How things are done, processes, the building blocks of business are changing. You build successful organizations by building processes(sets of activities and decisions to achieve specific goals) but now it's even more important that you optimize the people, technology and analytics in these processes if you want a successful result (and more literally, if you want to survive). This is increasingly complicated by the fact that many processes, especially those involving the product or service delivery cycle, involve and flow through multiple organizations.
Contributed by alan on 25th of February 2016 09:33:53 AM
Previously, I discussed a focus on processes, on the how. I'm going to next address some of the basics that still apply to today's environment and I believe always will. It is hoped that before you dive into any process, quality and/or quality improvement effort, that you'll consider these ideas if you haven't already.
Contributed by alan on 13th of December 2015 09:26:16 AM
Every organization is comprised of a set of processes - increasingly these processes span organizational boundaries and increasingly they have components (apps, programs…) that pull data from many sources and adaptively "learn". Processes have become more and more complex to set up but due to technology, often deceptively simple in operation which can hide problems.
Contributed by alan on 12th of August 2015 12:04:34 PM
Over the last 30 years, there have been a series of buzzword programs in the quality and productivity improvement area in organizations. These include such alphabetic combinations as TQM, BPR, Lean, AGILE, LSX, Six Sigma, ERP, MRPII, TOC, WCM, Kaizen, CIT, CAPM and quite a number of others. All of them have been attributed to successful business results and a few to many.
Contributed by alan on 21st of April 2015 12:13:11 PM
There is a key concept in business and life that can have a powerful impact on your ability to identify problems and address them effectively. The concept is variation. Variation is the difference between what you expect to see and what you actually observe (expected vs. observed). W.
Contributed by Charlene Castillo on 31st of December 2014 08:40:34 AM
At the beginning of each year, you hear a lot more chatter about getting "organized", getting more done, working smarter, improving personal productivity…. No matter how you express it, the problem typically identified is not getting enough of your work done and in some cases, overcoming burn-out.
Contributed by alan on 19th of December 2013 10:21:27 PM
Statistical thinking is the ability to understand a situation by accurately assessing probabilities, understanding variation and dealing effectively with uncertainty.
I just finished teaching a graduate-level statistics class where the textbook material was the conventional hypothesis testing, confidence intervals and n/z/t/f/chi2 distributions... This is all valuable stuff in assessing samples and providing proof of the validity of your data. Far more valuable, I believe, is the ability to actually think statistically, which actually has very little to do with this.
Contributed by alan on 25th of January 2013 06:25:48 AM
Does HOW you do things matter? Think of anything significant you do- think of HOW it can best be done. Now, consider HOW you do it currently. This is a great line of thought for business leaders to instill in their managers but before you go down that road, you need to ensure they are focused on the right processes. Not all processes are important but the ones that have the following characteristics are:
Contributed by alan on 1st of April 2011 01:46:37 PM
