Dominica DeGrandis, author of Making Work Visible: Exposing Time Theft to Optimize Work & Flow and Principal Flow Advisor at Tasktop, helps organizations make work visible to improve the flow of work across value streams. Enabling Systemic Change Want to know how well your organization can adapt to change? Look at your data. I’m a firm believer that the data you choose to analyze—and the data you choose to ignore—are crucial indicators of an organization’s capacity for a successful … [Read more...]
The Case Against Best Practices
To the disgruntlement of some people, I have been skeptical of best practices since I was first exposed to the idea. But now more than ever, I fear that teams strive to implement and follow best practices in situations where novel ideas are needed instead. The assumption that published works are the correct approach to take is an interesting topic. I acknowledge the irony of this statement given I have suggested practices and guidance in my book. It’s just that people seem to read things and … [Read more...]
Doing it All is Not a Good Strategy
Product teams in the midst of change at one of the biggest US insurance companies came up with an experiment they called “Doing it All.” The sarcastic title was intentional, as it magnificently described the nature of a theme that I observe across multiple industries. From finance to insurance to transportation, carving out capacity for you and your teams to implement a new way of working requires herculean efforts. Change takes time. It’s not enough to just give teams approval to do something. … [Read more...]
The Five Time Thieves
If your wallet was stolen, you’d notice. If your security badge to your office was filched, you’d know it when you arrived. And if you opened the fridge to find your lunch missing, you’d make sure your office mates heard about it. So why don’t people notice when they are robbed of something more valuable than their wallet, badge, or lunch—their nonrenewable time? We grumble that there just aren’t enough hours in the day and that someone else sure seems to have a lot of free time. But we regular … [Read more...]
