Ackoff was and continues to be a towering figure in efforts to lead and manage organizations informed by systems thinking. His work was especially prominent in the late 1980’s when it helped to shape project management, emerging at just that moment as an organized discipline and community of practice. Many of his key constructs – […]
Category: Delivering Value
Create product increments that are valuable to key stakeholders on schedule and budget.
“Inversion Method Explained for Decision Making and Problem Solving”
Here is a helpful 9-minute presentation on the The Inversion Method (although the last minute is not so helpful.) As explained here, it less a method and more of a mental model or a general approach for problem-solving and decision-making. In a nutshell, it can be summarized as “avoiding stupidity” or “reverse engineering success”. Instead […]
“SMART Goals – Quick Overview”
Excellent 3′ presentation – helps to understand related ideas as well, e.g. prioritization, alignment, metrics/performance measures, and the choice thereof.
“Product Life Cycle (with Real World Examples)”
9′ video with useful, well-designed slides and product examples. Projects are very often selected and launched specifically to support a product in one stage of the product life cycle. E.g. marketing projects for company products in the “Introduction Phase” and development projects for products in the “Growth Phase”. These days, many companies organize work increasingly […]
“Kotter’s 8 Step Change Management Model”
Concise 4′ explanation with whiteboard. Kotter’s model was framed primarily to inform and inspire leaders of change management initiatives at the enterprise scale. Since such initiatives nearly always involve launching or influencing programs and projects, those working in such projects may find Kotter’s model useful to understand C-level decision-making and policies. What is also interesting […]
“Mastering Kanban #3 – Improving the Workflow”
Kanban depends on ongoing improvement by the team, not only of the kanban board they originally design, but also of their guidelines and guardrails (e.g. WIP limits). Starting at about minute 2, this 7+’ video offers further explanation supported by some interesting anecdotes.
“Agile in Practice – Big Visible Charts”
Nice 3.5′ introduction to agile team use of big visible charts (aka “big visual chart”, “BVC”). Addresses rationale as well as categories of charts and general usage. Also included are useful criteria for evaluating any set of BVC’s. (Such a set of BVC’s is often called a “dashboard”.)
“What is a Project Baseline and When to Use It!”
Good, short (<3′) overview of project baselines via a single whiteboard. Topics are essential definitions (no case example or attention to quantitative aspects, i.e. metrics)
“6.2 Define Activities”
This is a 13′ explanation of the project task list. It emphasizes the creation of the list, based mainly on a model of project scope in the form of a work breakdown structure (WBS). It assumes the PMI perspective and so uses the PMI terms for “task list”, namely “activity list” or “schedule activity list.” […]
“What is a Quality Circle? Definition and Examples”
Quality circles are noteworthy for many reasons: meta-, macro-, and micro-. Thse include, as examples, their contribution to the Japanese economic miracle, their emphasis on self-organization as a pattern for managing project team work, and on their toolbox of design and problem-solving tools, including cause-effect diagrams. Here is a concise and solid introduction, inclluding a […]