Once you have understood and experienced the transformational power of the Theory of Constraints there is no going back. It changes your life in ways that you might not have imagined. This is true for individuals as much as it is for companies and organizations. Where does that shift come from? Today is the 4th […]
Make Profit or Do Good – Solving the Conflict
When you think of making a profit versus doing good as a conflict, you can quickly get to the root of the problem. Much of it has to do with the way we think about what profit is. When we challenge our understanding of profit, all kinds of new possibilities arise. How do we do that? The […]
Why Every Business Should Be a Social Enterprise
Seth Godin in his blog has just pointed out that everything we do as enterprises, good or bad, impacts our community. We took that concept a step deeper to say that there is no conflict between doing good for the community and making a profit, as described in this excerpt from our new book ‘The Human Constraint’. […]
The Theory of Constraints for Software Development and DevOps (or How to Train Your Phoenix)
Intelligent Management Inc. was recently invited by the IT department of a large insurance company to teach them about the Theory of Constraints. They read a recent 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 at how […]
The Big Picture of Management Through the Theory of Constraints (TOC)
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 […]
The Problem with Business Schools Today (a Systems View)
A recent article in Forbes magazine provides yet another attack on Business Schools as they are today: “…the case studies at the heart of much business school education are cartoonishly simple and provide no grounds for scientifically respectable generalizations.” In this extract from our recent business novel, The Human Constraint, we take a look at what […]
Why Are There So Many Bad Managers? (And Why Are Project Managers 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 […]
Build Your Organization On Projects 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 […]
Why Hierarchy and Silos Hurt Project Management
Even with the best Project Management, hierarchy and silos will interfere with outcomes. In this post we look at why that is and how Project Management itself is the answer. If you Google the term ‘Project Management’ you will hundreds of millions of results. It is a multi-billion dollar business and there are official institutes that […]
Project Manager – a Systemic View
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 […]
