Monthly Archives: March 2010

Communicate for resiliency

Posted on March 13, 2010 by Ian Brockbank

Another interesting snippet from Managing the Unexpected: communication helps resiliency. Resiliency is the ability to respond to an unexpected occurrence, deal with it and return to a state close to where you were before.  Remember the example of Fedex, who … Continue reading →

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Experts

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Ian Brockbank

Why are external consultants considered more expert than local staff? Last week I was advised to hire an external usability expert for a couple of months.  Now, bruised ego aside, there are several reasons why this is a waste of … Continue reading →

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Managing the Unexpected

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Ian Brockbank

I’m just reading “Managing the Unexpected” by Weick and Sutcliffe. It talks about how high-reliability operations (HROs) such as Accident and Emergency centres, Aircraft Carriers, Nuclear Power Stations ensure they have fewer than their share of “brutal audits” (aka disasters) … Continue reading →

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Taming the wild animal of software development

Posted on March 1, 2010 by Ian Brockbank

Badgers are friendly animals if you treat them nice.  But back them in a corner and they can become vicious. So it is with software development.  When all’s rosy, anything will work.  But when the pressure’s on, what you do … Continue reading →

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