In a newspaper article this week, ‘Why is Privilege Suddenly Sexy‘, a writer wonders why “the more we are reminded of the sinfulness of privilege the more we wallow in it.” The appeal of the past There can surely be many reasons why, in our times of unprecedented speed of change and social and political upheavals, […]
Archives for 2017
Seeing the Big Picture of Management with the Theory of Constraints
Due to the global success of Dr. Goldratt’s first business novel ‘The Goal’ most people mistakenly think of TOC as just a technique for manufacturing. While TOC does produces fast and radical improvements in manufacturing processes, it is in fact a whole system philosophy and method. The thinking that underlies this theory stems from a worldview […]
Bad Managers – Why So Many? (And How Can Project Managers Be the Solution?)
An alarming number of people leave their jobs because of bad managers, according to a recent report from Gallup. This is bad news not just for the unhappy employees but for the organizations who lose good resources. Management has been around for a long time, so why are people still so bad at it? Being […]
A Project-Based Organization to Radically Improve Performance
Competencies not power, common goal instead of function/silo results, these are the elements of an organization built on projects. We all know that what matters is the global (overall) bottom line of any organization. And yet, when we measure performance, we connect it with functional, i.e. silo results. How do we come out of this seemingly irreconcilable conflict? We […]
Hierarchy and Silos – How they Hurt Project Management
Even with the best Project Management, hierarchy and silos will interfere with outcomes. In this post we look at why that is and how Project Management itself is the answer. If you Google the term ‘Project Management’ you will hundreds of millions of results. It is a multi-billion dollar business and there are official institutes that […]
Reclaim Your Brain from Distraction and Focus on the Goal
“That was really tiring!” was the comment of a client after working for an hour on a Prerequisite Tree, one of the Thinking Process Tools from the Theory of Constraints. Work makes us tired in many ways and fatigue is inevitable. What’s important is the results achieved through what makes us tired. Our minds are […]
What is a Project Manager?
The term Project Manager is much abused. We look at a precise definition of what Project Manager means in a systemic organization, where projects make up the nervous system of the organization. An organization is essentially a network of projects with a goal An organization is essentially a network of projects with a goal. There are projects that […]
Network Thinking: Changing How We see the World
Adopting a network perspective changes how we see the world and our place in it. In this post we look at how that applies to organizations and their design. Revolutions in thought have been part of our human development, from Copernicus’ unveiling how the sun does not revolve around the earth to Darwin’s theory of evolution, […]
How to Create a Systemic Strategy
Strategy is about identifying a direction and creating robust solutions to move coherently in that direction. It involves identifying the systemic changes that need to be created. There are three main phases for this: what to change what to change to how to make the change happen For each of these phases, there is […]
The Importance of Understanding “Constraint” for 21st Century Organizations
Today’s post looks at ways to understand what “constraint” means for an organization and why we need to identify it and manage it in 21st century organizations. This is an extract from the business novel + website, The Human Constraint. May opened the window of her apartment to let in some fresh air. The morning was […]