Two bits of input that met in my brain today:

Merlin Mann, from the latest Back to Work podcast:

“As a company, you know how you tell something is a priority?

• It’s got a budget
• It’s got a due date
• and it’s got one person that has to make sure that it happens.

If it doesn’t have all of those three, it’s probably never going to happen.”

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop in a purported internal memo (via Daring Fireball):

“The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience. Android came on the scene just over 2 years ago, and this week they took our leadership position in smartphone volumes. Unbelievable. […]

How did we get to this point? Why did we fall behind when the world around us evolved?

This is what I have been trying to understand. I believe at least some of it has been due to our attitude inside Nokia. We poured gasoline on our own burning platform. I believe we have lacked accountability and leadership to align and direct the company through these disruptive times. We had a series of misses. We haven’t been delivering innovation fast enough. We’re not collaborating internally.”