Installment #2 in my Top 10 Rules for Success in the Software Industry.
Rule #2: Build an effective organization. Like Rule #1, this one sounds deceptively simple. Too many businesses, though, have broken organizations, and suffer because of it. Sometimes those organizations were designed incorrectly to begin with. More often than not, though, theyve just worn out. By that I mean that the conditions that caused the organization to be created in the first place have changed, and the company hasnt evolved its organizational model to match. In my experience, most organizations are worn out within 18 to 24 months of their original design. Thats because, if youre planning properly (see Rule #1), youre planning on a three year horizon, but you can really only see clearly for 12 to 18 months down the road.
Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.
