Slack
By Tom DeMarco
You can view this book's Amazon detail page here.
Tags:
- Started reading:
- 13th February 2009
- Finished reading:
- 20th February 2009
Review
Rating: 8
A classic text on the management of knowledge workers.
This is an in depth assessment of how the lack of slack in modern “efficient” organisations is crippling their ability to adapt to increasingly dynamic situations.
Areas encountered include pressure and overtime as well as the negative effects of over concentration on quality and efficiency initiatives. DeMarco goes to some length to discuss the organisational elements that are required in order to successfully under-go any type of change. The book closes with some discussion on risk management and the effect that an acknowledgement of risk should have on our approach to scheduling and setting of expectations.
As a highlight I would like to offer this quote “Employees can smell an absence of vision the way a dog can smell fear.”
I’ll be following this with a more in-depth review at a later date.
