http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summaryThu, 21 Sep 2006 17:14:28 +0000http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/gootwBlog.htmlJohn LevyBlogger115http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/117201608737839351Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:45:00 +00002007-02-20T16:03:15.058-08:00Who is helping you to become a better manager? If you're lucky enough to be employed at a larger company with a long-term view, like IBM and HP, you may actually be getting training and coaching that helps you grow in your job as a manager. But most of the rest of us -- particularly technical people who have come up through the ranks -- are learning on the job, mostly by making mistakes. In http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2007/02/technologist-or-manager.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/116163240606636643Mon, 23 Oct 2006 19:16:00 +00002006-10-23T12:40:06.126-07:00My colleague Joel Harrison is good at encapsulating learnings from his experience. A few weeks ago, while I was visiting him at his startup company, Abrevity, he said, "You can't justify a new product based on a cost analysis of the first-generation product. You have to have a vision." Joel and I had experienced the frustration of trying to create new products at a company that was in a http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/10/loss-leader.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/115801281305927306Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:02:00 +00002006-09-11T15:24:22.826-07:00Startup organizations are typically unsustainable and barely stable, because: 1. The pressures to develop and market a first product require taking some expedient shortcuts, such as hiring the most capable, but not necessarily the most team-oriented individuals; placing all priority on getting a workable product out the door, rather than building the product for maintainability and growth; http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/09/shifting-focus-to-longer-term.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/115680061831383065Mon, 28 Aug 2006 19:56:00 +00002006-08-28T15:35:14.680-07:00The spectacle of Dell laptops on fire due to Sony battery problems has prodded me to think about product failures. There is nothing so attention-getting as a fire in a conference room. Few people who see this sort of failure will forget what they have seen. Software failures may not be so spectacular, but they can be just as memorable to the people who witness them. Examples from large-scale http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/08/is-your-software-on-fire.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/115169219870083062Fri, 30 Jun 2006 18:25:00 +00002006-06-30T11:29:58.726-07:00After shipping a first product, successful companies face a number of challenging problems in product development, including lack of development process stability as development work scales up. Here are some responses that have worked well in the computer, software, storage and consumer electronics industries. Why process selection matters now As Product Development scales up to involve http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/06/development-process-stability.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/115083708619466988Tue, 20 Jun 2006 20:50:00 +00002006-06-20T14:00:25.536-07:00A colleague asked, "Do you believe Product Marketing could be the bridge between the Engineering and R or you get promises that can’t be kept, because Engineering isn’t really running the development process.http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/06/what-is-product-marketings-role-in.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/114807997930579054Fri, 19 May 2006 22:43:00 +00002006-05-24T17:11:27.543-07:00When a startup company reaches a certain size, a number of changes have to occur to allow it to survive. Here are some of them: 1. The founders have to choose new roles for themselves. Having been key idea-people or leaders of a particular part of the business process, they may have trouble envisioning themselves in a role that meshes with a larger company. This is OK -- particularly if theyhttp://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/05/b-c-d-game-changes-at-fourth-round-of.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/114720146736659342Tue, 09 May 2006 18:43:00 +00002006-05-09T12:06:39.456-07:00Engineering and the product development organization are critical to a company's survival. In successful companies, they deal daily with a vast array of problems, from technology shifts to people loss. One of the key talents of successful technical managers is to deal with changing priorities and resource availability. They manage these dynamically whether by PERT charts or just http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/05/why-is-engineering-last-to-call-for.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/113864661540040379Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:29:00 +00002006-01-30T10:43:37.396-08:00I had breakfast recently with an old colleague who is a top-notch ASIC designer. Among the many stories he told me, the lessons of this one stand out: One year when he had been a key player in designing a new interface that doubled the speed of the devices we made, he was nominated for "Inventor of the Year." But he didn't find out about this nomination from his boss. Instead, he was invited http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/01/death-by-mismanagement.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/113708662407940038Thu, 12 Jan 2006 17:09:00 +00002006-01-12T09:25:08.823-08:00A client put his finger on the problem: The CEO doesn't trust the people working for him. This CEO is an excellent salesman, financier and manager of his Board of Directors. But when it comes to everyone else, he gets his way or ... he gets his way. The client put it this way: Since he doesn't trust people to do things the right way, he judges their performance on one criterion only: Are http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/01/trust-and-initiative.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/113641966673082738Wed, 04 Jan 2006 23:56:00 +00002006-01-12T09:09:11.333-08:00What makes management difficult for people who are technical experts? In a way, it's like the reputation that medical doctors have when they are managing their investments -- they are so accustomed to being the ones who "know" they have trouble taking advice from financial advisors. As a result, docs are reputed to be have the worst record as self-managed investors. I can sympathize. As a http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2006/01/managing-and-listening.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/111689165460798073Mon, 23 May 2005 23:33:00 +00002005-05-23T16:40:54.610-07:00Do you respect your competition? Not that it matters to them, but if you are worried about competition, you may want to change your attitude to one of "respectfully curious." Why? Because competitors can be your best friends -- if you are in the product development chain. Competitors are looking at the same market data, trade magazines, professional society publications, and employment data http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2005/05/how-do-you-see-competition.htmlJohn Levyhttp://www.blogger.com/feeds/12795384/posts/summary/111574682482508009Tue, 10 May 2005 17:31:00 +00002005-05-10T10:40:24.830-07:00What happens when Marketing takes over the Engineering function? One of my current clients has a very strong VP/founder who knows a lot about engineering things. As a startup, the company successfully introduced novel products because everyone worked on everything -- the usual startup mode for a technology company. As products are turned (they are on their 8th product now), Engineering needs http://johnlevyconsulting.com/ftp/gootw/2005/05/marketing-takes-over-engineering.htmlJohn Levy