Quotes for solution delivery professionals

Transmitting information is easier than creating understanding.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

This paper by its very length defends itself against the risk of being read.

You have two ears and one mouth. I suggest that you use them in that proportion.

The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

The chief virtue that language can have is clearness, and nothing detracts from it so much as the use of unfamiliar words.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Good communication does not mean that you have to speak in perfectly formed sentences and paragraphs. Simple and clear go a long way.

Knowing that perfect communications are impossible relieves you of trying to reach that perfection. Instead, you learn to manage the incompleteness of communication. You stop when the document is sufficient to the purpose of the intended audience.

Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.

Business analysis is not a job; it is a profession. A person who does not feel passionate about this role will not excel.

Without requirements, there is no way to validate a program design; that is, no way to logically connect the program to the customer's desires.

Software requirements are the necessary and sufficient properties of software that will ensure the solution achieves what it was designed to accomplish for its users and for the business.

The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build.

The model that really matters is the one that people have in their minds. All other models and documentation exist only to get the right model into the right mind at the right time.

If you don't know how to do something, you don't know how to do it with a computer.

Anything you need to quantify can be measured in some way that is superior to not measuring it at all.

Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.

An appropriate and complete requirements specification does nothing to ensure a successful implementation; however, it makes it possible.

I keep six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.

We accomplish what we understand. If we are to accomplish something together, we need to understand it together.

Don't waste your time trying to control the uncontrollable, or trying to solve the unsolvable, or think about what could have been. Instead, think about what you can control and solve the problem you can solve with the wisdom you have gained from both your victories and your defeats.

Don't find a fault, find a remedy.

First, solve the problem. Then, write the code.

Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

It is well known that when you do anything, unless you understand its actual circumstances, its nature and its relations to other things, you will not know the laws governing it, or know how to do it, or be able to do it well.

The most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong questions.

We never stop investigating. We are never satisfied that we know enough to get by. Every question we answer leads on to another question. This has become the greatest survival trick of our species.

Don't just fix the mistakes — fix whatever permitted the mistake in the first place.

Before you attempt to set things right, make sure you see things right.

It marks a big step in your development when you come to realize that other people can help you do a better job than you could do alone.

You cannot force commitment. What you can do… you nudge a little here, inspire a little there, and provide a role model. Your primary influence is the environment you create.

Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the 'me' for the 'we'.

There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride. Any one individually is important. But all of them together are unbeatable.

You can get a great deal done from almost any position in an organization if you focus on small wins and you don't mind others getting the credit.

You have to look at leadership through the eyes of the followers and you have to live the message. People become motivated when you guide them to the source of their own power and when you make heroes out of employees who personify what you want to see in the organization.

At its simplest, a shared vision is the answer to the question, 'What do we want to create?'

A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming.

If you hide your spark, bury your ideas, keep your questions and notions from the team, you have hurt them as badly as if you had stolen a laptop and fenced it on eBay.

When you have nothing, what's the first thing you try to do? You try to make a connection and have a relationship that gives you an opportunity to do something for someone else.

Innovation comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We're always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it's only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.

You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour.

Success is neither magical or mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the fundamentals.

Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are held to discuss it.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.

Agile is an attitude, not a technique with boundaries. An attitude has no boundaries, so we wouldn't ask 'can I use agile here', but rather 'how would I act in the agile way here?' or 'how agile can we be, here?'

A good test of the value of paperwork is to see if there is someone waiting for what is being produced.

A toolmaker succeeds as the users of his tools succeed with his aid. However shining the blade, however jeweled the hilt, however perfect the heft, a sword is tested only by cutting.

A methodology is the conventions that your group agrees to. 'The conventions your group agrees to' is a social construction. It is also a construction that you can and should revisit from time to time.

Don't ever be afraid to admit you were wrong. It's like saying you're wiser today than you were yesterday.

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.

Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.

Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.

Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.

Don't mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified, it is not criticism — learn from it.

One of the things that may get in the way of people being lifelong learners is that they're not in touch with their passion. If you're passionate about what it is you do, then you're going to be looking for everything you can to get better at it.

There's no substitute for getting smarter faster. And the way you get smarter is to screw around vigorously. Try stuff. See what works. See what fails miserably. Learn. Rinse. Repeat.

Nothing is impossible, we just don't know how to do it yet.