Mini Book Reviews

Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership 4th Ed.   Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E, Deal.

Recommends viewing organisations through 4 frames or lenses: factory, family, jungle, and temple, to get a better understanding of how an organisation works and avoid being clueless about problems in the organisation.  ‘Reframing’ is about dismantling existing frames of mind about the organisation and rebuilding into a new frame.

Scenario-Driven Planning: Learning to Manage Strategic Uncertainty. Nicholas C. Georgantzas and William Acar. (1995).

Scenario-planning is a management tool against ‘dogmatism’ and ‘fads’. It enable articulation and validation of mental models about the future. The book is full of practical and diverse examples, plus a plethora of references to relevant literature.

“The Fox” by Frederick Forsyth

“The Fox” is the latest thriller from perhaps my favourite fiction writer.

What I like most about Forsyth's works is the sense of being educated while reading. He brings the readers to part of the world they have never been, and likely will never be.  I don't just mean physical places in the world, but also 'worlds' like the world of spies and the echelons of power.

This time Forsyth brings together the themes of cyberattacks, North Korean nuclear aspirations, Russian leadership thuggery, and hopes for a geopolitical control of the West, special forces of the West, the East, and the middle East.

In his trademark style, Forsyth includes lots of insider information in his story.  This is mostly what draws me to his works – I subconsciously feel (unjustifiably I know) that fiction is a waste of time and find it hard to justify spending time on them when there’s so much non-fiction around.  (I don't have the same problem spending hours watching fiction TV shows and movies, though).

Compared to his original masterpieces,  “The Jackal”, and “The Dogs of War”, this one feels thin.  The characters are cardboard depth (though that is somewhat usual for all of Forsyth’s works).  The story was too neat, too easy, too fantasy-like, almost like a Disney movie for grown-ups.  The young hacker was too skilled, his special forces security too lucky, the closure of the story too convenient.

Nevertheless, it was still a page-turner for me. I had to resist flipping to the last chapter to see how it all ends.

The other best thing about Forsyth’s works is his technique of letting us into the thinking and decision-making of the primary characters.  While their personalities were cardboard cutouts, getting inside the minds of these first rate political thinkers were 90% of the enjoyment.

Readers who have a technical background in cyber-security are well-advised to suspend disbelief.  This is where the facts fall really short and the limits of Forsyth’s technical knowledge appears shallow, maybe even uninformed. Hopefully, his knowledge is more authoritative in areas where I don't know much about, and the non-fiction aspects of this book are not fiction.

Book Review of ‘Fundamentals of Project Performance Measurement’

This short book (119 pages) covers the basics of measuring project progress via earned value management.

The author (Robert R. Kemps) argues that you cannot measure project progress simply by monitoring cost expenditures versus budgeted expenditures. If your actual expenses by a certain date is less than the budgeted expenses by that date, that information doesn’t really tell you anything – are spending less than expected or are you simply running behind schedule? Adding the work completed to the measure gives you better understanding: you can now tell why your project is spending less than expected. It could be because, some of the work that was expected to being had not yet begun.

Kemps also underlines the importance of technical performance as the third measure to factor in. Just because work is reported as being complete does not mean it is complete.  Unfortunately there is not much information in the book as to how to measure technical performance besides ensuring that it is tracked.

A baseline is important, the author asserts, because without it, the integrity of the project progress measures (and by extension, project management), is at risk, because readjustments to cost and schedule and technical performance leaves no trace behind.

It lists neither references nor a bibliography.

Recommendation: A basic book on earned value measurement, useful as an introductory reference for both the motivation behind earned value and how to do it.