Category Archives: Uncategorized

#87 Curation is a differentiator

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Information overload is a real problem that is getting worse every day. The solution is to curate. This is true for journalism, social media, as well as in the modern, fast moving workplace.

Before you present information, if you select only the relevant details, do not ignore or suppress the vital outliers, organize for easy consumption, and tailor it to the audience, you will provide a service that raises productivity and lowers communication gaps.

There is a law of physics that states that “mass cannot be created or destroyed.” (See here for a complicated description) Therefore, by analogy, the total information in this world cannot be created or destroyed. (There are some flaws in this logic and more explanation is needed, but for now, let us take this on face value) Thus, it follows that people are presenting information that they “collected,” not information that they “created.”

Transforming the information into a presentation is like taking ingredients (vegetables, condiments, spices etc.) and making a fine meal. The cooking process transforms ingredients to stoke the palate. Just as your presentation will stoke interest, energy, passion, and finally, action!

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#68 Allegiance to “process” versus “customer”

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In this very revealing interview, Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview, Steve Jobs made two points that caught my attention:

  • Process for process sake can be stifling. It can cripple the organization that is seeking to improve customer satisfaction with the promise of business process engineering. It is like killing a patient with medicine that is supposed to cure.
  • Re-usable software objects was a competitive advantage for Apple. You can see it in all their software. By extension, re-usable business capabilities is a mission critical capability for all organizations.

Process engineers, those who swear by Six Sigma techniques, can tend to be rigid and inflexible. I’ve met a few brilliant minds, whose ability to analyze a problem was truly astounding. But I was equally appalled at their complete inability to make anything happen. They would not foster change, not take any interpersonal risks, in short, delight in pointing out problems and then bemoan that no action is being taken. In short, their allegiance is to the technique, not to the business.

The talents of process engineers can be used to build business processes as re-usable building blocks, which are then assembled and re-configured as customer needs evolve. The configuration, assembly, and dis-assembly needs to be done by a person with business acumen. The latter will determine priority, cost benefit, and business value of business process engineering. They are truly business leaders and business architects rolled into one. There are many who do this instinctively and very well. It seems harder to teach this skill, perhaps an explanation why leaders who are business architects are so hard to find.

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