Dear Organlearners,
Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net> writes:
>Speaking personally, I have never met a piece of software
>that could identify or map an existing process, let alone
>conceive of a different one. Worse, I've met far too many
>process improvement consultants who had absolutely no
>idea how to bound a process for the purpose of studying it.
>Nor have I encountered a software package that knows a
>darn thing -- and I certainly don't expect one to manage it
>for me.
Greetings Fred,
Thanks for your strong message.
Every software package is a complex set of commands. A software
package can thus only do what it is commanded to do. The quality of
the software depends on what its programmers know about (1)programming
and (2) the subject. A good programmer knowing little of the subject
cannot produce a good program. A novice programmer knowing much of the
subject can produce a much better program -- it only takes longer. It
is because the computer is basically a dumb machine which has to
follow a program. If it shows intelligence, it is because of knowledge
on the subject translated into the programming code.
>More disconcerting than either of those two factors is this one:
>I've met two CEOs who firmly believed that one day they would
>be able to run their businesses by sitting in a room at a computer
>console.
The day when that happens, it is not they who will then be running
their business, but the people who created the programs to do so. They
will still not be able to run their business as it should have been
done.
>If they're correct, then I'm a Luddite. If I'm correct, their
>thinking is
>definitely out of kilter. What's so scary about that isn't the
>particulars of the issue but that such flawed thinking winds up
>running the show.
What scares me is that it is people who do not want to live by their
own creativity, but wish others to organise their lives for them.
Since they occupy such high positions of power, it is they who are
most handy for dictators who want to play the devil. Although acting
foolish, they are most dangerous. Although they do not want to live by
their own creativity, they want to maintain their position. Hence they
must suppress the creativity of other people at all costs. This is
when all hell breaks loose.
The remedy for such people is to become part of a LO
Best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>