From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Lizard
Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 12:00 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [Open_Gaming] Ryan Congrats!
<< Hrm. No offense to Mr. Dancey, but my years of experience in corporate
America lead me to suspect the phrases 'exciting new opportunities' and 'we
wish him the best of luck' are forthcoming. >>
Well, my years of experience in corporate America have taught me that a
turnaround artist is an extremely valuable resource. I have worked at and
with companies that had them, and watched them pull rabbits out of more
empty hats than the company knew it had. I have worked at and with companies
that desperately needed them, and watched said companies slowly sink beneath
the waves of troubles that might otherwise have been survivable, if only
somebody had that rare vision to see the path to turnaround. Not being one
myself, I can't begin to tell you how these folks do their magic; but I
respect them. And I say that about VERY few managers.
I think it's safe to say that Ryan has performed a turnaround for tabletop
RPGs. Therefore, I respect Ryan on the basis of this accomplishment. I don't
know him personally, and have never seen any details of his work. Maybe I
wouldn't respect how he actually got the job done. (Hypnotic drugs in the
cappuccino machine, maybe...) But based on the evidence I have, I have to
respect him. And I have to believe from what little I've read that he is
indeed a turnaround artist.
But turnaround artists in a large company have to be carefully managed. Once
a division is successfully turned around to the point where you can take the
training wheels off, it is often the smartest thing to do to remove the
turnaround artist for several reasons:
1. In a large company, there's often more than one division in need of
turnaround. Why waste the artist on a revived division and let the troubled
division languish?
2. Turnaround artists are weird people (even weirder than programmers, which
is darn rare): they really only thrive in the middle of trouble. They do
their best work when the whole enterprise is in danger of collapse.
Paraphrasing Steve Maguire: when the headquarters burns down and everyone is
standing around staring at the flames, they're the ones that break out the
hotdogs and the roasting sticks and start the camp songs going. If you want
to get the most from them, put them in the hot spot!
3. Often, the division can only REALLY turn around when the artist is
removed. To this point, everyone has relied on the artist -- consciously or
not -- more than they might have needed. At some point, he actually begins
to stifle the division's progress. Until you take off the training wheels,
you never REALLY know that you can ride the bike. When he leaves, the team
learns to make it on their own. When he leaves -- if he has really
succeeded -- a talented manager rises up to take on his role, someone who
was probably always capable of great leadership but not of seeing the path
through the bad times.
4. A corollary to point 3: until he leaves, you don't KNOW if the turnaround
will take. Sometimes the division CAN'T stand on its own without him. That
may lead you to a very hard business decision. In business, it is often
sadly true that you cannot afford an indispensable person. In a healthy
organization, we're ALL dispensable. We have to be, because indispensable
people leave all the time. The business has to let the division test its
wings. If it falters, they know the turnaround wasn't as successful as they
hoped, and more drastic measures may be needed.
So though I understand why you might be suspicious, I choose to take the
situation at face value: Ryan has succeeded in his task, and it's time to
move on to new challenges. I could very well be wrong; but I see no reason
to believe it yet.
<< I hope I'm wrong. I would hate
to see WOTC pull back from the OGL/D20 STL/etc. >>
Now THAT is a whole different matter. So far, we have no real gauge of the
commitment of Wizards to Open Gaming beyond Ryan's commitment. So far, we
have seen far more commitment from other companies. And new management
inevitably wants to make some course changes. Meanwhile, the old management
inevitably finds that new responsibilities detract more from old commitments
than expected, and the old commitments are hard to maintain. It's a little
bit like the Two Biggest Lies in Any Takeover ("Nothings going to change
here, and nobody's going to lose their jobs"), but not as extreme.
I choose to see this announcement as good for Wizards/Hasbro and good for
Ryan. But it will be harder for Ryan to carry the standard for Open Gaming
now.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
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