Valleywag had a post today about the show 30 Rock and the insider jokes about NBC its parent company's obsession with Six Sigma. I've been around project management for a long time, but Six Sigma is the only philosophy I've seen that would make Tom Cruise jealous (see The Creepy Corporate Cult Behind Last Night's [...]
Unions
Oct 21, 2005 By Leave a Comment
This week, unions were in the news. The issue of unions is complex. On one hand, unions have helped employee rights over time and prevented some companies from overstepping their boundaries as reasonable employers. On the other hand, unions have also done a lot to damage American business by demanding more than companies should be [...]
What Can We Learn from FEMA?
Sep 29, 2005 By Leave a Comment
Microsoft's Recruiting Issues
Jul 6, 2005 By Leave a Comment
Last week, I wrote about recruiting talent in spite of yourself. Yesterday ZDNet had a great article on how Microsoft's internal culture assumes if you are talented, then you must want to work for them. Among the charges leveled at Gates, Ballmer and crew: Job candidates have been turned off by Microsoft arrogance, and the [...]
Smart Groups May Be Impossible
Aug 23, 2004 By Leave a Comment
I was interested by this article, which describes a new book by New Yorker columnist James Surowiecki. The book, The Wisdom of Crowds, is about how under the right circumstances, groups provide superior results to individuals. I have not read the book, but I've just added it to my list because I think this book [...]
Blame the Competition
Aug 11, 2004 By Leave a Comment
Is it true that Wal-Mart and Target are beating specialty retailers at their own game? Toys R Us may sell its core retail business and they are blaming Wal-Mart and Target for it. Naturally, the reporter of this story follows that line of thought. "They're proving that discounters won that battle" for toy customers, said [...]
The Culture of Apple
Apr 25, 2004 By Leave a Comment
Steve Jobs is changing Apple's culture yet again. Many years ago, when he was heading Next, I thought he was too arrogant for his own good. However, a couple of recent examples demonstrate that he knows how to manage corporate culture. One good example is that when Disney started messing around with the creativity of [...]
Unrest by Parkway Drive