Quotes About Execution

I have been very fortunate since 'Ice Age' to make movies that somehow charm audiences. I think that the key to it for me has been coming up with the right ideas but, more importantly, choosing the right collaborators and artists to execute those ideas.

You've got to demonstrate you're capable of developing policies but, more importantly, you're capable of implementing them.

In the end, what counts is what you do.

In the past I've worked with directors who saw very much their scene in their head and knew exactly how they were going to cut it.

I think 'Inception' was a sick idea, but they didn't do it correctly.

What's the worst that can happen during planning? Maybe your whiteboard is accidentally erased. What's the worst that can happen during delivery? Your drill breaks through the ocean floor, flooding the tunnel.

Almost any nightmare you can imagine can happen—and has happened—during delivery. You want to limit your exposure to this. You do it by taking all the time necessary to create a detailed, tested plan. Planning is relatively cheap and safe; delivering is expensive and dangerous. Good planning boosts the odds of a quick, effective delivery, keeping the window on risk small and closing it as soon as possible.

Projects are not goals in themselves. Projects are how goals are achieved. People don't build skyscrapers

A good plan, as I said, is one that maximizes experience or experimentation; a great plan is one that does both. And the best plan? That's one that maximizes experience and experimentation—and is drafted and delivered by a project leader and team with phronesis.

The infirmity of human nature renders all plans precarious in the execution in proportion as they are extensive in design.

You don't have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it'll go.

The Scrum idea of a separated Scrum Master is good for Scrum, but not appropriate for most projects. Good development requires not just talkers but doers.

Note to self: finding a cool quote and writing it in your journal is not a substitute for Getting. It. Done.

I dream, I test my dreams against my beliefs, I dare to take risks, and I execute my vision to make those dreams come true: Dream, Believe, Dare, Do.

Real learning comes through doing.

But that's the thing about basketball: you don't play games on paper.

That's control of the flow. Flow plus meaning equals performance.

Professionalism is the grease that lubricates an organization's functional gears. Of course, professionalism alone is inadequate to ensure business success. It must be accompanied by the leadership's compelling vision for the business and the execution of a well thought-out strategic plan. Assuming these exist, the organization's people will make the difference in the end.

Ideas must be put to the test. That's why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas. There is often a huge difference between an idea and its realisation. I've had what I thought were great ideas that just didn't work.

What I have appreciated about the 'Call of Duty' games is the scale of production. It's not an indie game. It's not trying to be an indie game. But I've genuinely been pretty consistently blown away by, wow, what an effort has gone into this.

I think feature films sell on the idea, and I think TV works based almost entirely on execution. I don't think anybody is going, 'Wow, that show is executed poorly, but the idea is so cool I just have to keep watching.'

We've got guys who aren't wrapping guys up... No matter how hard you hit them, you've still got to wrap them up.

I think that's the genius part of what the Patriots do: They go above and beyond in identifying the issue and doing whatever they can to make sure it doesn't wreck the offensive plan.

People go into that arena, and they know the fix is in. They know what pro wrestling or sports entertainment is. That being said, they want it executed to the highest level so that they can suspend their disbelief and buy in, and so, in a world of make believe, you make people believe in you. It's as real as it can be.