For projects that require little to no innovation, eliminate time buffers. We call these “negative time buffers.” For these types of projects, work will expand to fill the time available for its completion when excessive buffer or margin time is added to the schedule. Pull the schedule ahead of target. Deposit that time into the time-bank. That time ahead of the target is the positive buffer.
Read MoreFailure is a process of moving through the "do it, try it, fix it" learning cycles.
Read MoreWe've seen technology start-ups evolve from a few people, when the idea is formed, to a larger group... and the subsequent loss of focus when this happens. The “focus-loss” translates into delayed market entry, which in many cases results in the loss of funding, and eventually causes the business to fail. I’ll also talk about ways to avoid this loss of focus.
Read MoreIn this presentation I’ll walk you through a program we’ve been deploying with emerging companies called fastStart. It is based on the idea that the primary focus of the new venture is to get the right product to market at the right time.
Read More"There falls a shadow between the conception and the creation. In the annals of innovation, new ideas are only part of the equation. Execution is just as important."
Read MoreDriven by corporations trying to do more with less, BPM is back. If you can’t grow, the only way to maintain and improve margins are to reduce costs. Like Hammer and Champy, we are doing it from a customer’s perspective. We believe that if you focus on the customer when improving process efficiency, you will by default save time and money. These are the byproducts of a customer efficient process. Lets look at our process, at a high level.
Read MoreRecently we were asked, “We're not a research company per se and need to benchmark how "think tanks" estimate innovation durations/cycles of learning that require major breakthroughs.”We assembled this document to stimulate group discussion (within the client’s various advanced development teams). It is not meant to draw conclusions or converge on any specific actions, just to get people thinking and talking. 
Read MoreMany projects we work on involve bleeding edge innovation. The most common push-back to planning these projects is that, “Innovation can’t be managed.” The proponents of this notion believe that, “Ideas happen when they happen, and that it is impossible to program these out over time with any reasonable degree of confidence.” Therefor, it is a “waste of time” to plan.
Read MoreOf course everyone knows it is impossible to plan when a breakthrough will happen. Planning requires some certainty about what is being done, how long each step might take, and some idea of when a solution will be achieved. But innovation is different. By definition innovation requires solutions to problems that don’t have known solutions, so how can one accurately predict when a solution will be found? How can the unknown be planned.
Read MoreWhen inventing pathfinding technology (something that has never been done) you have to ignore reality. Steve Jobs called it “reality distortion.” To create, you must refuse to accept current thinking that what you are doing can’t be done. You are told that there are laws of physics, principles of chemistry and material science that should inform you that your problem can’t be solved. You are told you don’t have enough time or money and to accept the reality of your business and technical constraints. The people that conform to this thinking rarely make anything new.
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