Quotes About Management

How well we manage the grave dilemmas confronting us now and in the future may depend on how well we grasp the buried truths of our past." (The Age of Acquiescence, pg 13)

incremental development can be disconcerting for teams and management who aren't used to it because it front-loads the stress in a project.

the best way to become successful is to master and control things you have control over.

We've demonstrated a strong track record of being very disciplined with the use of our cash. We don't let it burn a hole in our pocket, we don't allow it to motivate us to do stupid acquisitions. And so I think that we'd like to continue to keep our powder dry, because we do feel that there are one or more strategic opportunities in the future.

The system is that there is no system. That doesn't mean we don't have process. Apple is a very disciplined company, and we have great processes. But that's not what it's about. Process makes you more efficient.

The only way to reduce the variability in the estimate is to reduce the variability in the project.

Choose your battles. If rapid development is truly top priority, don't shackle your developers by insisting on too many priorities at once.

When executives ask for an "estimate," they're often asking for a commitment or for a plan to meet a target.

Managing complexity is the most important technical topic in software development. In my view, it's so important that Software's Primary Technical Imperative has to be managing complexity. Complexity is not a new feature of software development.

The "contempt of cops" by those in their chain of command creates Toxic Boss Blues.

the leader should reserve to himself the hiring, compensating, motivating, molding, assessing and firing of his chief lieutenants.

Peter Principle--a brilliant and talented man promoted just one notch over his head.

Crowd control.' 'Excuse me?' 'That's all civilization is, T'riss. A means by which we manage the proliferation of our kind. It increases in complexity the more of us there are. Laws keep us muzzled and punishment delivers the necessary message when those laws are broken. Civilizations in decline are notable when certain of their members escape justice, and do so with impunity.

I'm a control freak. If you're going to slap my name on something, I would like to control it.

I am diagnosed with what's called 'REM behavior disorder.' As far as the disorder goes, there's no cure, but it's going pretty well as far as these things go. I see a sleep doctor, take medication, etc.

Always keep your portfolio and your risk at your own individual comfortable sleeping point.

Borders had lousy management and made bad corporate decisions, so its fate is less like a terrible accident than a slow-motion slide into a ditch, but it's hard to be happy about a bookseller's demise.

In life, we do not give employees enough leeway. If you look around Semco's office, there are plenty of empty desks. The question is - where are these people? I do not have the slightest idea, but I am not interested.

I was never sloppy with other people's money. Only my own. Because I figure, well, you can be.

I made more decisions in a half-day as governor than you can make in a whole week in the Senate... it's too slow for me.

What would you rather do? Fix a small problem well or answer a small problem well or flail around at the big ones and pay a lot of lip service?

I didn't realize how hard it was to run a small business.

I myself am a parent in a small business. Number of employees: one.

The world of the small business owner is all about moving multiple items forward at once, and it's a fool's errand to believe one person can do it all when the shift comes from linear to parallel.