Tom DeMarco is an international management consultant with clients in numerous industries. His previous books include Deadline and peopleware.
International consultant DeMarco (Peopleware) presents his views on how corporations can become more effective. He states that in an age of acceleration, in which more work is crammed into less time, knowledge workers need slack time for reinvention, creativity, and growth. Slack time here is defined as "zero percent busy" and knowledge work is "think-intensive." The author offers his philosophy to all levels of management and gets to the core of what he thinks is wrong with today's modern corporations. Some of the problems he addresses include operating with meager staff, extended overtime, and unnecessary organizational meetings. His contention is that too many meetings take away from normal workday hours and create a need for managers and workers alike to incur overtime. While his views may sound innovative, they appear to be unrealistic and provide little direction for management trying to figure out how to keep with the competition. A marginal purchase for public libraries with business collections. Bellinda Wise, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
"An irreverent counterpoint to treatises about corporate
efficiency. Brisk, compelling, and hard to put down." -Financial
Executive
"Tom DeMarco goes after one of the most pervasive and pernicious
myths of business--that humans are efficient the same way machines
are. Slack will change the way you manage and understand
your business." -David Weinberger, author of The Cluetrain
Manifesto
"In times of many layoffs, shrinking staffs, vanishing 'think
time,' middle managerial heads rolling, and mounting pressure to
produce more faster . . . there are few limits on who can get some
thoughts from [Slack]." -CNN.com
DeMarco (Peopleware), a management consultant, says that in today's competitive, fast-moving economy, managers work far less effectively than before. Responding to restructuring and staff reductions, managers overemphasize deadlines and rush employees, sacrificing quality. Instead, says DeMarco, executives should encourage teamwork, discourage competition and allow training time. Unfortunately, tedious, jargon-heavy writing dulls DeMarco's worthwhile message. (May) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
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