There are too many people in love with their favored methodology, be it one of the operational near-religions like Six Sigma and Lean, or a favored technical method like Agile. Like overzealous high school sweethearts, it is time to see other people.

Most methodologies are nothing more than toolkits, with a chosen process or physical tool like a spreadsheet or presentation that form a somewhat coherent mass. Most methodologies in the marketplace have well-considered and effective components, but many practitioners of these methodologies begin to see every problem through the lens of their particular toolkit. As the old saying goes, for the person that has only a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail. In extreme cases, where an organization invests heavily in a marquee methodology, executives sometimes feel they are cheating the company for using a grab bag of tools rather than the "ordained" few sold with the toolkit.

The key problem with many methodologies is that they see every business problem through a certain lens, be it a focus on processes, management, people or some other dimension. This becomes like trying to figure out the nuances of world history by only reading texts from a single author. The best "methodology" is the one you assemble yourself, freely borrowing bits and pieces that allow you to see a problem from multiple facets, and deploy the tool that lets you get the job done quickly and effectively, even if you have to "cheat" on a that sweetheart methodology.

One of my biggest lessons after living in Paris for most of 2010 was the danger of becoming content. When surrounded by the unfamiliar, it becomes all too easy to go to that restaurant you already know, or take the well-traveled route to the same old market, deriving comfort from the path of least resistance. While there is something to be said for consistency, too much of it results in that familiar, middle of the road emotion of contentment.

While there is nothing wrong with being content, it straddles the fence between unabated excitement and abject fear, the stuff that life is truly made of. While for many in this situation the glass is half-full, occasionally a shot of raw emotion will make its contents much more interesting.

One of the early pioneers of the supposed "green movement" was the hotel industry. For nearly as long as I have been travelling, just about every hotel from the low-end "traveler's rest" to the high end boutique has strategically placed signs in the toilet and bathroom admonishing guests to reuse their towels, usually with an authoritative spiel about how many millions of gallons of water are wasted each year on cleaning hotel towels. One can easily picture a stern and condescending "holier than thou" matron lecturing a dimwitted and guilty child for not diligently reusing their towel for months on end.

Well before green was "cool", most hotels adopted this program, and while presumably some of their intentions were noble, the cynical among us might attribute a more monetary motive below the thin green veneer. For many, one of the luxuries of staying in hotels is an implicit permission to cast towels aside wherever one wishes, only to find newly cleaned and neatly folded replacements a few hours later. Obviously there must be a high cost to retrieving, transporting, cleaning and folding towels, and encouraging guests not to avail themselves of the towel service can only help the bottom line. Personally, I will take advantage of all the services that I spend my "green" on. 

I occasionally receive inquiries from reporters looking for IT management sources, generally CIOs and high-level management. This is a great opportunity to get your name in print, and having contact with a few reporters never hurts. If you would like me to keep your name on file for these inquiries send an email to info@prevoyancegroup.com with "REPORTERS" in the subject and mention your area of expertise or background (something like "CIO at a large auto company currently focused on cloud computing" will suffice).

I usually get 0-3 of these a month, so you certainly will not be flooded with emails, and I'll ask your permission before sending your details along to the relevant reporter.

In case you missed them, my regular column on CBS' Tech Republic contained the following articles in the month of August:

When users won't accept change, maybe your approach is wrong

 

 

 

 

Our infant son is a constant source of conversation in Italy, where babies seem to be considered public property. At restaurants men and women will come up to the baby, pinch his cheeks, coo over him, and then pepper mom and dad with questions in Italian.
After observing my wife, who has picked up far more Italian in our short time here, field these questions, and noting that the first usually seems to be "How old is he?", my standard response to any baby-related question in Italian has become "Otto Mesi." While my wife had stepped away during a recent meal at a restaurant, the usual scene ensued, and as my wife returned, I was repeatedly parroting "Otto Mesi" to an Italian woman who looked increasingly confused and then finally walked away. I assumed she had lost interest until my wife whispered into my ear "I think she was asking you where the toilets were...".