"And it comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important."
Read MoreThis is the FTTM Model we use with clients that have a portfolio of products in development. The driver is to accelerate “Time-To-Break-Even.” The fastest teams we’ve worked with measure success by quantifying the complete life-cycle of development from team formation to break-even.
Read MoreWhen implementing improvement systems that impact business processes and require methodology and tools; you must first define the problem you are trying to solve. Often we see organizations start with possible solutions without first define the business problem they are trying to solve.
Read MoreWe’ve developed a common and reusable metric by which teams can assess and track their growth or “maturity" in using the methodology on multiple projects. Clients that use this system are typically running FTTM on tens if not hundreds of concurrent projects.
Read MoreFor many years we have worked with clients on “process research and development projects.” These are characterized by projects to create (in most cases) bleeding edge manufacturing capability for a complex fabrication process.
Read MoreA few recent client situations sent me rushing back to my Stephen Covey book, “The Seven Habits of Effective People” and specifically to look up his Urgent/Important matrix where Covey classified tasks according to their importance or urgency. It is a good reminder of what to stay focused on — the Urgent and Important tasks.
Read MoreRecently we were asked to anticipate the questions a CEO would ask a Program Manager at a scheduled review meeting for an important project.
Read MoreI’d argue “no” for the most part, but there are exceptions. Let me defend this unconventional “opinion.”
Read MoreOver the years we've been asked by clients to help them select Program Managers that demonstrate FTTM (fast-time-to-market) behavior and skills. This post will discuss some of these attributes and a selection process used.
Read MoreThe essence of FTTM success is Refresh Planning. The key to deploying Refresh Planning is to make it a habit. It is the rhythm of the process which drives team rhythm that makes it effective as one of the key factors of schedule acceleration -- it is the rhythm of accountability.
Read MoreWe often see advanced development teams miss the obvious; in terms of a technical solution or an innovation in the way they work, which could result in an acceleration of the project schedule. Why do brilliant people sometimes miss the obvious?
Read MoreWe’ve observed two types of project environments; one where people seem to have their head’s in the sand; they try to avoid looking into the future for fear they may find potential problems, and another type on fast projects where they design-in an “early warning system,” so they can quickly identify future failures while they have time to prevent or fix them.
Read MoreA senior executive asked us, when presenting our portfolio modeling system, “What business problem does this solve?” She then made the comment, “All my projects are important and therefore are all the top priority, we have to do them all.” Good questions that required a thoughtful response.
Read MoreWhen are you able to predict a project end date, with confidence? Of course it depends on the specific project, the quality of planning, the experience of the estimators, the experience of the team, what is known or not known, the degree of innovation/invention required, the fluidity of requirements, and sufficient historical trend information with which to forecast forward.
Read MoreWe have been experimenting with using Pixar's Braintrust idea to conduct critical project reviews.
Read MorePerhaps the hardest part of planning a technology development project is to answer these rather basic questions.
Read MoreProfessor Pólya makes some interesting points about teaching and learning. He said that teaching (and learning) is a process of helping students "discover things by themselves" and that all great scientific discoveries were conceived by "First guessing, then proving."
Read MoreThere are subtile differences in thinking when trying to make a development project go faster. It is important to understand them because they a so very different from one another.
Read MoreA target date is a point in time, in the future, that something is needed. It is essential for measuring the performance of a project. Is the project getting closer to hitting the target date or is the project trend showing that a team is predicted to miss the target date? And by how much time? It only works if the target date is real, and one that the project stakeholders agree to, in advance.
Read MoreOur Critical Thinking workshop (also called Challenge Workshop) has generated a number of breakthroughs from the project teams engaged to date.
Read More
