Discussing Operational Excellence, Management Innovation, and the Pursuit of Work/Life Integration.
You will never find a magic technology tool that you buy and that will instantly start a waterfall of cash onto your bottom line.
Technology?
Sure – it can help automate or standardize a good process. But people have to be doing the hard work involved in those processes first. [Read more]
Something I have to wonder about the high rate of failure of most process improvement projects – is how many of them are executed according to solid project management principles? All too often, there are tales of failure describing a lack of senior management buy-in, however, that begs the question – if you didn’t have [...]
A frequent frustration I have surfaces whenever I encounter project teams whose first instinct is to crack open a spreadsheet/database/management app/anything else that resides on a laptop when they begin to plan out their work. Very often, that instinct rests on a lack of genuine understanding of how to plan activities and an utter reliance [...]
I absolutely adore people with no understanding of the systemic impacts of their actions. Unless, of course, I happen to be one of the unfrotunate victims. Even then, they are amusing to watch as long as I don’t get too much of their mess on me. Here’s the tyical situation: Someone with just enough authority [...]
We’ve all been exposed to SMART objectives, usually in the context of the dreaded and much-maligned annual performance review. The SMART concept applies to any goal-setting situation, though, such as project planning, business planning, personal productivity, etc. They all employ this simple approach to deciphering what appear to be large, complex problems and breaking them [...]
I think one of the weakest areas of project management (other than planning, which is rarely ever done very well) that I’ve encountered is the Variance Analysis. When things are planned and measurements are taken to determine the status of things, there’s often very little attention paid to understanding the root cause of the issue, and even less done to write those things down very well.
I’ve seen tasks overrun, and the explanation written as, “Costs were higher than expected.”
Gee, thanks. You’re telling me, “We overran because we spent too much.” Nice job, Sherlock. Did you come up with that one all by yourself?
Fact of the matter is, the only way of achieving excellence is to allow for failure. That’s done by pushing the limits, even if just a little bit, and embracing humility. [Read more]
One of the most frustrating things I hear when dealing with project managers is that they are unable to tell if a project is 5%, 25% or 95% complete, due to the ambiguous, ever-changing nature of the task at hand. Apparently, since the work is always changing, it’s impossible to measure it’s status.
What nonsense.
In essence, the classroom is a microcosm of a learning culture. The suggestions we so often discuss for creating leaders who bring out the best in people are already present in a typical classroom. Whether a pre-kindergarten class or an adult graduate course, the traits are common: Patience, planning, flexibility, respect for others, learning from mistakes, constant communication and measureable criteria for success or failure provided at regular, frequent intervals. [Read more]
Even when we manage to convince ourselves that the best approach is to go slow, take little bites, and adjust little by little, there’s a tendency to try and take on too many things in this way once we get used to the process. Personally or professionally, there’s a tendency to simply take on too much. [...]
Recent Comments