If your company’s goal is to become fast, responsive, and agile, more efficiency is not the answer--you need more slack. Why is it that today’s superefficient organizations are ailing? Tom DeMarco, a leading management consultant to both Fortune 500 and up-and-coming companies, reveals a counterintuitive principle that explains why efficiency efforts can slow a company down. That principle is the value of slack, the degree of freedom in a company that allows it to change. Implementing slack could be as simple as adding an assistant to a department and letting high-priced talent spend less time at the photocopier and more time making key decisions, or it could mean designing workloads that allow people room to think, innovate, and reinvent themselves. It means embracing risk, eliminating fear, and knowing when to go slow. Slack allows for change, fosters creativity, promotes quality, and, above all, produces growth. With an approach that works for new- and old-economy companies alike, this revolutionary handbook debunks commonly held assumptions about real-world management, and gives you and your company a brand-new model for achieving and maintaining true effectiveness.
Bring together a wonderfully varied mix of characters in a once-grand Maine island summer cottage, leave them to their own devices over the course of a long, idyllic summer in the late 1940s, and you have all the ingredients for a fine comedy of manners. Author Tom DeMarco starts with a simple little love story, weaves in tantalizing details of the old mansion's not totally respectable history, and adds a hint of gentle satire to create a novel that is touching, memorable, and deliciously entertaining.
In 2019, America is bordering on financial collapse after engaging in a third conflict in Iraq. On the home front, the president has provided funding for stem cell research, but medical success is overshadowed after corporate greed intervenes. The intention to benefit those with the greatest need quickly disappears as the replication process is used to clone all major organs. With the advent of cloning, the inevitable occurs when Americas population reaches the saturation point. A chip is now implanted into all citizens, which signals when someone reaches the mandatory age of death. Years left on a chip are for sale, and the hunt for new chips is on. Meanwhile, overseas, the war rages, where people die irrespective of age. Lieutenant Roger DeMarco must put an end to the murder of entire innocent Iraqi villages by those who would harvest the enemy and civilians alike. Doctors are caught on opposing sides of science, and even a reality TV star becomes of national interest when he sells his chip and plans to slowly kill himself in a parade of hedonism. Progress, profit, and morality collide with stunning ferocity as America must evolve or die.
WIRED. Africa becomes the battle ground in 21st-century war. As fiberoptic cable is laid down around the continent, two entities fight to control it. One is UpLink Communications, headed by Roger Gordian. The pan-African fiberoptic ring is his most ambitious—and expensive—endeavor to date. His nemesis, Harlan Devane, is penetrating the network. Trading in black market commodities with terrorists and rogue states, the cable offers him unlimited access to a most valuable product: information. To ensure his success, Devane makes his move halfway around the world. He hits Gordian where it hurts—and kidnaps his daughter. Now, Gordian must trust his UpLink team as never before, as they fight on land and sea to turn the tables against Devane…once and for all.
In 2019, America is bordering on financial collapse after engaging in a third conflict in Iraq. On the home front, the president has provided funding for stem cell research, but medical success is overshadowed after corporate greed intervenes. The intention to benefit those with the greatest need quickly disappears as the replication process is used to clone all major organs. With the advent of cloning, the inevitable occurs when Americas population reaches the saturation point. A chip is now implanted into all citizens, which signals when someone reaches the mandatory age of death. Years left on a chip are for sale, and the hunt for new chips is on. Meanwhile, overseas, the war rages, where people die irrespective of age. Lieutenant Roger DeMarco must put an end to the murder of entire innocent Iraqi villages by those who would harvest the enemy and civilians alike. Doctors are caught on opposing sides of science, and even a reality TV star becomes of national interest when he sells his chip and plans to slowly kill himself in a parade of hedonism. Progress, profit, and morality collide with stunning ferocity as America must evolve or die.
In their third and final screen teaming, Judy Garland and Gene Kelly starred together in the MGM musical Summer Stock. Despite its riveting production history, charismatic lead actors, and classic musical moments, the movie has not received the same attention as other musicals from MGM’s storied dream factory. In C’mon, Get Happy: The Making of “Summer Stock,” authors David Fantle and Tom Johnson present a comprehensive study of this 1950 motion picture, from start to finish and after its release. The production coincided at a critical point in the careers of Kelly and an emotionally spent Garland. Kelly, who starred in An American in Paris just one year later, was at the peak of his abilities. On the other hand, Summer Stock was Garland’s final film at MGM, and she gamely completed it despite her own personal struggles. Summer Stock includes Kelly’s favorite solo dance routine and Garland’s signature number “Get Happy.” The authors discuss in rich detail the contributions of the cast (which included Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Bracken, Phil Silvers, and Marjorie Main); the director (Charles Walters); the producer (Joe Pasternak); the script writers (George Wells and Sy Gomberg); the songwriters (which included Harry Warren and Mack Gordon); and top MGM executives (Louis B. Mayer and Dore Schary). The volume features extensive interviews, conducted by the authors, with Kelly, Walters, Warren, and others, who shared their recollections of making the movie. Deeply researched, C’mon, Get Happy reveals the studio system at work during Hollywood’s Golden Era. Additionally, the authors have written a special section called “Taking Stock” that buttonholes numerous contemporary dancers, singers, choreographers, musicians, and even Garland impersonators for their take on Summer Stock, its stars, and any enduring legacy they think the film might have. Artists from Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ben Vereen, and Tommy Tune to Garland’s and Kelly’s daughters, Lorna Luft and Kerry Kelly Novick, respectively, offer their unique perspective on the film and its stars.
Four novels in the Power Plays series created by #1 New York Times master of the techno-thriller Tom Clancy. When it comes to high-tech intelligence systems, UpLink Technologies is the leader in the field—and sometimes, the nation’s best hope in a time of crisis... COLD WAR CUTTING EDGE ZERO HOUR WILD CARD
Don't Miss the Original Series Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Starring John Krasinski! The President is dead. Now, the weight of the world falls on Jack Ryan’s shoulders in this extraordinary #1 New York Times bestseller from Tom Clancy. At the climax of Debt of Honor, the most devastating terrorist act in the history of the world left the President, the Joint Chiefs, the Supreme Court, and nearly all of Congress dead. Only Jack Ryan, confirmed Vice President mere minutes before, survived to take the reins of a shaken and leaderless country. Now he must rebuild a government, comfort a grieving nation, and become a true leader. Meanwhile, he is surrounded by enemies—both inside the White House and around the world—all of them plotting to destroy an untested President. And bring an already wounded country to its knees....
The Camorra of Napes has risen to a level of strength that rivals the Sicilian mafia. This book traces its origins from the mid 19th century to its present dominance of the Campania region.
Six Jack Ryan novels from #1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clancy, the the undisputed master of the techno-thriller. DEBT OF HONOR EXECUTIVE ORDERS RAINBOW SIX THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON RED RABBIT THE TEETH OF THE TIGER "This man can tell a story."—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit Adapting agile practices to your development organization Uncovering and eradicating waste throughout the software development lifecycle Practical techniques for every development manager, project manager, and technical leader Lean software development: applying agile principles to your organization In Lean Software Development, Mary and Tom Poppendieck identify seven fundamental "lean" principles, adapt them for the world of software development, and show how they can serve as the foundation for agile development approaches that work. Along the way, they introduce 22 "thinking tools" that can help you customize the right agile practices for any environment. Better, cheaper, faster software development. You can have all three–if you adopt the same lean principles that have already revolutionized manufacturing, logistics and product development. Iterating towards excellence: software development as an exercise in discovery Managing uncertainty: "decide as late as possible" by building change into the system. Compressing the value stream: rapid development, feedback, and improvement Empowering teams and individuals without compromising coordination Software with integrity: promoting coherence, usability, fitness, maintainability, and adaptability How to "see the whole"–even when your developers are scattered across multiple locations and contractors Simply put, Lean Software Development helps you refocus development on value, flow, and people–so you can achieve breakthrough quality, savings, speed, and business alignment.
More than 1200 diterpenes have been identified from approximately 550 Compo sitae taxa (Figure 1 [pp. 219-384], Tables 1-3 [pp. 7-218]). The annual output of such reports rose sharply during the past several years, a trend that was also reflected by other major lipophilic constituents of the Compositae: acetylenes (63, 465), sesquiterpene lactones (266, 458), and benzofurans and chromenes (429). Unlike these other natural products, no review of the diterpene chemistry of the Compositae has been published. Given the bulk of data currently on hand, a review of this topic is clearly overdue. Several major goals influenced the preparation of this review. The first was to provide a useful reference to guide terpenoid chemists to the literature of known compounds. The published reports for 1200 structures provide a sizable body of spectroscopic data applicable to the investigation of new compounds. The study of diterpenes has been hampered by the absence of an all-inclusive nomenclature and classification system for the various skeletal types. Conse quently, a second goal was to organize structural data into a classification scheme designed to group compounds by biogenetic homology, and to standardize such features as diterpene nomenclature and numbering. Pursuant to this goal, the published names (Table 1) and numbering systems (Table 2) for all compounds are included.
LAYOFFS AND TAKEOVERS in todays business environment are forcing employees, supervisors, and even some executives to accept new assignments, new managers, new work environments, and, in some cases, entirely new careers. This book provides useful techniques and advice to help you to adapt, survive, and excel in these situations, whether these changes involve a new office down the hall or a new job title across the ocean.
This book is a compilation of 25 years of interviews with stars ranging from vaudeville to Gregory Peck, Charlton Heston and Bob Hope with rare photos taken by the authors themselves.
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