SALES PDCA Framework for Lean Sales and Marketing

SALES PDCA is the framework I use for the process that takes place in the customer groups. It is nothing more than a standard PDCA cycle except the SALES part of the framework is where the sales team gets its directions and coaching from the team coordinator and value stream manager. Within the actual PDCA Read More …

Using Little Ideas to achieve Big Things

Whether we call it PDCA Lean Startup, Agile or Scrum. author Peter Sims believes this shift from slow, calculated execution to rapid, low-risk iteration has fundamentally changed the way we do business. His book, Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries explores how companies are using these ideas to achieve big things. Peter Read More …

Business Processes as Value Networks

Verna Allee, CEO, ValueNetworks.com, reflects on the growing interest in understanding business processes as networks and how value network modeling provides a fresh approach.  I encourage you to watch and learn more. People banter about the terms of Community, Collaboration and  Co-Creation with little thought on what they mean or what structure it takes to Read More …

Continuous Improvement, The Toyota Way

James Franz was my guest on the Business901 podcast and this is a transcription of the podcast. If you have been spending your time improving your processes and wondering why you are not getting the expected returns, this is for you. Jim is the co-author with Jeffrey K. Liker on the latest of the Toyota Read More …

Pair Problem Solving in the Workplace

Today cooperation is replacing competition in more and more work situations. We are even seeing a rise in co-creating products with customers. Yet few of us have any training in cooperative thinking or group problem solving. Our typical introduction to teamwork is being picked to be part of a team. In Agile software development the Read More …

Little Bets – The Way to take an Affordable Risk

Start Small, Iterate a lot, Scale – that’s the advice from Peter Sims, the author of the new book Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries. When reading the book, you can’t help but think about Eric Ries of The Lean Startup fame. Eric characterizes his Little Bets with the description of the Read More …