The Zen of Enterprise Management
- Empathy precedes effectiveness.
- Effectiveness precedes efficiency.
- Vision precedes mission.
- Quality precedes beauty.
- Reputation precedes success... or failure.
- Motivation precedes performance.
- Empowerment precedes autonomy.
- Practice precedes mastery.
- Measurement precedes progress.
- Automation precedes liberation.
- Clarity is better than simplicity.
- Style is better than fashion.
- Agility is better than power.
- Composability is better than reusability.
- Ownership is better than stewardship.
- Excellence is better than perfection.
- Special purpose tools are better than general purpose tools.
- Real-time processing is better than batch processing.
- Modular is better than monolithic.
- Integrated is better than fragmented.
- Autonomous is better than dependent.
- Secure is better than comfortable.
- Systematic is better than opportunistic.
- Visible is better than sophisticated.
- Proactive is better than reactive.
- Scalable is better than optimal.
- Extensible is better than compact.
- Convenient is better than easy.
- Continuous is better than periodic.
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- Counterintuitive is better than obvious.
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- Long-term vision should be balanced with short-term imperatives.
- Growth should be balanced with development.
- Global standardization should be balanced with local customization.
- Breadth should be balanced with depth.
- Exploitation should be balanced with exploration.
- Contribution should be balanced with satisfaction.
- At design time:
- - Purpose precedes Function.
- - Function precedes Process.
- - Process precedes Structure.
- - Structure precedes Culture.
- At run time:
- - Purpose becomes Identity.
- - Function becomes Behavior.
- - Process becomes Operations.
- - Structure becomes Network.
- - Culture becomes Climate.
- Executive engagement precedes management engagement.
- Management engagement precedes employee engagement.
- Employee engagement precedes customer engagement.
- Value design is harder than problem formulation.
- Problem formulation is harder than problem solving.
- Problem solving is harder than doing.
- Decentralize after you differentiate.
- Integrate after you decentralize.
- Test after you integrate.
- Organize after you complicate.
- Simplify after you organize.
- Protect after you simplify.
- Open after you protect.
- Mediate after you intermediate.
- Innovate after you renovate.
- Invent after you innovate.
- Clone after you succeed.
- Collaborate and cooperate.
- Flatten the Enterprise into a two-level structure.
- Implement the top level as a network of units.
- Implement each unit as a network of agents.
