Intelligent Management Inc. was invited by the IT department of a large insurance company to teach them about the Theory of Constraints for IT. They had read a book called ‘The Phoenix Project’ that points to the Theory of Constraints as a solution for radically improving software development and delivery. In this post we look […]
Digital Means We Must All Change Our Thinking
Organizations are becoming fast aware that they must digitize. This change is happening at a disorienting speed as the online and digital increasingly intertwine with our physical and tangible world. Some of our oldest, even ancient industries, like printing and clothes manufacturing, are becoming increasingly digitized. Process-based to overcome silos When companies embark on digitization, […]
Our Most Clicked Systems View Articles on LinkedIn from 2017
Every week we publish posts, articles and tweets to disseminate a systems view and method for management and leadership. We make this constant effort because we believe that in our age of complexity and digitized and decentralized work, there is an urgent need for new management thinking and practice. We checked to see which of […]
The Paradox of Privilege
In a newspaper article this week, ‘Why is Privilege Suddenly Sexy‘, a writer wonders why “the more we are reminded of the sinfulness of privilege the more we wallow in it.” The appeal of the past There can surely be many reasons why, in our times of unprecedented speed of change and social and political upheavals, […]
Seeing the Big Picture of Management with the Theory of Constraints
Due to the global success of Dr. Goldratt’s first business novel ‘The Goal’ most people mistakenly think of TOC as just a technique for manufacturing. While TOC does produces fast and radical improvements in manufacturing processes, it is in fact a whole system philosophy and method. The thinking that underlies this theory stems from a worldview […]
Bad Managers – Why So Many? (And How Can Project Managers Be the Solution?)
An alarming number of people leave their jobs because of bad managers, according to a recent report from Gallup. This is bad news not just for the unhappy employees but for the organizations who lose good resources. Management has been around for a long time, so why are people still so bad at it? Being […]
A Project-Based Organization to Radically Improve Performance
Competencies not power, common goal instead of function/silo results, these are the elements of an organization built on projects. We all know that what matters is the global (overall) bottom line of any organization. And yet, when we measure performance, we connect it with functional, i.e. silo results. How do we come out of this seemingly irreconcilable conflict? We […]
Reclaim Your Brain from Distraction and Focus on the Goal
“That was really tiring!” was the comment of a client after working for an hour on a Prerequisite Tree, one of the Thinking Process Tools from the Theory of Constraints. Work makes us tired in many ways and fatigue is inevitable. What’s important is the results achieved through what makes us tired. Our minds are […]
What is a Project Manager?
The term Project Manager is much abused. We look at a precise definition of what Project Manager means in a systemic organization, where projects make up the nervous system of the organization. An organization is essentially a network of projects with a goal An organization is essentially a network of projects with a goal. There are projects that […]
Network Thinking: Changing How We see the World
Adopting a network perspective changes how we see the world and our place in it. In this post we look at how that applies to organizations and their design. Revolutions in thought have been part of our human development, from Copernicus’ unveiling how the sun does not revolve around the earth to Darwin’s theory of evolution, […]
