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| The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination | 
 enlarge | Authors: Ken Blanchard, Steve Gottry
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $0.80
You Save: $19.15 (96%)
New (39) Used (38) from $0.80
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 274460
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.9 x 0.6
ISBN: 0060574593
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4093
EAN: 9780060574598
ASIN: 0060574593
Publication Date: January 1, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Standard used condition.
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Amazon.com Review
Procrastination is the focus of mega-selling One Minute Manager Ken Blanchard's latest business fable. Blanchard, and co-author Steve Gottry, tell the tale of "Manager Bob," the uber procrastinator, whose lateness, missed deadlines, and lack of priorities have put his job in jeopardy. And Bob is not alone. "If you study the personal and corporate crash and burns of this world, you'll discover that procrastinators move to the head of the class." The authors create a dialogue between Bob and a fictional chief effectiveness officer who introduces a three-step strategy to work "on-time and on-target." The first technique "create priority," is explained in terms of triage, a battlefield term for assigning an order of medical treatment on the basis of urgency. Next, Bob encounters the intriguing notion of "Propriety" expressed in the format of a succinct "Bill of Rights": Am I doing the right thing, for the right person, at the right time, with the right reasons? Finally, Manager Bob learns to distinguish between interest and commitment and the deeper meaning of yes and no. Each of the three strategies underline the premise of procrastination as a failure to define what is important. Occasionally, their message is sidetracked by cuteness, (nicknames for Bob) confusion, (calling the approach a "3-P strategy" ignores the C in commitment) and a contrived ending where Bob becomes the chief effectiveness officer. Still, the center holds with practical techniques, explained with brevity and clarity. Blanchard and Gottry know how to make a long story short. --Barbara Mackoff
Product Description
Ken Blanchard's phenomenal bestsellers, such as The One Minute Manager and Raving Fans, have made him a globally recognized business legend. Millions look to Blanchard for innovative approaches to management, leadership, customer service, and much more. Now, he has joined with noted business author Steve Gottry to explore one of the most common and insidious problems plaguing the workplace -- procrastination. The On-Time, On-Target Manager is the story of Bob, a typical middle manager who puts things off to the last minute. As a result, he misses deadlines because his lack of focus causes him to accomplish meaningless tasks before getting to the important things. Like many professionals, Bob rationalizes, justifies, and tries to explain. Luckily, Bob is sent to his company's CEO -- which stands for "Chief Effectiveness Officer" -- who helps him deal with the three negative side effects of procrastination: lateness, poor work quality, and stress to himself and others. Bob learns how to transform himself from a crisis-prone Last-Minute manager into a productive On-Time, On-Target manager. With this engaging parable, Blanchard and Gottry offer practical strategies any professional can put into practice to improve his or her performance.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 A parable that misses the mark January 2, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Ken Blanchard has always been one of my favorite business
authors, starting with the classic that he wrote with Spencer
Johnson: THE ONE MINUTE MANAGER . . . so when I came
across something of his that I had missed, THE ON-TIME,
ON-TARGET MANAGER (co-authored with Steve Gottry), I grabbed
an audio copy of it since I was particularly interested in its
subtitle: HOW A "LAST-MINUTE MANAGER CONQURED
PROCRASTINATION.
I must admit it took me a few weeks to listen to it . . . first, I had
to . . . well, I won't bother you with the details, but procrastination
definitely came into play . . . unfortunately, I'm not sure that I
learned very much from listening that helped me deal with
this vexing problem.
THE ON-TIME, ON-TARGET MANAGER is another parable
that Blanchard typically writes so well . . . this one, however,
missed the mark for me . . . I wasn't interested in the
main character, Bob, or any of his multiple nicknames that
actually got annoying after a very short while . . . moreover,
I was thrown by the "3-P strategy" that started off fine with
Priority . . . however, I'm still now quite sure how Propriety
fit into the mix . . . and Commitment isn't even a "P," but
according to the authors was a mnemonic device that didn't work
for me.
I would have preferred a better ending, along with some actual
examples of how the principles could be put into play
by Bob or anybody else for that matter.
In retrospect, I did at least come away with a reminder that I
need to continually ask myself: What is the most important
thing I should be doing? Other readers wanting an answer
would do better by reading my all-time favorite time management
book, HOW TO GET CONTROL OF YOUR TIME AND YOUR
LIFE by Alan Lakein.
Too mediocre a parable/book on time management. Nothing on procrastination at all! April 25, 2006
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
The proposition of 3Ps, Priority, Propriety (do the right thing at the right time with the right people....) and Committment (yes, it's a C, the author said it's for you to memorize it better, which I duly agree) is straightforward and simple. However, as a victim of procrastination who read tens of books on the subject and is still fighting daily against it, I can tell this book is a mediocre time management book instead of a cure for procrastination, that the psychological or even physiological aspects of procrastination had not been addressed at all. If things can be dealt with easily in the prescribed rational and mechanical manner, there would simply be no market for this book. Even worse, the parable is real bad and boring.
For those who want to read to fight against procrastination, I strongly recommend "Unleash the warrior within" by Richard Machowicz. If you wanna improve your time management skills, "10 Natural Laws of Succcessful Time and Life Management" by Hyrum W. Smith is a very good choice.
 The Easiest Time Management System April 24, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Time management does not have to be complicated. Daytimers, PDAs, project management software and so on all help . . . especially if you follow the advice in this book.
Quite simply, this book teaches time management by dividing tasks into 3 simple categories:
* Tasks I have to do
* Tasks I can do if I have the time
* Tasks I don't have to do but want to
Yes, Maybe, and No. It's that simple. Tasks I have to do go into the yes category; tasks I can do if I have time go into the maybe category; and tasks I don't have to do but want to go into the no category.
Divide a piece of paper into 3 columns titled "Yes", "Maybe", "No". List your tasks under the appropriate categories. Prioritize the tasks in the "Yes" column. Make sure you do those first. Next, work on the "Maybe" column, and so on.
I provided the simple, condensed version of this method. This book provides more valuable information written in an enjoyable format.
Not up to the standard I expect from the series March 7, 2005
16 out of 16 found this review helpful
I have always enjoyed Ken Blanchard's management books because they deliver simple and straightforward management principles in an easy-to-learn style. For example, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey is a classic of proper delegation.
Unfortunately, the Last Minute Manager was not up to the usual standards of this series. The book was not compelling and did not really teach the reader a solution to the problem of procrastination.
*The basic problem was that the book did not have a simple system to teach. Though the system was called The Three P's these were really headings for a complex variety of questions, ideas and principles that made the execution process more complex than it needed to be. The fact that the third "P" started with C was a bit jarring. The book claimed this was a mnemonic device but I see it more as an symptom of the fact that the whole model needed more work.
*The main character is a doofus. I didn't find myself cheering for his success, I simply found myself annoyed with him. The descriptions of him as "Bob the last-minute Manger", "Bob the suddenly-surprised Manager", "Bob the newly-focused Manager" etc were also annoying.
*The book had too much theory and not enough tactics. It presented you with high levels questions and ideas about your priorities but it was light on examples of how to use them. For example it shows you a "triage" form but we never see Bob use it.
*There were no examples of how Bob the-highly-annoying Manager used his new found skills to improve his work or productivity. The book did not clearly tie the process in the book to the problem of lateness, poor-quality, and stress.
There is definitely room for a Blanchard book on the problem of time management. I'm afraid that I can't recommend this one. Instead I recommend "First Things First" by Steven Covey for those struggling with this issue. It is much more work to read, but I think it solves the problems that afflict Bob in this story in a more straightforward manner.
Finally there is a pet peeve. Why do all these management book use married men as examples of people who need to be fixed? I agree that the problem of choosing a sex for someone with a problem is vexing, and its most likely that married men will be the least likely to complain. That said, I think there is room for some originality in this realm. The work world has a much wider constituency than married men named "Bob". I hope we see it reflected in future books.
Solid Material with Cheesy, Campy, Memorable Moments December 22, 2004
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Why do employees and people in general procrastinate?
From this allegorical business book from the highly successful Ken Blanchard and his co-author, Steve Gottry, we learn employees and others procrastinate predominantly because they are clueless. They haven't invested in life - or the business. Once our "subject" middle manager Bob make that change from employee mindset to owner mindset, all life will change.
With a little bit of help from a Cheerleader-Coach type "Chief Effectiveness Officer" we watch Bob's journey... and pick up many lessons along the way.
One of the details I have to mention about this book is memorable. The story it tells and the suggestions it gives stick in the mind.
There are cheesy moments (like all of Bob's silly nicknames - really, enough is enough writers). I almost thought there was a sound track over the campy text "dadadada daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh" when the words in bold were trotted out.
PRIORITY (stated in BOLD) "Yes, it is important!" PROPRIETY (what does that mean exactly?) and COMMITMENT (wait - that isn't a "P" - so get over it already.)
The ending section of the book reminded me of what I have heard from network marketers, especially from one company.... Listing what is really important. God first, Family second, then the 3-P's with Commitment being fleshed out as purpose, ideals, goals, integrity, truth and follow through as well as that also tiny bit annoying "you gotta wanna!".
I would suggest reading this book for everyone simply because the information is solid, it is familiar enough and reinforces a lot of what you may already know and that you haven't yet tied together.
There are enough Bobs in the world - lets introduce them to this book and see what happens.
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