Curious Random Thoughts

https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Poppendieck-Lean-Software-Development-An-Agile-Toolkit/PGM73091.html Lean Software Development by Mary and Tom Poppendieck is a great refresher for those of you who have adopted and are practicing agile development. However the book goes further in enlightening the reader on how to eliminate waste from any development activities. Mary and Tom start by describing the origins of lean thinking at a small company named Toyota back in 1940s. Taiichi Ohno who was the father of the Toyota production system is credited as the driving force behind the lean movement. The book describes in great detail the seven wastes of software development including partially done work, extra processes, extra features, task switching, waiting, motion (time it takes to get the right information) and defects. Mary and Tom advise the reader to start with mapping the value stream of your project to identify the wastes in your software development life cycle. ...

http://www.momentsofimpactbook.com/ Moments of Impact provides a comprehensive guide on designing strategic conversations starting with a well organized meeting. Chris and Lisa stress on various aspects of organizing such a gathering starting from defining the purpose to engaging multiple perspectives to framing the issues. Chris and Lisa urge the reader to lay particular attention to setting the scene with a healthy level of OCD. To conduct a very successful meeting that can really change the direction of a company, its important to take time to organize the meeting space effectively. People attending need to be easily heard and ideas need to flow easily. Its even important to pay particular attention to when and what type of food is served during those strategic conversations. Chris and Lisa also describe how and why to confront the yabbuts (naysayers). It is extremely important to make the conversation an entire experience that will change the direction and be remembered for ever...

https://exponentialorgs.com/ Its been a while since I have come across a business management book that is refreshing and thought provoking in its ideas and content. Salim Ismail and his team delve into the various disruptive technologies threatening numerous industries which have or which will in turn create havoc to many a companies and individuals. They provide some solid examples of how in various industries as diverse as Drones, Biotech, Solar, 3D printing and Industrial robots costs have plummeted dramatically in a matter of a few years. While there is the description of the customary example of Apple vs Nokia like in many business management literature, Salim Ismail provides numerous other case studies including the lesser known battle of the GPS space between Waze (eventually acquired by Google) and Navteq (eventually acquired by Nokia). Salim goes in great detail on how many big companies do the cardinal mistake of thinking linearly (yeah, 3 to 5 year strategies are frowned u...