Market awarness & Assumptions

A couple of days ago someone emailed me if a certain website was a good platform to advertise on.

I called him back and asked: "Don't they accept your article?" "Well yes. But I want to write good articles, do you know how much time this takes?" 5-10 minutes later he concluded: "I have to think about it, it for sure is an interesting way to look at it."

Undercurrents, saboteurs and control freaks

Sometimes there is a complaint about undercurrents in an organization. Undercurrents that slow down a change and make the transformation difficult.

Find the saboteurs. Make undercurrents visible. An open culture of mutual respect and sincerity is a necessity to work efficiently and effectively together

Really? Or is this a selling point of control freaks who want to push their own agenda?

Apps vs Total Solutions

With the introduction of smart phones apps emerged and flourished. There is an app for everything you need and if it isn't yet today, very likely tomorrow.

The power of apps is basically due to the high ROI, not just in financial terms. Most apps are easy to use, cost little to nothing and do the job you want it to do. If you don't like it, or have no longer a use of it, fine discard it.

But without realizing it, we are changing the way we think and act. The Apps will have very profound and deep impact on how we go about things in every aspect of life.

Why throw away the baby with the bathwater?

Too often ideas are too quickly rejected because they are not quite perfect. And that's a pity.

A pity because it ignores the human aspect.
A pity because an idea can often be made al lot better with a little effort.
A pitty because it is a missed learning opportunity.

Within the Theory of Constraints (TOC) there is this beautiful technique to handle this in an interactive and well-communicable way. This technique is called Negative Branch Reservation, a mouthful and therefore according to good use abbreviated to three letters: NBr.

The power and volatility of an illusion

For years I enjoyed working for Symbision. Unfortunately, in April 2011 Symbision ceases to exist. Always interesting to have a moment of reflection one year later.

One thing that I strongly remember was how proud we were generally on how collegial and caring for each other we were. These were important values ​​for us. But was that really the case?

Author Association ISO voor Projecten established

The Praktijkgids ISO 21500 in de praktijk was published by NEN-Uitgeverij on 8th of January this year.

The authors, including myself, formed an official author association today.

Maybe a little late, but there are some more things coming up in the field of project management and ISO.

What is going on in the service industry?

When I think of service industry, I think certainly not one-size-fits-all. I do not think that the human factor is a small and subordinated to the whole. I do not think service industry even slightly resembles production from the 80s in the last millennium. Am I wrong? 

Many in the service industry, from healthcare to ICT, are busy embracing principles that were seen as a solution for production from the distant past. A time of high volumes, few changes, thinking that there is infinite capacity, labor marginal factor. Why?

TOC 3.0?

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) has been around for many years. Since the early years it has developed a bit, some would say it has grown a great deal. 

Maybe, but IMHO, TOC is due for a shake up. Continuing the path is a path into oblivion. And that, that would be a great pitty.

Collaboration - Whiteboard

Collaboration is very important. However, being able to work together isn't always that easy. Especially when physical distance is an issue.

Fortunately, Skype is reliable and good for already many years. The past two years we did a lot of work using  Google Drive.
However, there is room for some other things. A whitboard I find more than useful.

Project Risks -- What is the biggest?

Projects are full of risks. These risks usually have an enormous impact for usually a long time on the profitability of an organisation

For as long as project management exists there is talk about risks. An huge amount of knowledge and experience has been developed. Still, I think that one factor is missed. Not that this factor suddenly removes all the other risks. It is a factor that acts like a 'multiplier'.