This website has a strong technical community that I am sometimes an active part of.
I am an application development manager (we write computer software) by trade.
I focus my efforts in the following manner:
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Understand what is important vs. what isn't important
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Work on what is important first
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Identify success criteria for all work (and infer the failure criteria)
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Identify every way that the the important work is inefficient or liable to fail
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Change the rules around the important work to establish efficient processes such that failure is not possible
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Keep building up the base of efficient processes until failure can only come from uncontrollable sources
I believe in "AgileSoftwareDevelopment" methodologies. I think that they are generally a formalization of knowing everything that is smart about developing software, and being smart enough with your implementation of the development process to only do the things that your particular team needs to do in order to be successful for both the short and long term.
Kevin Kotowski Chicago, IL