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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

 

I'm Not a Technology Person II

Further to my I'm not a technology person article I found this:

WHAT IF PEOPLE BOUGHT CARS LIKE THEY BUY COMPUTERS?

General Motors doesn't have a "help line" for people who don't know how to drive, because people don't buy cars like they buy computers -- but imagine if they did . . .

...

HELPLINE: "General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?"

CUSTOMER: "Hi! I just bought my first car, and I chose your car because it has automatic transmission, cruise control, power steering, power brakes, and power door locks."

HELPLINE: "Thanks for buying our car. How can I help you?"

CUSTOMER: "How do I work it?"

HELPLINE: "Do you know how to drive?"

CUSTOMER: "Do I know how to what?"

HELPLINE: "Do you know how to drive?"

CUSTOMER: "I'm not a technical person! I just want to go places in my car!"

- www.sweenytod.com/funny/joke15.html

Of course, all this tells us is that people don't actually value IT support; not that it isn't valuable.

I agree that technology must become more usable. But in order for that to happen we must value the processes and skills that are required to produce more usable technology.

Thursday, April 22, 2004

 

New Draft Article

A new draft article is available called 'PMs will thank me: Anti-Anti-Management I'. It starts to describe how MWT is not anti-management. It also shows that current thinging on organisations actually is.

It is available at on-line here.

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

 

Nature Law and Management

One of the differences between the ManageWithoutThem management model and the type of management we are used to is that MWT is based around 'rule by law' and that nasty management you are used to is based on 'rule by man'.

The difference is actually greater than this. When Austrian economists such as Hayek speak of 'rule by law' they often qualify it with standards around what makes a good law. Without such standards 'rule by law' is essentially the same as 'rule by man' – only the laws have been codified.

Organisations almost understand the need to transition to 'rule by law'. This is evident in the emphasis in processes. However, organisations are yet to understand the next step.

The standards which make a good law (or at least one perspective on this) come from a body of theory around 'natural law'. Check out James's Liberty File Collection and particularly his introduction to nature law.