Three Bottlenecks the Modern Marketer Must Overcome

How a manufacturing theory helps Jeff Bezos—and you—focus on what really matters The Week recently ran a story about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos making all of his senior managers read, The Goal, by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. So why would Jeff Bezos – widely considered one of the most visionary CEOs today —want his team to buy into a business book’s philosophy that’s mostly concerned with manufacturing

How TOC Can Move Your World – and World View

Archimedes once said, “Give me a lever long enough, a fulcrum, and a place to stand, and I shall move the world.” Learn how production professionals use Constraints Management to meet negativity head – on to manage meaningful change Here’s the last part of our three-part series about the Theory of Constraints (TOC). In the next couple of postings I’m going to dig right in to looking at what

Top 3 Communications Best Practices for Software Implementations

In a recent business article out of the UK, the author cites trends such as collaboration and connectivity as hallmarks of the “factory of the future.” I would take that one step further, and add “communication” to that list—especially during implementation. Smart implementation leaders make sure they are listening to the insights of everyone who will be impacted by their new systems and following solid communication practices throughout the life

Using Big Data to Tell Your Story

Three ways narrative can connect the dots between big data and your brand In a recent Forbes article, the writer describes Big Data as “a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis.” I love this definition because it describes a process of discovery that—once linked with your brand message – allows you to uncover additional

Which System is More Complex? The Answer is Simpler than You Think

Using the Theory of Constraints to Become More Demand-Driven- Part 1 In my last blog post on How TOC delivers powerful results, I talked about how every manufacturer that I worked for early in my career believed that their environment was completely unique. However, just like doctors are trained not to look for zebras when diagnosing horses, the Theory of Constraints (TOC) allows you to diagnose your environment in the

Rockin’ Relationships: Documents Drive the Details

In the second part of our three part series on successful implementation strategies, we discuss one of the most important project setup strategies – the RACI. Part Two- The RACI As I’ve mentioned before, implementation projects end up being mostly about the people involved. Project success hinges upon how effective the project team is in harnessing their own particular talents and in placing the right eyes over the right set