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rgarver's review against another edition
4.0
Great read and a great description of good management. If you do any kind of management in your job you should read this.
charliemartin's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a little bit confused.
The book carries on only one subject, but it gets to it from different perspectives and I found quite difficult to follow the overall logic.
There are many relevant paragraphs as well as many "rants" that, as a more-than-20-years manager I don't fully agree with.
In any case it makes you think.
The book carries on only one subject, but it gets to it from different perspectives and I found quite difficult to follow the overall logic.
There are many relevant paragraphs as well as many "rants" that, as a more-than-20-years manager I don't fully agree with.
In any case it makes you think.
valedeoro's review
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.0
Quick read, great reminder not to overschedule and overcommet, nor yourself nor your team.
jcronk's review
4.0
This is an excellent book on the importance of downtime and leaving room in your schedule. It exposes the fallacy in the idea that you have to pack your schedule in order for you to get things done - on the contrary, you can do more with less on your schedule because the downtime allows you to respond to new circumstances faster. Worth reading and rereading.
xaviershay's review against another edition
5.0
I'm stereotyping, but I feel like America needs to read this book. This book would be a hard one to read without generating any new thought about your team or organisation.
"The principal resource needed for invention is slack. When companies can’t invent, it’s usually because their people are too damn busy."
"Even companies that didn’t fire their change centers have hurt themselves by encouraging their middle managers to stay extremely busy. In order to enable change, companies have to learn that keeping managers busy is a blunder. If you have busy managers working under you, they are an indictment of your vision and your capacity to transform that vision into reality."
"A side effect of this optimally efficient scheme is that the net time for work to pass through the organization must necessarily increase. Think of it from the work’s point of view: The time it takes to move entirely through the network is increased by each pause it has to make in someone’s in-basket. If workers were available when the work arrived at their desks, there would be no wait and the total transit time would be reduced. But availability implies at least some inefficiency, and that’s what our efficiency program has drummed out of the organization."
"The principal resource needed for invention is slack. When companies can’t invent, it’s usually because their people are too damn busy."
"Even companies that didn’t fire their change centers have hurt themselves by encouraging their middle managers to stay extremely busy. In order to enable change, companies have to learn that keeping managers busy is a blunder. If you have busy managers working under you, they are an indictment of your vision and your capacity to transform that vision into reality."
"A side effect of this optimally efficient scheme is that the net time for work to pass through the organization must necessarily increase. Think of it from the work’s point of view: The time it takes to move entirely through the network is increased by each pause it has to make in someone’s in-basket. If workers were available when the work arrived at their desks, there would be no wait and the total transit time would be reduced. But availability implies at least some inefficiency, and that’s what our efficiency program has drummed out of the organization."
fivetilnoon's review against another edition
4.0
One of the better business books I've read recently. A little dated but not terrible. The fundamentals still apply. Short easy-to-digest chapters with well thought out arguments presented in a realistic way.
Highlights for me:
* Slack and efficiency are opposed. Think of the tile game with no extra spaces. It's efficient but can't change. No slack means no room to change.
* If everyone is 100% busy there is no availability to take on new things that come up. Being available has value too, not just being busy
* Team members need control (decision making) over their own environment (Buddha style). You can use trust from your reserve (Hercules style) to force control but this uses trust from the reservoir
* People under time pressure do not think faster
* Pressure has a limited capacity to benefit and a high capacity to do actual harm
* The term "aggressive schedule" is code for a schedule that is absurd and has no chance of being met
* A missed schedule indicts the planners, not the workers
* Overtime encourages time wasting. No one has to cut unnecessary meetings or be disciplined about interrupts because everyone just works more hours to make up for it
* Overworked managers are doing things that they shouldn't be doing. See Chap 12.
* Defining characteristic of modern litigation: everyone loses
* When rewarding failure with punishment: Ensures people will only take on sure things. Creates a cycle of blame when things go wrong
* Paradox of automation: it makes work harder, not easier. The easy work is automated, leaving only the hard work.
* Process ownership should be in the hands of those doing the work
* The most effective way to gain trust and loyalty with direct reports is to give the same in equal measure
* Being a "Can Do" manager runs counter to risk management. Need a healthy mix of both.
* Instead of proceeding at breakneck speed, proceed at all prudent speed. Less risk overall.
Highlights for me:
* Slack and efficiency are opposed. Think of the tile game with no extra spaces. It's efficient but can't change. No slack means no room to change.
* If everyone is 100% busy there is no availability to take on new things that come up. Being available has value too, not just being busy
* Team members need control (decision making) over their own environment (Buddha style). You can use trust from your reserve (Hercules style) to force control but this uses trust from the reservoir
* People under time pressure do not think faster
* Pressure has a limited capacity to benefit and a high capacity to do actual harm
* The term "aggressive schedule" is code for a schedule that is absurd and has no chance of being met
* A missed schedule indicts the planners, not the workers
* Overtime encourages time wasting. No one has to cut unnecessary meetings or be disciplined about interrupts because everyone just works more hours to make up for it
* Overworked managers are doing things that they shouldn't be doing. See Chap 12.
* Defining characteristic of modern litigation: everyone loses
* When rewarding failure with punishment: Ensures people will only take on sure things. Creates a cycle of blame when things go wrong
* Paradox of automation: it makes work harder, not easier. The easy work is automated, leaving only the hard work.
* Process ownership should be in the hands of those doing the work
* The most effective way to gain trust and loyalty with direct reports is to give the same in equal measure
* Being a "Can Do" manager runs counter to risk management. Need a healthy mix of both.
* Instead of proceeding at breakneck speed, proceed at all prudent speed. Less risk overall.
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