economics-times

This article discusses the authors' research into time pacing, "a strategy for competing in fast-changing, unpredictable markets by scheduling change at predictable time intervals." Their research focused on 12 successful companies in the computer industry, most importantly Intel (the microprocessor manufacturer). Unlike event pacing, which constitutes the familiar and natural order of things, time pacing refers to creating new products or services, launching new businesses, or entering new markets according to the calendar. According to the authors, time pacing has a powerful psychological impact and creates a relentless sense of urgency around meeting deadlines and concentrates individual and team energy around common goals. It requires managers to excel at two critical processes essential to success in changing markets: (1) managing transitions and (2) managing rhythm. The authors describe each of these two processes in detail. Time pacing helps managers avert the danger of changing too infrequently, it avoid managers becoming blocked into old patterns and habits. Time pacing opens up strategic options for the companies that use it, they can use it to keep up, gain competitive ground, and set the pace of competition in an industry. The authors complement the article with three useful sets of questions that can help managers put in place the fundamentals of time pacing in their organizations.

Although the authors uses some fine examples to explain time pacing, the article does not convince me. The article is quite clear on managing transitions, but it is not as clear about managing rhythms. I must admit that I also have some problems accepting and understanding the difference between time pacing and event pacing. However, the article gives some interesting insights into the timing within industries (planning reviews) and the role of modularity (versioning). You like this article? Don't forget their next article, 'Patching: Restitching Business Portfolios' (1999). The article is written in simple US-English.

Craig Yager ~ PYP Coordinator ~ Whittier School ~ Boulder, CO

I am uncertain whether to recommend this book. One the one hand, it is highly readable, the scope is very large, and many of the arguments are important. On the other hand, it is not novel, systematic or rigorous. In sum, this is a good book if you want a relatively short, easy and good overview of some of the issues in modern political economy. However, if you want a complete academic treatment of state intervention your desire is better served by other books.

The author is too unclear about what he does recommend... and then he doesn't stick with the recommendations that he is clear with. He contradicts himself too much. Makes you wonder if anyone ever proofed the book BEFORE it went to press.

Also, this book is a bit old now .... but the subject is still relevant. I hope that a new T.M. for Dummies comes out again... but with a different author.

.... oh, and the only reason I gave this 2 stars was for the cheatsheet at the beginning of the book. The email & voice mail hints are basic and simple common sense...but there are some that never quite get those hints until they are pointed out to them.

Below is my review as planned before reading all the negative reviews....everyone brings their own baggage to any book. Following this short review, which was originally written for national intelligence professionals, I have added an addendum with a specific experience in France that illustrates why this book is valuable to anyone willing to take the time to reflect on its fundamentals.

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This may be one of the top three books I've read in the last couple of years. It is simply packed with insights that are applicable to both the classified intelligence community as well as the larger national information community. The following is a tiny taste from this very deep pool: "Instead of fruitlessly trying to predict the future course of a competitive or market trend, customer behavior or demand, managers should be trying to find and deploy all the tools that will enable them, in some sense, to be ever-present, ever-vigilant, and ever-ready in the brave new marketplace in gestation, where information and knowledge are ceaselessly exchanged."

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ADDENDUM: In coming to post the above review I noted a number of negative reviews along the lines of "so 1970's", "no new ideas", etc. Naturally any book is going to strike people with different levels of intelligence and experience differently. Our advice to intelligence professionals and managers at any level is to dismiss those other opinions, spend $20 and 1-2 hours with this book, and judge for yourself. Among many reasons why we found this book meaningful, given our focus on global coverage, weak signals, and being effective in 29+ languages, is the following experience:

In 1994, attending the French national conference on information, we heard one of the leaders of the French steel industry discussing a multi-million dollar business intelligence endeavor (in France this includes business espionage and government espionage in support of business) against steel industries around the world. The punch line, however, was stunning. At the end of it all, he said, they failed because they focused only on the steel industry. In the end, the plastics industry ate their lunch because it was able to develop very good plastic substitutes for automobile parts, including automobile under-carriage parts, and this hurt the French steel industry badly. It was from this occasion that we crafted Rule 003 (Book 2, Chapter 15) on the importance of Global Coverage, whose sub-title could be "cast a wide net." McKenna has the basics right.

If you had read any of Gann's book, you'd have known that repetition is the key. Keep doing it over and over again until you get it right. You sound like a bitter trader who has had trouble with the simple rules. Almost all the "Gann traders" I know are always looking for the "master time factor' or some deep dark astrological secret. Too many traders today want the answers, but are not willing to study and spend time learning how to trade.

I, too, didn't think much of the book when I first started but it is has grown on me quite a bit. It's concise and informative. Try the chapter on estimation, it serves as a good intro into estimation techniques.

Yes, "Rapid Development" is probably better but "On Time, Within Budget" is deserves it's place in your project management library.

The editor says from the beginning that he believes in fundamental analysis and does not believe in technical analysis. In fact he finds a way to mention this in almost every chapter / review. Given that he only has around 6 pages per book summary, he wastes far too much time repeating his personal opinions and spends far too little time discussing the major points of the actual investment classics.

He tends to write about the authors, rather than about the books. Maybe he thought that would make the book more interesting and relevant, but personally I wish he had stuck to (or in some cases, started to) discussing the actual book content. The chapter on Gann is a good example. Gough hardly seems to mention anything from Gann's book, but he wrote a lot about the famous Gann myths and mysteries. It makes me wonder whether he has even read Gann's book (in fact many of the chapters are so brief and vague that he may not have read several of the books). I don't care about the myths and mysteries or the editor's opinion on fundamental vs. technical analysis - I was just hoping that the Gann chapter would summarise the major points of Gann's book. Crazy huh?

The only time I got the impression that the editor was giving information from the books (rather than talking them down) were in the chapters reviewing the books on famous fundamentalists like Buffet and Lynch.

Don't waste your time and money.

The collection of books is haphazard, looking at areas of the market and investing that are widely dispersed. This is not a weakness in itself, but the disjointed way the author jumps from work to work with no transition gives this volume the flavor of reading a stack of unorganized book reviews. The writing quality is not terrible, but it does not hold attention well and could have used some serious editing in places. The book's main strength is its brief distillations of the 25 works it covers.

The author, a financial journalist, provides no evidence of any special competence or authority in any of the subjects he covers. This is a significant contrast to a work like Dean LeBaron's Treasury of Investment Wisdom, where Mr. LeBaron brings a lot of expertise in various areas and makes no bones about where he stands on various topics.

One quote that stood out for me near the end of the book was the following (p. 207):

"...He (Wittgenstein) was ever conscious of our inability to be certain. This is one of the great existential riddles, and I have every sympathy with the majority of people, who feel uncomfortable at this thought and prefer to find refuge in the arms of any number of ideologies and belief systems."

No, Wittgenstein is not one of the 25 authors covered among the investment classics (for an exact list, check the book's editorial reviews in detail). Wittgenstein is simply a manifestation of the author's wishy-washiness. He does not believe in technical analysis, is not quite sure he believes in fundamental analysis, and does not appear to have any shockingly special insights on these works.

Because some of the books he covers are very good, the wisdom of the 25 authors cannot help but affect you, no matter how buried in the author's prose. The few direct quotes from works that he inserts provided the fresh breaths of air I needed to keep going through these pages.

Hopefully digesting this book will inspire the reader to read the underlying "25 Investment Classics", which will be ultimately much more rewarding.