Crossvale? Integrate, Automate, Deliver

The adage "we don’t have time to do it right, but we have time to do it again" is something few of us feel we can still afford. With limited skills, time and funds to properly solve business problems with technology, the urge to cut corners is overwhelming.

With so many business problems to solve, it is desirable to put in just enough effort to get it moving forward, even if only for a short while. Cutting corners is a natural reaction when we’re trying to intelligently solve more with less. And the assumption that others are succeeding at it propels us forward on a rocket of denial. Unfortunately, a weak implementation incurs other penalties across the organization, only compounding the problem load.

Over the last 15 years, I have been blessed with worldwide exposure to hundreds of customer projects across many industries. Being involved at the dawn of several significant shifts in enterprise technology, I have seen that new technologies and products emerge, but the core challenges they are meant to address are almost always the same.

Best practices are so rarely a one-size-fits-all, especially when taken literally. Indeed it is the right moderation and blend of those practices that sees us through to success. Thousands of students and clients have often asked me to write books, but being so tied up producing official materials as works for hire, I never had the luxury to do so directly.

With my new-found freedom, my intention is to share the wisdom I’ve collected from many wonderful people, so you also have the opportunity to stand on their shoulders and solve your problems more quickly and effectively, and so you can move on to the next set of challenges which no doubt awaits you in the next strategy meeting. In future posts, I will challenge that permeating denial, illustrating which corner cutting will lead to failure.

I hope you will find my upcoming posts worthwhile.

Sincerely,
Jason

P.S. As an aside, the title of this blog is a tribute to “The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know: Studies in Organizational Theory and Behavior”, by Ritti. I am glad one of my earliest students recommended it to me, and while a college course is taught with it (and it is priced accordingly), it is a great read in a great format.