Cubicle Commandos

This is an interesting little book recently published which will get stacked up on my bedside table. The premise is that for those people who have an entrepreneurial spirit but not the courage or resources to go out and do it alone, there are still strategies for making a difference and influencing change from within a corporation. It is a celebration of, and encouragement for, all those souls that strive to improve a business from the inside.

I can strongly relate to this idea and its under-the-radar practitioners - time and again at seminars and user groups we meet people struggling to do better within their circles of influence. They look for ways to improve what they and others around them do and protect the business from repeatedly falling into holes. Most improvements sought are based around changes in how the people and processes operate in the business, and sooner or later that comes to product (applications) - the 3P holy trinity of business process management.

The challenge for many Cubicle Commandos is that although they're close to the action and know what can be done to improve they frequently are not in senior decision making roles nor do they have discretionary budget to call upon. So they struggle through the bureaucracy and red tape in the business to get some localised improvement over the line. Then they have to go out and do it all over again.

If you are a decision maker and budget holder, take time to seek out your Cubicle Commandos - nurture them - they might make a big difference to your day. Looking beyond the localisation, there may be a way to clean up a process end-to-end rather than edge-to-edge.