Friends and colleagues, I hope 2008 was a productive year for you. No
doubt some of us are already feeling the need to take another break.
With the pressure of the economic downturn, many companies are looking for leaders who can see the big picture and motivate the mass with clear visions. I want to share a story with you. Ten months ago in a large defense company, the vice president of engineering declared that the focus for the year was going to be on defect prevention. Everyone was to do their part to ensure that quality is priority number one when products are delivered to the customers.
The strategies to enable the vision included:
1. Adhering to rigorous formal inspection process for all product development
2. Following an extensive automated test regimen
3. Implementing additional gate reviews to ensure product quality
Project managers soon found themselves guiding/mentoring teams on following processes, ramping up quickly on expensive software tools, and spending more time conducting "mission assurance" activities.
All would have been well except that in the same timeframe, the vice president of the product line also announced the vision for the year: "First to market; driven business with agility." And to meet the challenging business climate, everyone needed to be focused on generating value.
The strategies to enable the vision included:
1. Adopting the use of lean Six Sigma to increase efficiency for all product development,
2. Relying on the use of rapid prototyping--which requires early customer/stakeholder feedback--to ensure customer satisfaction
3. Less gating reviews.
The end result was disastrous. Project teams created sophisticated enterprise applications that are still waiting to be used. Employee morale suffered because there was a constant tug-of-war between the mandates to implement more processes versus generating revenue faster.
Sensing the frustration of their team members, project managers united to present their case to senior management on why a new direction is needed. Heeding the wise counsel of the project managers, the vice presidents made changes.
This year, the vice president of engineering shared her vision of business success through innovation where everyone plays an important role in contributing to the bottom line of the company. Ironically, the vice president of product line decided to share his vision as well. Due to poor ratings from customers in the previous year the vision is defect prevention.
With the pressure of the economic downturn, many companies are looking for leaders who can see the big picture and motivate the mass with clear visions. I want to share a story with you. Ten months ago in a large defense company, the vice president of engineering declared that the focus for the year was going to be on defect prevention. Everyone was to do their part to ensure that quality is priority number one when products are delivered to the customers.
The strategies to enable the vision included:
1. Adhering to rigorous formal inspection process for all product development
2. Following an extensive automated test regimen
3. Implementing additional gate reviews to ensure product quality
Project managers soon found themselves guiding/mentoring teams on following processes, ramping up quickly on expensive software tools, and spending more time conducting "mission assurance" activities.
All would have been well except that in the same timeframe, the vice president of the product line also announced the vision for the year: "First to market; driven business with agility." And to meet the challenging business climate, everyone needed to be focused on generating value.
The strategies to enable the vision included:
1. Adopting the use of lean Six Sigma to increase efficiency for all product development,
2. Relying on the use of rapid prototyping--which requires early customer/stakeholder feedback--to ensure customer satisfaction
3. Less gating reviews.
The end result was disastrous. Project teams created sophisticated enterprise applications that are still waiting to be used. Employee morale suffered because there was a constant tug-of-war between the mandates to implement more processes versus generating revenue faster.
Sensing the frustration of their team members, project managers united to present their case to senior management on why a new direction is needed. Heeding the wise counsel of the project managers, the vice presidents made changes.
This year, the vice president of engineering shared her vision of business success through innovation where everyone plays an important role in contributing to the bottom line of the company. Ironically, the vice president of product line decided to share his vision as well. Due to poor ratings from customers in the previous year the vision is defect prevention.
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