1) The author's focus is on an executive champion being necessary, but an IC who knows all of the departments can also force success. The problem is that mgmt. is a club, and some managers will resent an IC exercising power.
2) What's not mentioned is that the career/political risk is very high for whoever the champion is. Often nobody will step forward in that situation since the participants are not all direct reports. This is where founders, who often know the most about a company, and can absorb the risk, are invaluable.
An anecdote about Cisco is included, but the Boeing 737 MAX failures are an even better example. Very few people know aerospace software, hardware, compliance and mfg. at the same time.
It's an organizational case of falling down and not being able to get up.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 15.2 ms ] threadSome comments:
1) The author's focus is on an executive champion being necessary, but an IC who knows all of the departments can also force success. The problem is that mgmt. is a club, and some managers will resent an IC exercising power.
2) What's not mentioned is that the career/political risk is very high for whoever the champion is. Often nobody will step forward in that situation since the participants are not all direct reports. This is where founders, who often know the most about a company, and can absorb the risk, are invaluable.
An anecdote about Cisco is included, but the Boeing 737 MAX failures are an even better example. Very few people know aerospace software, hardware, compliance and mfg. at the same time.
It's an organizational case of falling down and not being able to get up.