Problem solving continuum.
The variety of approaches to problem solving appear to form a continuum, that looks a bit like: The "workaround" where you find a way around the problem, hoping by magic it will go away. Further along the continuum we have some sort of score chart which logs the...
Other consequences
The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is one of disastrous proportions immediately, and into the long term as the environmental impacts become clearer. However, there are other consequences not talked about yet, that of the impact it will have on the willingness of...
Lessons from the buffet.
I had lunch a few months ago with a client, just at the local club, nothing fancy, as we discussed the very challenging problems of operational flow through his plant. It was a buffet, simple, serve yourself, and as luck would have it, a couple of tour busses landed...
Less is often more
Most marketers equate success to more; more ads, more locations, more customers, more Sku's, more appearances in the press, and so on. However, the quest for "more" leaves a lot on the table, as it disregards the value of what you have. Would you rather have an extra...
Knowledge worker productivity.
How do you figure out the productivity of employees paid to think? In the old days, productivity was measured by a range of quantitative measures, quantity, cost, conformance to standard, cycle times, and so on. Now, when the productivity is ideas, improvements,...
The power of a presentation
A while ago, I sat through two consecutive presentations on related topics, the first was energising, interesting, and memorable, the second was cold, dirty, dishwater. Thinking about the manner of the presentations, rather than the value of the words, led to the...
Book piracy?
Will the iPad and Kindle do to books what has happened to music? You have to believe they will. At the moment, it is the early adopters who are looking for books electronically, but it should not take too long to become mainstream. It would be silly for publishers...
Web freedom and freedom of speech
As we grapple in this country with the notion of Canberra putting filters on the net, as has happened in China, and the various businesses and groups having their say, perhaps the most useful being Google, who have had the guts to take a stand that compromises their...
Make meetings work
So many meetings fail to deliver an outcome simply because they do not ask for one. Here’s an tactic I saw at work a while ago in a meeting chaired by someone I know well with an extensive record of getting things done. At the end of the agenda, he went around the...
Management and conformity.
Management involves a huge amount of compromise, and hubris amongst all the more usual stuff you see about strategy, vision, performance measures and the like. We are all human, and often seek the easy way out, the low risk option. Often, this involves telling...