I received and read this book (closer to a booklet than a book) Friday. The author does a fairly good job of translating some basic TQM principles as they relate to IT. The book is an easy read but could have used more real world scenarios to emphasize certain points. As far as the philosophy of the author goes, I feel that Greg has highlighted some of the failures that many IT people make in their assumptions as to their role in an organization. (I won't get into great detail as I'll leave other people who may be interested in forming their own opinions.) I've called it the Mainframe Mentality in the past. Build it and they will come has no place in IT anymore. His assumptions as to role in IT I've feel he got it partially correct, but missed some things as well. Automation of manual process is important, but the I in IT does stand for something that the author failed to talk about at all. There is another area that I feel that was missed entirely. The importance of have a strong, flexible and reliable infrastructure. Most of the focus at the end of the book was (to me) from the point of view of an application developer and most of the points are valid. However, developers must have an strong infrastructure to develop on. This is one of the most difficult concepts for IT to sell to the money managers.
Overall I'd rate the booklet "Fair". For those not familiar with TQM or ITIL it is a basic introduction to some of those concepts. For those who what to delve deeper into those concepts, I'd suggest reading "The Deming Management Method" and "The 5 Pillars of TQM". The ITIL website also has information on IT Service Management. http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp?id=2261 <http://www.ogc.gov.uk/index.asp?id=2261> This e-mail contains the thoughts and opinions of the sender and does not represent BB&T in any way. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Web Interface: http://intm-dl.sparklist.com/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=exchange&text_mode=&lang=english To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
