Tag Archives: Mark Moore

#37 – BECAUSE WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THAT WAY! – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreThe old story tells of a newlywed couple hosting their first family dinner.  As the couple works in the kitchen, he asks her, “Why did you cut the end off the ham before you put it in the roasting pan?”  She answers that her mother always did it that way, so she does the same.  It happens that her mother walks in the kitchen and they both ask her the same question.  The answer is the same.  An hour later, the young bride’s grandmother arrives and all of them pose the question to her.  Her answer, predictably, is the very same.  Three generations have been performing this action without any idea why other than, “That’s how my Mom did it.” Continue reading →

#36 – TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreAnd Now It’s Too Late

What started out as an idea for a single post is probably going to take several to cover the topic at hand.  The risk we’re talking about here is …

TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE

WHAT IS TRIBAL KNOWLEDGE?
I’ve been doing a little research via some professional chat forums, and the first question to come up was, “What’s your definition of Tribal Knowledge?”

Well, the way I’m using it here I mean the experience and skill that you rely on to run your organization an projects that is locked away in some long-term employee’s head and if documented at all (which is rare), the documentation is sketchy at best and probably can only be deciphered by the person holding the knowledge in the first place.  It exists in any organization that has been around for a while, and it’s probably a far bigger risk than you might consider it to be.  In fact, I believe the very nature of Tribal Knowledge makes it a ‘top 5’ that is hardly ever documented in your risk register. Continue reading →

#32 – THE RISK OF KNOWING TOO MUCH – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreI had a similar thought about two completely different things recently.  The first is merely an example from life – its’ one of those things that you really don’t want to think about and if you can avoid knowing it at all (which means you should skip the next paragraph) that’s probably a good thing.

The second comes from material I’ve been preparing to teach a class on testing.  But, I don’t want to get ahead of myself …

So,is it possible to know too much and does that knowledge put you at risk or at least a disadvantage? Continue reading →

#31 – AT THE INTERSECTION OF CHANGE AND RISK – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreA blog article I read recently prompted this post.  I encourage you to go read “Are the Lights Working at Your Change Intersection?”  It’s good stuff and we need more insight like this.  But I wanted to take a slightly different angle and keep a similar image.  So, I’m asking you …

What type of traffic signal does your change intersection need?

Continue reading →

#29 – THE GREAT PRETENDERS – MARK MOORE

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Mark MooreNo, I’m not talking about the 50’s song by The Platters.  I’m talking about people on your team or project who really aren’t ‘with the program’ and are putting your work and possibly your career at risk.

Most of us have seen the acceptance model below at one point or another, so I’m going to use it to illustrate my point and show you where you are most likely to find those pretenders. Continue reading →