The Art of ‘Ware: an invitation

I’m going to start posting on this web site maxims from The Art of ‘Ware (Version 2.0), which is a revision of my original book. I’m doing this for two reasons. First, I plan to use these postings to expand my own commentary on the maxims. Second, I am actively soliciting commentary on the maxims themselves. Here’s what I had to say elsewhere.

In Suntzu pingfa, Sun Tzu only wrote the maxims. Commentary was added through the centuries and millennia by other military leaders, philosophers, and writers. They interpreted and expanded upon his thoughts, often providing military anecdotes to support (or challenge) a particular concept.

I would like this second edition of The Art of ‘Ware to grow into a compilation of insight, observations and wisdom from the industry itself. To that end, I am soliciting commentary for all the maxims in this book, adding to or replacing the ones I have already written. You can start by posting comments to the individual chapters (via the blog’s mechanism) or by e-mailing me; from those, I’ll select ones to be integrated into the text of the book itself. Much as in editions of Suntzu pingfa, each commentary will be individually credited (i.e., your name given), and there can be multiple commentaries for a single maxim.

Here’s the fine print, right up front (or, in this case, right at the end). First, acceptance and inclusion (or exclusion) of a given commentary is entirely at the discretion and whim of myself and (should The Art of ‘Ware make it back into print form) the publishers. Second, you won’t get paid anything. Third, you’ll assign the necessary rights (on a non-exclusive basis) to me and/or the publishers; if the book does go into print, you may have to sign and return a form to that extent. On the other hand, I will have a page up front in the print edition listing all the commentators, most likely sorted alphabetically (though I reserve the right to sort it some other way).

So have at it. ..bruce..

About the Author: bfwebster

Webster is Principal and Founder at at Bruce F. Webster & Associates, as well as an Adjunct Professor for the BYU Computer Science Department. He works with organizations to help them with troubled or failed information technology (IT) projects. He has also worked in several dozen legal cases as a consultant and as a testifying expert, both in the United States and Japan. He can be reached at 303.502.4141 or at bwebster@bfwa.com.