RE: Who's going to call Hesheys?

[Colin Williams <Williamsc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Does anyone know what hardware they are running SAP on?

>-----Original Message-----
>From: email@james-w-kilgore.com [mailto:email@james-w-kilgore.com]
>Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 9:51 AM
>To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com
>Subject: Re: Who's going to call Hesheys?
>
>
>Wynn, et al,
>
>I've seen this type of situation in installations only a 
>fraction of the
>scale that Hershey attempted.
>
>IMHO, a fish starts to rot from the head. So my grandmother taught me.
>
>Under these circumstances, the hardware folks, would, of course, ask:
>"Is it a hardware problem?  No. Our hardware works." (as designed) ...
>All twenty of them!
>
>The software folks, would, of course, ask: "Is it a software problem? 
>No. Our software works." (as designed) ... All twenty of them!
>
>Therefore it -must- be a people problem.
>
>OK, what is the people problem?  Are they in over their heads?  You've
>got a 500 piece jig saw puzzle and although you look at the 
>cover of the
>box and see the big picture noone, or better yet everyone, 
>involved ever
>bothered to put the pieces in place.  I mean, after all, they -saw- the
>solution, putting it all together is work!  That nasty ol' four letter
>word. <g>
>
>I've never really subscribed to that view.  IMO, I believe that most
>professionals are conscience, dedicated, problem solvers.  At least in
>the technical arena.
>
>The common denominator has been that there is the lack of a 
>single, high
>authority, person who "owned" the project.  Sadly to say, all 
>too often,
>a goal is stated then responsibility (without authority) is handed over
>to a steering committee.  It doesn't take long before anarchy sets in
>and "cover your butt" management becomes the daily driving 
>force.  Noone
>is trying to reach the intended goal.  The captain jumped ship!  The
>crew is left to sink or swim.  Or more likely, swim poorly.
>
>I doubt that any one of us will ever learn the bottom line about what
>happened at Hershey, but I'm willing to bet that lack of leadership has
>a significant role.
>
>Forget about identifying or pointing fingers at the hardware/software
>providers, they aren't the -real- issue.  Rookie players don't even get
>in the door.  Especially in a company of this caliber.
>
>But the blaming does have a way of filtering down until a scape goat is
>found.  Got to cover that butt!
>
>Regards,
>James (I won't even get into the Harvard Business Review "Fear of
>Success" series) Kilgore
>
>
>Wynn Osborne wrote:
>> 
>> I am absolutely amazed that after 50+ years of computing, 
>how nasty and
>> failure-prone these big software projects are.
>>
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