Competitive intelligence - A good book to start with...
I just finished a good book from
Larry Kahaner on CI, and wanted to share with you my feedback. This is actually not a very recent book, as it was published on 1997, but this book explains the increasingly vital practice of Competitive Intelligence. A kind of practical guide to turning raw info into priceless knowledge and winning business strategy.
The book starts with describing what CI exactly is, and introduces a revolutionary notion: The Intelligence Age. After you understand the basics, the rest of the book provide you very useful real world CI cases and methodogies used in this field.
In short, a book I recommend.
Enjoy your reading.
"Software Reuse" & "Reuse @ Disney"
From Wikipedia:
"Software reuse grew out of the standard subroutine libraries of the 1960's. It is the main principle of today's object-oriented programming. Instead of constantly reinventing software wheels, programming languages like C++, Java, Objective C, and others are building vast collections of reusable software objects and components."
This method can save both time and money, is broadly used in many industries, and is a major component of our daily decisions as managers responsible for software product delivery...
It seems that this methodology is also used @ Disney, have a look...
(I didn't manage to track down the author, but he did a nice job compiling this video.)
Dilbert's comment on "Best Practice" - What's your take?
Dilbert's comment is actually very smart! What's your take on this?
I personally think the term "Best Practice" is overused those days... Everyone tries to sell you what they call "best practice" methodologies...
My advice on how not to be mislead?
Be in control of your future by setting the present. You, as a manager, should be the one that defines what should be the best practice to be used in your area.
How?
I personally think this should be part of your organization competitive intelligence internal process, by mapping this effort with the "Intelligence Cycle", as the following:
1. As any process, the first step will be for you, the manager, to define your needs (as part as the CI "Planning and Direction" phase)
2. Collect information from other internal departments, your industry and/or any other industries that can potentially face similar challenges (as part as the CI "Collection" phase). The optimal way to do it may be to have a look at the best players in a targeted field. For instance: FedEx for Logistics, Google for employee retention, etc...
3. Analyze the information collected, to generate intelligence (as part as the CI "Analysis" phase) and make decisions to determine which of the methodologies highlighted by your analysis will provide your organization the greater payback taking into account the investment needed to implement it in your case.
4. Generate a Cookbook that lists the methodologies you "recommend" your organization to use in a specific area. (as part as the CI "Dissemination" phase)
Comments?
Labels: Best Practice, BI, CI, process
I just finished a good book from Larry Kahaner on CI, and wanted to share with you my feedback. This is actually not a very recent book, as it was published on 1997, but this book explains the increasingly vital practice of Competitive Intelligence. A kind of practical guide to turning raw info into priceless knowledge and winning business strategy.
