I remember thinking at my first job that 10 people is all it takes to do great product.  I was told you do not know enough yet, to grow big we need to scale teams and get more people so that we can deliver more value to customer.

Fast forward 12 years, I am reiterating 10 People is all it takes. I am firm believer in power of a small agile team for product development.

Big Teams, Big Initiatives, Big Failures…

Interesting read:

Quiet but unsubtle innovation insurgencies are emerging in global enterprise. Instead of investing more in innovation process or cultural transformation, I’m observing more large organizations giving greater resources and responsibilities to ever-smaller teams. Innovation initiatives that were once handled by dozens a decade ago are now run by only handfuls. The median size of the core innovation group has dropped from a football/soccer eleven to a basketball five. Less apparently enables more.

Smart Innovators Value Smaller Teams Over Better Processes
Michael Schrage
Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:36:55 GMT

Interesting….

Five Common Strategy Mistakes

Mistake #1. Confusing marketing with strategy.

Mistake #2. Confusing competitive advantage with "what you’re good at."

Mistake #3: Pursuing size above all else, because if you’re the biggest, you’ll be more profitable.

Mistake #4. Thinking that "growth" or "reaching $1 billion in revenue" is a strategy.

Mistake #5. Focusing on high-growth markets, because that’s where the money is.

 Five Common Strategy Mistakes
Joan Magretta
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:15:41 GMT

SMART – We have heard this many times in management presentations and/or have been advised that our goals should adhere to this standard.

So what is SMART goal –

S  – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Attainable

R – Relevant

T – Time-bound

Also, the goals should answer these questions (W’s) –

*Who:      Who is involved?

*What:     What do I want to accomplish?

*Where:    Identify a location.

*When:     Establish a time frame.

*Which:    Identify requirements and constraints.

*Why:      Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal.

Looks good. Now look a the Supper Committee that was formed in US to cut the deficit and analysis from HBR blog post what happened.

Takeaways –

• Common goal + separate agendas = failure
• Beware of Silos
• Manage SMART goals by checking for agenda conflict and changing incentives.

The Super Committee’s Two Failures
Morten T. Hansen
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:54:20 GMT