2011-08-12 Friday - Faster Isn't Always Better

I received an email today...which reminded me of Aesop's fable of the Tortoise and the Hare.

http://www.bpminstitute.org/roundtables/past-round-table/article/pmi-mortgage-insurance-co-s-roadmap-to-business-agility.html?m=e&s=dcevent&c=wspreview&k=bpm&v=all

"Case study about how PMI used rules management and process management to achieve business agility i.e. better, faster and cheaper changes to achieve business results. Also discusses how IT collaborated with business as facilitator and enabler."

...which reminded me of this recent news item...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Mortgage-insurer-PMI-Group-apf-2378822000.html?x=0&.v=4

"Mortgage insurer The PMI Group Inc. warned investors on Thursday that it may be unable to continue selling new policies and could shut down."
(...)
"Like other mortgage insurers, PMI has been able to sell profitable policies in recent years, but the gains from those sales hasn't outpaced losses from policies sold during the bubble."

...from which one might draw a conclusion that going "faster" maybe isn't always such a good idea?

What if by adopting a Business Rule Management System, they were able to be more agile - and thus make fundamental changes to their core business model "faster"?

Which eliminated the benefit of a slower pace - that would have allowed more contemplation of a suggested change.

And as a consequence of that - they destroyed shareholder value, employee careers, and killed their company?


Technology isn't always the right answer.

Sometimes, technology can simply be a weapon that magnifies your mistakes - to the point of being the instrument of your destruction.