Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People

Chapter 11. Managing Your Team Resources

	Management is nothing more than motivating other people.
	--Lee Iacocca

If you don’t believe that good management contributes to the success of your company, consider the results of the study conducted in 2005 by McKinsey Company and the London School of Economics. The study surveyed 700 manufacturing companies in the US, the UK, France, and Germany and compared their responses to the financial performance of the companies, including market share, market growth, and shareholder value. They found that excellent managers produce excellent results, and mediocre managers lead to mediocre corporate performance. Those managers who follow best practices in defining standards, measuring results, and promoting the effectiveness and productivity of their teams, as well as corporate assets and capabilities achieve results that are measured in the bottom line.

The McKinsey study concludes that one of the best ways for managers to learn what works and what doesn’t is through the sharing and publication of industry best practices. That, of course, is the principle on which CIDM is built. Good managers look for and rapidly adopt innovative practices among their competition and the best in class. Among the best practices that McKinsey studied were methods used by managers to decrease the cost of operations by adopting lean methods, to set goals and reward employees ...