RE: Who's going to call Hesheys?

[Glenn Ericson <Glenn-Ericson@xxxxxxx>]

Not a  clue !
Every story I read  is SAP implementation /execution centric.

---------------------X--------------------------
At 09:52 AM 11/1/99 -0000, you wrote:
>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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