The Cost Center Trap - Mary Poppendieck

If you work as a developer in an IT department, chances are you work in a cost center. If you work as a software engineer in a business unit, chances are you work in a profit center. If the job is fundamentally the same in either case – does it really matter whether your organization is considered a cost center?
It matters a lot - in many subtle ways that are often hidden and usually frustrating. The metrics and rituals of a cost center tend to off-load responsibility and suppress creativity. One thing is clear – should a cost center try to compete with a profit center, the deck is stacked against it.
This talk will look at the impact of accounting practices on business performance, particularly when a new paradigm sweeps through an industry.

Join us as Mary Poppendieck shares The Cost Center Trap.

Mary Poppendieck has been in the Information Technology industry for over forty years. She has managed software development, supply chain management, manufacturing operations, and new product development. She spearheaded the implementation of a Just-in-Time system in a 3M manufacturing plant and led new product development teams, commercializing products ranging from digital controllers to 3M Light Fiber™.
Mary is a popular writer and speaker, and coauthor of the book Lean Software Development: an Agile Toolkit, which was awarded the Software Development Productivity Award in 2004. A sequel, Implementing Lean Software Development: from Concept to Cash was published in 2006. A third book, Leading Lean Software Development: Results are Not the Point was published in November 2009, and a fourth book, The Lean Mindset: Ask the Right Questions was published in 2013.

Social Hour at 5:30
Program starts at 6:00