Quality and Innovation

This is the next installment of my collaboration with John Hunter and friends on the Year-End Management Improvement Carnival, where we review the best management improvement blogs and share which posts we found to be the most insightful or helpful.

PART 2 of 4 – Europe’s ”#1 Blog for Software Development Managers” has posted an excellent review of the most popular 2008 articles from their site, based on the site traffic throughout 2008. Here are my personal favorites.

A Theory of Everything for Software Development (8/7/2008) – Physicists pursue the grand unified theory to explain space, time and everything in between… while noop.nl attempts to reconcile the myriad of approaches to software development by reminding us of context-dependent approaches. Here’s a sample: “Unix and Windows are both proper solutions, though each in its own limited cultural context. And they cannot both be the best solution at the same time and place. (And might I suggest that, in the case of operating systems, a Theory of Everything has already been found with the invention of virtual machines? Just a wild thought.)”

Simple vs. Complicated vs. Complex vs. Chaotic (8/20/2008) – You can have predictable, complex, and chaotic systems that are simple – or, you can have predictable, complex and chaotic systems that are complicated. This is the best description (and collection of online references) I’ve seen to explaining the differences between these concepts. “My computer is complicated. My software project is complex. My house is complicated. My household is complex. My blog is complicated. My thoughts are complex. Your dinner is complicated. Your dog is complex.”

Thank You, Stupid Americans (4/23/2008) – This is an interesting blend of software development insights and politics! Although I don’t personally equate simplicity with stupidity, and I realize there are plenty of smart Americans too, I found this to be a lighthearted and stimulating read.

How to Handle Many Simultaneous Projects (9/30/2008) is also an excellent commentary. I don’t know any manager who doesn’t have this issue – whether they are a quality manager, a technology manager, a construction manager, or a manager of software development.

Go to Part 3 of 4 –>