The CEO I mentioned in my blog in the past is causing some problems again this week. Last week he asked for an update of what needs to be worked on for his company’s project. I gave him a list, diagram of the current system, and included a description of the capability and features of the software I’ve developed for him so far.

This past Monday I get an offensive email back as a reply. He doesn’t understand why there are 2-3 months of development left, the cost of out-of-pocket and not using the software is high, and a few other ignorant comments. What makes them ignorant is the fact his company has been using the software I’ve been in the process of developing since last April. This CEO is so out of touch with the day to day realities of his own business the guy doesn’t even know what they have. If you’ve read the book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” you might remember this:

“Know your people and your business. Leaders have to live their businesses. In companies that don’t execute well, their leaders are out of touch with the day to day realities. They are getting lots of information delivered to them, but it’s filtered. Presented by direct reports with their own preceptions, limitations, and agendas. Or gathered by staff people with their own perspectives. The leaders aren’t where the action is. They aren’t engaged in the business, so they don’t know their organizations comphrensively, and their people don’t really know them.”

This little excerpt describes this guy perfectly. It’s a shame I have to deal with someone so ignorant. If he would have taken even 5 minutes of his time to talk with his people he could of had the facts to properly respond back. Software development follows a process, and this process isn’t always understood by leaders. I think it’s pretty straight forward.

1. Requirements Specification
2. Design
3. Construction (implementation and programming)
4. Integration
5. Testing and Debugging
6. Installation (deployment)
7. Maintenance (updates)

That’s for the normal development process, and keep in mind for this project I basically have 3 total layers. First is the application and web development. This includes the new items and features. Second is the report development. And the last layer is maintence of the software modules previously created. This could go more in depth, but I’ll leave it at that.

For the sake of that CEO he’s lucky that my boss is a great communicator, because I’m sure he wouldn’t like the reality I’d spit back at him if given the opportunity. I’m not a verbal dancer of words, I will tell you how it is.

I’ll leave this post with two quotes I based off the book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done”.

“If everyone doesn’t commit to the changes they help make then the execution will not be successful.”

“An organization follows the behavior of its managers and leaders. If there’s no accountability or structure then people are going to do what they want, and cause execution to fail.”