Harvard Business Review has published its “The HBR List – Breakthrough Ideas for 2007.” It is a cross section of some of the very best thinking at Harvard (is there such a thing for Oxford or Cambridge?) My two favourites are Clay Shirky’s In Defense of “Ready, Fire, Aim†and David Weinburger’s The Folly of Accountablism.
Clay discusses the open source phenomenon, arguing that:
If the vast majority of open source projects are failures [in the sense they never get off the ground or attract few interested parties,] has the press been wrong to emphasize the movement’s few successes? The answer is—obviously and measurably—yes. So can businesses that face seemingly formidable competition from existing or future open systems breathe easy? Absolutely not. Open systems are a profound threat not only because they outsucceed commercial firms but also because they outfail them. They grow not in spite of failure but because of it.
How about that as an alternative to the perceived business wisdom that only commercial packaged software can be any good?
David’s turning the problem of accountability inside out to review its effects is equally riveting. However, on closer examination, I believe his view is rooted in the rules based systems that dominate accountability in the US. He says:
Accountabalism bureaucratizes and atomizes responsibility. While claiming to increase individual responsibility, it drives out human judgment. When a sign-off is required for every step in the work flow, those closest to a process lack the leeway to optimize or rectify it.
In US auditing, the rules are used as a bargaining chip to determine how the accounts will be compiled. US management is at times adept at stepping around rules so as to paint a rosier picture than really exists. I contend this squeezes out the opportunity to undertake real risk assessment. It is for that reason (but not that alone) I believe that Ernst and Young along with KPMG were so heavily criticised in recent PCAOB reports. But if all the air’s being sucked out, there’s precious little room for doing what really needs to be done.
ENDNOTE: Thomas Otter pinged the article which he had already saved in his del.icio.us to me – thanks. We are now connected inside del.ico.us so we get to have a peek at each other’s stories and can then save those for ourselves. My saved del.icio.us stories can be seen in my sidebar under Interesting in the Bookmarks section. Feel free to explore, use and share again.
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