Book by Quote: Olietankers en Speedboten

In Dutch, yet another ‘Book By Quote’ then. A full of … ‘marvelous content’ one again. An attempt to subjectively summarise a book by the quotes I found worthwhile to mark, to remember. Be aware that the quotes as such, aren’t a real unbiased ‘objective’ summary; most often I heartily advise to read the book … Continue reading “Book by Quote: Olietankers en Speedboten”

Wired / Tired / Expired, December 2014 edition

[What a Domènech i Muntaner masterpiece! Slept there, (private!) dined there. Both highly recommendable… Check out Mas Passamaner] Yes here’s the December edition of my Wired / Tired / Expired jargon watch overviews, a mixed bag again. And, it will be the last in this form. Will switch to quarterly updates on what’s hot, and … Continue reading “Wired / Tired / Expired, December 2014 edition”

Spam (out) of control

How is it that for decades, we had been used to managerial spans of control being in the 5-to-10, optimal (sic) 8 range, whereas what we had in the past couple of decades is spans of control in the 2-3 range mostly ..? [Duh, exceptions and successful organisations aside…] Because I came across some post … Continue reading “Spam (out) of control”

Unfreeze, the quest for ~ in business

How do Those In Business that deal with the all-sorts of überbureaucratisation, think the Second Law, of thermodynamics of course, wouldn’t apply to their work as well? Let’s kick off with: [Appropriately named the Airplane building. Zuid-As] Happened to attend a conference last week. And was able to read back a great many days of … Continue reading “Unfreeze, the quest for ~ in business”

IoT starts at the right end

of the products scale. As in #5 of this post. #1 would be no surprise, by the way. And, I’d also not be surprised when you(r company) haven’t considered similar changes. Isn’t IoT something that would not touch your business for decades to come, until you’re blown off the market in lees than five years; … Continue reading “IoT starts at the right end”

Short note: Büro muss sein

Yet again, there was clarification re the demise of organizational culture … into totalitarian bureaucracy, greenwashed in ‘modernity, coolness and hipness’ with some doublespeak / newspeak and beards.(in Dutch >:-|): Nederland overwoekert door procesmanagement en eindeloos vergaderen. Ook in provinciehuizen. Wie doet er wat aan? pic.twitter.com/MkCByuqmXo— Jaap Stalenburg (@JaapStalenburg) September 20, 2014 Which would be … Continue reading “Short note: Büro muss sein”

Detachment

First, this: [Fantasy, sorcery, in the end Harry wins. Porto] Just to start your day with a bit of freshness. Then this: Hardly any surprise that Big Corp advertises like a headless monster Where the ‘joke’ is that this is from a company (note: it’s just an example, others are similar (..?)) where staff is … Continue reading “Detachment”

Stop bLeading, start PLeading

There seems to be a wave of ‘management’/ ‘executive’ (quoting for the laughability of those words, as in this) advice on how to Lead. Mostly, on how to push underlings into following better i.e., more, towards your goals. Which is wrong in many ways: Your goals are ulterior, or very inferior. If you lead in … Continue reading “Stop bLeading, start PLeading”

Buck shot or machine gun; assurance

With news about the slow but steady adoption of SBR everywhere (but mostly on related sites…), it suddenly struck me that with this Standard Business Reporting we see a move from single firings of buck shot to the machine gun age in assurance. First, this: [Yup, actual business lurking in the background. Date this pic] … Continue reading “Buck shot or machine gun; assurance”

Finally, real responsibility

..it’s getting real. A CEO has to take personal responsibility for an incidental security miss. So, after all the talk about ‘top management being accountable, and you can’t just delegate that’, we see that the buck indeed stops where it should. Or, well, it stops there, too; probably, down the line some others may receive … Continue reading “Finally, real responsibility”

Maverisk / Étoiles du Nord