Projects plow (or plod) ahead just fine, especially when there is something that is believed to approximate a charter, like a project or work initiation document, a sensible budget spreadsheet, or a darn good powerpoint presentation. What could possibly go wrong when a group of managing directors get together to approve a large project on [...]

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There are a number of highly toxic traps that a project can find itself in. It could be that the project is perpetually spinning with no defined end. Perhaps it is being (ab)used to further or encumber someone’s advancement in the organization. Some projects are completed with an anecdotal pronouncement of success that - just [...]

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A while back, I had the opportunity to hear Mary Poppendieck speak at the BayAPLN. I just spotted the Agile 2007 90min video+slides version of it and had to watch it again. Of particular interest to me were the case studies. I was already aware of the Toyota Production System, how it focuses managers on [...]

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Companies can sometimes be pretty indiscriminate with their policies and decisions. I’m all for the pursuit of the greater good but I feel this is sometimes confused for the pursuit of a one-size-fits-all. Decrees can be very useful last-resorts to get an organization to take needed action or to implement new legislation. However a common [...]

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In engineering I learned about how Adaptive Control is used to manage Nonlinear Processes. These are defined as processes that change in behavior as operating levels change. An example might be an industrial plant where chemicals, gasses, liquids and other things are mixed together at a constant rate but at some point the temperature of [...]

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