing. It’s made a difference. It’s all about getting people to work to their strengths and avoiding their weaknesses. I can’t do it justice here. Go buy the book then buy it’s predecessor Now, Discover your Strengths, read the first few chapters, then do the online test (you need to buy the book to get a special code).
I’d like to remind you to go buy Audible.com’s 45 minute presentation from Dr Robert Cialdini. I’ve listened to this a dozen times now and I learn more each time. I’ve also lent the CD to over a dozen different people and it’s been a hit. And it costs less than $3.
I’d like to setup amazon associates to these links, but who can be arsed? It’s only money – and right now I prefer having the time.
I’d like to tell you a bit more about Ship it! A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects by Jared Richardson and Will Gwaltney. But I haven’t finished it yet. I “met” Jared via the new AgileBookClub yahoo group where he (cunningly) mentioned that the book is on sale this week (how’s that for a generous plug from me?). I took a squiz at the Introduction and free excerpts and bought a hard and soft copy straight away. Based on my reading of the PDF so far … it’s going to be a classic.
I’d like to tell you about a whole lotta other things but I’ve just run out of steam. Thanks for listening and, just in case you’re wondering, I never recommend anything that I don’t totally and utterly believe in.
