Bulldozer00's Blog

Obviously, everyone who contributes to a business’ success is important. However, because of compensation discrepancies and obvious differences in the way various groups of people are treated, management clearly has a prioritized list of what it thinks is more important – regardless of what is espoused.

Since everyone has their own agenda and subjective reasons for perceiving what and who is most important for a successful business, here’s my list, in order of decreasing priority:

• The products the company sells (well duhhhh!)
• The people who design, build, test, deliver, install, and maintain the product portfolio.
• The people who train the customers and serve as the front line customer interface when problems occur.
• The people who sell the products.
• The business overhead groups
• Management

My list is driven by the perception that the direct, hands-on creation and sustenance of  value for customers is king. Everything else is secondary. A second (maybe the first?) driver is the fact that I’m a product designer, builder, and maintainer. See, I told you that everyone has their own agenda 🙂

Based on my observations over the years, the managements of all mediocre, follow-the-herd, companies have a a prioritized list that is the exact inverse of mine. Because of this clash of core values, I don’t have much professional respect (which is not the same as personal respect for individuals) for the guild of management.

What’s on your list?