Is enterprise thinking entrenched in the past? And how does that relate to the Moneyball story?

It seem we can all relate to the Moneyball scenes (I have not seen the film, only the previews that were shown here at the IBM Information on Demand conference) that show a group of people who have been doing the same job in the same way for decades.

They face this new guy who sees that picking players based on a romantic view of the player does not win ball games. That represents an eternal fight between the new and the old that we see in the tension between developers in their shorts and the business people in their suits. The new guys want to change. The old have their own romantic views of how to do business – how to work with customers. But as we see more often, that old view just does not work any more.
 

Services Angle

In baseball, you need to get on base. In tech, you need to build things.

It can seem so slow paced at times. But then there is a peer in the group who figures it out.  They take a different approach. And it makes sense.  It costs less.  And the service provides better value.

Moneyball author Michael Lewis and Oakland A’s General Manager Billy Beane were interviewed in the keynote today at the IBM Information on Demand Conference. The interviewer asked why Beane would let Lewis give away his secrets.

The reality: secrets don’t last very long in baseball or in business. Eventually people figure it out, too. They see the power of analytics and decide they need to get on board.

We see that happening today. Developers are influencing the game. The user interfaces are improving. The services are getting smarter. The pace of development is quickening.

The difference is the people. Billy Beane trusted the young kid. He saw in him a clear sense of what the data said. And namely that you need to get people on base. Look for the players that get on base and you will win. And that’s what the Oakland A’s did. They won ball games.  In the process, the culture changed in the organization.

That’s the lesson. In our world, it’s about doing things. You listen, make apps, develop APIs and share what you have learned. That leads to change. And change leads to a new way of thinking that really can have an impact on the culture.

That’s the lesson from Moneyball.