Many of us are familiar with to-do lists. Over the past couple of years, I’ve become a big fan of the “done” list. The done list contains everything I have finished that day. It may be an actual “to-do” list item. It may be a smaller part of a “to-do” list item. It may be […]
Why You Need to Strengthen Your Foundations
Most of us are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The base is physiological – breathing, food, water, sex, sleep…. The next level is safety and security – of employment, of health, of family… Implicit in this model is that each level BUILDS ON the other, it is not REPLACED BY the other. This “building […]
On Time, Resources and the Desired Experience
Sitting by a tree in Myersville, MD talking about trip/project planning. Now that I am back home, here are the actual numbers: If I went by plane (one way): 1.5 hours for the actual flight between DC and Toronto Take taxi to airport (anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours – dependent upon DC traffic) Arrive […]
#52books Why Simple Wins
———– #52 Books – Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters Format: Kindle We have a culture of “more is more.” We struggle to let go of things. The pet processes that we so carefully designed. Tasks that we have made our own. If we want to let go […]
#52books The Phoenix Project
View on Instagram http://ift.tt/2EW7Rsk ——— #52books – The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win Format: Kindle It’s a luxury to sit and consume a book in one sitting. Having the time to do that is half of it. Finding a book you can’t put down is the other. Gene […]
The Power of Templates
Templates are one of my favorite ways to reduce overall performance load. I am always looking for ways to create templates for similar activities. What made my first contract so difficult was that I had to create all of my templates at the same time as executing a very complicated project. EVERYTHING was built from […]
Human Performance Load
Human Performance Load – the physical and mental effort it takes for an individual to perform a task. It goes beyond just straight cognitive load. (I strongly recommend reading Connie Malamud’s post “What Is Cognitive Load?” for background). Though many tasks in my world are knowledge-based, there is still the physical time it takes to […]
Decision Making
Why do approvals take so much time? Why does it seem like decision making is taking even longer? McKinsey & Company, in a recent blog post, identified a few trends that, honestly, I’ve seen throughout my 20-ahem year career in the workplace. Organizational complexity and unclear authority. No one feels like they have the authority […]
My Problem with Process Notation Models
In a previous post – I mentioned that I wished to investigate IBIS Notation. Kailash Awati does a great job of defining the rules and definitions of the IBIS model in his post – Issues, Ideas and Arguments. My personal problem with these models – in the heat of the moment, my brain just doesn’t […]
