From the category archives:

General

Introduction to First Steps Video Series

08.09.2010

This week I introduce a new weekly video series, First Steps. Sometimes the journey of a thousand steps begins with one step. Sometimes, just a shuffling of the feet. However small the investment, it is still a step in the right direction.
This video series is meant to describe small ways in which you can, [...]

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Igor Stravinsky Agrees: Standards Enable Creativity

08.06.2010

This week I’ve been commenting on things I’ve found on the web. Often, they are posts I’ve saved in my blog reader Gruml (which by the way is a fantastic Google Reader desktop app if you are a Mac user).
I’ve always enjoyed Jon Miller’s posts on Gemba Panta Rei. This is a post that caught [...]

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Grouting your life with learning

08.04.2010

Another little gem from the internet is about learning. A lean thinker is all about learning. We recommend small steps, any step, every day. Sometimes you have to squeeze it in the cracks. That’s where grouting comes in. Grout fills in the cracks. How do you fill in the little spaces of time in your [...]

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Amazon.com’s Chief Lean Thinker

08.02.2010

This week I’ll be blogging about various things I’ve found around the internet. Of course, the volume of content continues to increase. I sometimes wonder if the rate of increase of garbage outpaces the good stuff. But there is plenty of good stuff as well.
I’m always on the lookout for entrepreneurs that secretly double as [...]

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Valid or reliable – in the board room

07.30.2010

In my last post on the theme of looking at metrics as either valid or reliable and the balance between them, I wanted to examine the impact on decisions in the board room. So far we have covered the following:

Valid or reliable – take your pick
Valid or reliable – trying to break the tradeoff
Valid or [...]

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Valid or reliable – is your culture right?

07.29.2010

This week I’ve been writing about the tradeoff between measuring things in a valid way or a reliable means. Two posts published so far are:

Valid or reliable – take your pick
Valid or reliable – trying to break the tradeoff

How does this impact culture?
Culture is one of the most vital yet most difficult to measure dimensions [...]

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Valid or reliable – trying to break the tradeoff

07.28.2010

Yesterday I wrote about how measurements are often in conflict between being valid indicators and reliable indicators in Valid or reliable – take your pick. How can we possibly break this tension so there is no tradeoff?
One method, staying within the domain of measurement, is a stronger use of ratios. Many of the reliability failures [...]

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Valid or reliable – take your pick

07.27.2010

Last week we had an interesting conversation. It started as a discussion about projects, particularly how you make sure you projects are going in the right direction. Ideally, you should choose how you’re going to be measuring yourself before, during, and after the project. If you wait to the end to say “how do we [...]

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Too Many Problems

07.22.2010

My latest article, Too Many Problems, articulates that I see problem solving in organizations as much more than problem solving skills. Many times people roll out new problem solving skills thinking that is enough. But beyond that, you also need systems and infrastructure to support those skills, and the right culture and behaviors to enable [...]

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R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

07.19.2010

Photo credit: AP
George Steinbrenner passed away last week of a heart attack at the age of 80. I’m a die hard Red Sox fan, so it was always hard to watch a man of Steinbrenner’s caliber beat you. But George was a winner, and that should be celebrated. As I look at what I can [...]

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