Some basics on frameworks, serious or not?

Can management concept be seriously treated?

Real world modelization is useful. It is good to reflect real thoughts by concepts and frameworks. But where is the limit between ready to use, "gadget" concepts and real thinking?
Just look at this site. Not so bad, but ....

Let's take, as a basic example, the famous overused BCG growth/share matrix.
We can go further on that on wikipedia, with a bit more in-depth approach.

Look at this one * (I really like this second degree representation). A good representation of the visualization tools. Try it.

Is that enough to understand, or do we need a full business school education on that?

Basic conclusion:

"The map is not the territory" ( Korzybski, "founder" of General Semantics)

Information (even with a good visualization technique) is not Knowledge!

All those models and frameworks become useful only if you have the opportunity to really use them in real situations, in real life!

* I have been warned of this by this nice forum on intelligence (in french, I am member since years...)

Artful processes (les processus "artistiques")

Long time ago, in the 80's, I was already, as quality director for Sales in IBM France, deeply involved in processes.

At that time, IBM Quality Director, Gilbert Stora*, previously Director of a Manufacturing plant lab, used to say: "Manufacturing processes are OK to control, Administrative processes too, but Commercial processes are too "artistic" to be managed and treated the same way..."

This publication of IBM is reflecting, 20 years after, the same thought, with some advances...
("artful" in english does not exactly mean artistic, but the idea is the same)

The idea to mechanize everything is often stupid.
Some core processes can be stabilized by organization and IT, some must remain enough organic, dynamically adaptable to changes.
Where to put the "cursor", for every process, between what has to be mechanized and what has to remain organic ?
What methodology to use to determine this balance point? How to create a correct bridge between the 2 parts?

Every issue of IBM Systems Journal is exciting, process specialist have to read these recent issues on Business Collaboration, this SOA one, this one one business innovation. Some articles are sometimes too "marketing", some too "technical", but every issue has got at least 1 or 2 stimulating contributions!

* G. STORA, J. MONTAIGNE - "La Qualité Totale dans l'entreprise" (Edit. Organisation 1986)

CIO and 2007

A lot of informations recently published on this theme.

What are the "new" issues and opportunities for CIO's ?

Let's take a quote from this one

Ovum analysts say in their Summit Seven predictions. "Virtualization, service-oriented architecture, management automation and integrated workflow tools will increasingly be coupled with externally provided software-as-a-service (SaaS), utility computing, business process outsourcing and other network-hosted applications and business services to create highly dynamic enterprise service delivery environments."

Not a bad list! but so many challenges inside! Just to take an example, SOA not so easy, and the article warns on that.

(for those who are not SOA experts, a good recent synthesis there)

See too the feelings of James Champy, ex reengineering guru: IT budget growth, but under control, lack of professional talents, offshoring still on, no technological revolution...

I like too the personal analysis of JP Corniou in his blog (e-voeux 2007), reemphasizing some challenges like level of CIO within organizations, need to prove continuously the value generated by IT, challenges of standards for IT, outsourcing and offshoring decisions, cultural and educational aspects, ...

Determine too what kind of CIO you are (business leader, innovation agent, operational expert, turnaround artist) in this nice report with quiz and ...look at global statistical results!

Lean IT vs Service innovation ?

Look at this nice contribution, insisting on the fact processes are first and IT projects are just after.

The last sentences about Toyota sounds nice !

but....

all that concerns organization improvement and optimization.

What about innovations coming from synergy between:

creative new ideas of new services + use of emerging technologies to protect these ideas ?