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Six Reasons Why Managers Make Poor Decisions

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This is a long one! You may wish to go get a cup of coffee before reading. Better yet, bring the whole coffee pot! Recently, a friend and I sat talking at a café. We talked about Science-Fiction, Fantasy, a bit of geology, and eventually, we began talking about management. Specifically, my friend asked me if I have any idea why managers so often make very bad decisions. After pushing my management rant button, my friend sat back, and watched me go off on a long lecture, waving my arms, talking a bit too loud, and much too intensely for a café environment. Luckily, we sat in a corner, so I do not believe I made too much damage to the reputation of the place. (There used to be a café in Gothenburg, Café Sirius , where passionate discussions about odd topics were part of the normal entertainment. I miss that place!) Enough rambling! This article is a somewhat consolidated, and tidied up version of my impromptu lecture. I gave six different reasons, from six different perspectives, why...
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Waterfall vs. Agile: Battle of the Dunces or A Race to the Bottom?

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The major software methodology wars since the mid 1950’s. Someone was wrong on the Internet, so here we go… In a recent HBR article, It’s Time to End the Battle Between Waterfall and Agile , the author sets up a false premise: There is a war between Waterfall methodology and Agile. The war must end. And finally, you can combine the approaches to get the best of both worlds. This sounds good, but the article is based on a misunderstanding of both Waterfall and Agile. Also, there is no war between Waterfall methodology and Agile. There can’t be, because Waterfall methodology does not exist! Waterfall is a name for large projects that failed in the 1960’s. Waterfall was never a methodology, but a failure to apply the methodologies that existed back then. As I will show towards the end of this article, at least one of the “successful” Waterfall projects mentioned in the HBR article was neither successful, nor a Waterfall project. Authors note (2025-08-04) : After having had a couple of y...
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Performance Evaluations, Business Strategy, and Agile Methodologies

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It is performance evaluation time in many companies. This can be stressful, both to the people being evaluated, and the people doing the evaluation. In companies adopting agile software development methods, the tension can be extraordinary. Individual performance evaluations run counter to agile philosophy, which emphasizes team performance over individual performance. However, managers and corporate leaders need to take a few steps back, and consider the impact performance evaluations have on the organization as a whole. Especially now, in the midst of a recession, it is important to look at a companies current policies to see if they can be improved, or if they are actually holding the company back. So, how can a manager evaluate policy? Performance evaluation policies can serve as an excellent example. I'll confine myself to discussing the so-called ‘rank and yank’ methods. These are performance reviews were employees are ranked using a forced ranking system. It usually looks so...
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