Hollywood Secrets of Project Management Success

The Unconscious Organization

From years spent moving into and out of corporate IT shops, on both long- and short-term engagements, I would probably have to characterize most shops as largely unconscious. I mean "unconscious" the way a paramecium or an earthworm is unconscious. The paramecium and the worm are no doubt alive, but they’re not very self-aware. They’re built to respond appropriately to things like environmental changes and hunger and reproduction, but they don’t do much strategic planning about any of that. They act on one biological imperative when they need to and then move on to another.

Lots of IT shops operate the same way. They move mainly through reaction. They focus on the day-to-day job of development—creating, enhancing, maintaining, ...