The Next Leap in Productivity: What Top Managers Really Need to Know about Information Technology (Hardcover)

How much should top management really care about IT? That’s the question Adam Kolawa bluntly poses in this feisty and compelling book. “The Next Leap in Productivity” goes far beyond traditional business books written for the CIO community. It tackles crucial issues such as productivity, efficiency and quality management. It makes the case for applying the principles of Deming and Juran to software development. Then it takes a “leap,” arguing that huge potential increases in IT productivity can lead to enormous increases in enterprise productivity. In this sense, “The Next Leap in Productivity” is a truly visionary book.

Software vendors and CIOs who read this book will discover a software development process that is transparent, practical and efficient. Non-technical C-level executives (CEOs, CFOs, COOs, etc.) will discover a blueprint for improving corporate productivity and dramatically reducing operating costs.

For the past decade, CIOs have been urged, coaxed, counseled and exhorted to act more like CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other C-level executives. This book suggests that it’s time for CEOs, CFOs, COOs and other C-level executives to start acting more like CIOs. “The Next Leap in Productivity” will appeal to anyone involved in buying, selling, developing or using IT.

Advance Praise for “The Next Leap in Productivity”
“Adam’s book is a challenge to all the top managers who’ve stopped caring about IT. His message is simple: If you really care about IT, you find ways to make IT more productive. The improvements you achieve in IT productivity can then be leveraged into huge leaps in productivity at the enterprise level. This book offers a roadmap for translating IT productivity into business profit. Adam’s argument is worth reading and worth considering as you formulate your IT strategies and plan your IT budgets.”--Gary Beach, Publisher Emeritus, CIO magazine

“Adam lays the groundwork for a common language that can be used to bridge the chasms between IT and other essential components of the business such as finance, product development, sales, marketing, distribution and customer service. Everyone who reads this book will learn valuable lessons that can be leveraged to improve returns on human capital investments at every level of the organization. Adam’s concepts have the potential to boost levels of confidence and performance throughout the enterprise.”-- Michael Minelli, Co-author, Partnering with the CIO

“These kinds of productivity principles are not mere theory. When we put these same principles into effect, our productivity went up more than we had thought possible. And our employee morale went up, too. It became easier to write code the right way and harder to make stupid mistakes. This new way of creating software makes it possible for us to concentrate on what we really want to do here at Cisco, which is to improve the Internet for everybody.”-- Andy Chessin, Senior Technical Lead, Cisco, Inc.

高層管理人員應該真正關心資訊科技(IT)到什麼程度？這是亞當·科拉瓦在這本充滿活力和引人入勝的書中直接提出的問題。《生產力的下一個飛躍》遠遠超越了傳統的針對CIO社群撰寫的商業書籍。它涉及到關鍵問題，如生產力、效率和品質管理。它提出了將德明和茱蘭的原則應用於軟體開發的理由。然後它進行了一個"飛躍"，主張IT生產力的巨大潛力可以帶來企業生產力的巨大增長。從這個意義上說，《生產力的下一個飛躍》是一本真正具有遠見的書。

閱讀這本書的軟體供應商和CIO將會發現一個透明、實用和高效的軟體開發流程。非技術性的C級高管（CEO、CFO、COO等）將會發現一個改善企業生產力並大幅降低運營成本的藍圖。

在過去的十年中，CIO被敦促、勸誘、輔導和激勵要像CEO、CFO、COO和其他C級高管一樣行事。這本書提出，現在是時候讓CEO、CFO、COO和其他C級高管開始像CIO一樣行事了。《生產力的下一個飛躍》將吸引任何與購買、銷售、開發或使用IT相關的人。

《生產力的下一個飛躍》的提前讚譽：

"亞當的書對於那些已經不再關心IT的高層管理人員是一個挑戰。他的訊息很簡單：如果你真的關心IT，你會找到方法使IT更具生產力。你在IT生產力上取得的改進可以轉化為企業層面的巨大生產力飛躍。這本書提供了一個將IT生產力轉化為商業利潤的路線圖。在制定IT戰略和計劃IT預算時，亞當的論點值得一讀和考慮。" - Gary Beach，《CIO雜誌》榮譽出版商

"亞當為建立一種可以用於彌合IT和其他業務重要組成部分（如財務、產品開發、銷售、市場營銷、分銷和客戶服務）之間鴻溝的共同語言奠定了基礎。每個閱讀這本書的人都將學到有價值的教訓，可以利用這些教訓提高組織各級人力資本投資的回報。亞當的概念有潛力提高整個企業的信心和表現水平。" - Michael Minelli，《與CIO合作》合著者

"這些生產力原則不僅僅是理論。當我們實施這些原則時，我們的生產力超出了我們原本認為可能的範圍。我們的員工士氣也提高了。寫出正確的程式變得更容易，犯愚蠢的錯誤變得更困難。這種創造軟體的新方式使我們能夠專注於我們在思科真正想做的事情，那就是改善互聯網對每個人的影響。" - Andy Chessin，《思科公司》高級技術主管