Lean KPI -selecting KPIs that will deliver long-term value.

KPI’s are absolutely essential for organizations to present performance information for all levels of the organization. But how? Lean KPI's success is selecting KPIs that will deliver long-term value to the organization using visibility tools, , allow changing and continues improvement environment being applied collaboratively to all levels of organization.

The Lean & Agile Construction Revolution

Large scale construction projects suffer from cost and time overruns that are typically a symptom of productivity problems and directly affect overall industry profitability. The application of Lean to construction is based upon treating the construction site as a temporary production. Lean production principles applied in construction focus on identifying value, eliminating waste and creating a smooth flow of materials, information and work which are sometimes combine with agile methodologies that were found to improve the reliability of project d delivery in complex environments.

Agile unit testing expalined by the experts.

While  we  can’t  eliminate  all  bugs,  we  can  fight  them  by baking  quality  into  the  code. Agile methodologies take working software and combine it with early feedback. The benefits of unit testing are closely aligned with the principles of agile software development. The main  purpose  of unit  testing  is to allow  developers  to identify as many problems  as possible at the development stage and  to do it in an automated, repeatable fashion  that  can be applied for every code change.

Personal vs. Professional:Is it even possible to draw the line online?

The professional/personal divide for social networking is a big deal for a lot of people. The same way that smartphones have blurred the lines on traditional business hours, social networks are breaking down barriers between personal and professional interests.

Do you need to start acting as if your mother is watching you? Will you assume that whatever you post will be seen by everyone? Who is you’re coworker and what kind of relationship you wish and need to maintain with him/her? And what about your boss? So, what is this line anyway, where does it cross? 

The amazing world of cars assembly lines

The car industry production went a long way from ford, Toyota till today’s amazing state of the art production lines. So , for those of you keen on lean (like me), here’s a bit of that history and a bit of those amazing production lines.

What is a Supply Chain and how does it work?

Supply Chain is an integrated group of processes to “source,” “make,” and “deliver” products Including all the facilities, functions, activities, associated with flow and transformation of goods and services from raw materials to customer, as well as the associated information flows. so how does it look like in real life vs. theory and how does it work?

Emergent Strategy - When Rigid, top-down planning doesn’t work

“There is nothing wrong with strategic planning – except when we believe that strategy unfolds as planned.  Emergent strategy is the recognition that rigid, top-down planning doesn’t work in a world of increasing uncertainty and unpredictability . An emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission and goals, or despite a mission and goals.”

Lean Thinking and Restaurants

Toyota's lean production system transformed operations in the auto industry by reducing waste and streamlining manufacturing processes. The restaurant business in today’s economy is more competitive than ever. To succeed, restaurant must create more efficiency, reduce errors and continuously improve to keep customer satisfaction as high as possible. Realizing that foodservice operations are similar to manufacturing facilities, these lean principles are being implemented in the service sector and the results have been dramatic.

Lean Thinking can be taken anywhere... here are some examples

I love lean , lean is a way to improve , it’s like a big puzzle game. As a lean freak I believe Lean is a mindset. It’s a way of thinking and it can be taken anywhere and used everywhere. It’s not restricted to factories production line. Hers how some people think with lean… using lean thinking in the office up to some more interesting places.

Some known tips for providing an effective feedback

"Providing effective feedback is an essential management skill, not all managers may be aware of what to include as part of effective feedback. In fact, some managers many avoid providing feedback altogether if it's developmental in nature."

Ethnography types - Someone has to think of a better way of doing

Ethnography is Observing people in this natural environment. Asking people to tell you what they want will only take you these far. What people say do or thing they need are completely three deferent things. Things are obvious after you point them out. Here’s where Ethnography comes into the picture. Where can we find Ethnography? How does it work with lots of examples?

Arthur M. Young’s Theory of Process.

Young advocated a process theory, which is a form of integral theory. These theories attempt to integrate the realm of human thought and experience with the realm of science so that the concept of universe is not limited to that which can be physically measured. Young's theory embraces evolution and the concept of the great chain of being. He has influenced such thinkers asStanislav Grof and Laban Coblentz.

The Stages of Organization Model provides a system-level language for understanding the evolutionary development of organizations. 

lizard brain - The new idea is shot down and the old hand gets points

In many ways, our brain has evolved since we were cave dwellers. But the part of the brain responsible for survival still exists, even though we are no longer running from saber toothed tigers. The Lizard Brain switches off the Thinking Brain where reasoning, understanding happens. It’s the part of you that will keep you from trying anything risky or new. How does it happen and why we what can we do about it?

Organization Change Ethnography Approach -The 'Insider's Point of View

Our goal is to see people’s behavior on their terms, not ours. Ethnographers generate understandings of culture through representation the 'insider's point of view. 

To develop an understanding of what it is like to live in a setting, the researcher must both become a participant in the life of the setting while also maintaining "detachment."

Organizational ethnography promises to elucidate two aspects for which other methods, such as surveys, are less suitable: (1) its “hidden” dimensions, and (2) its actor‐context relations.

Kanban for Customer Support

Kanban is about ensuring that tasks flow steadily and continuously through the system and continuously improving. But what if you’re dealing with customers and with their questions/requests?  How do you keep the flow running with verity of issues? How can you set an SLA? And how do you know you have improved?

Agile Coaching - First session - New employee orientation - workload and priority

By: shirly Ronen-Harel

Backround:

• New testing manager appointed from inside the department to manage the testing activities within this department
• Area of responsibility and priorities needs to be defined and visible.
• Outcome – clear understanding of scope of work.

Step 1 : Visualize areas of responsibilities

Technique – building an initial backlog – high level view.

Step 2 :  visualizing the professional areas of responsibility : an example

Going forward and mapping the severity of issues in each area

Identifying  problematic areas

Start to set the correct priority inside the areas of responsibility 

Visualization benefits (example)

While going forward we start to drill down into important areas only(just enough)

Next step

Building high level backlog with drill down to main items.

Building the high level implementation plan.

Embracing Variability in Agile Project Development

"For a manufacturer, paradise is a world without variability. Such a world would be very hostile for a product developer, because variability is the ever present traveling companion of innovation. How does agile development deals with variability? Agile software developers already grasp the importance of responding to change….. But, what does this mean? Is there more to it than just saying, “I will respond to change.” Indeed, there is." Don Reinertsen

Knowledge Management in Agile Organization

In software development the most important asset is knowledge. Companies would want their performance to keep improving from project to project. They would want their workers to increment their own experience bank by adding new information that was gathered during  their last development and use it in their new development. Agile methodologies create organisational cultures that encourage cooperation and learning. It designs organisational work practices to include constant information sharing.  These practices help with transferring the tacit knowledge needed for improving performance .

How to do scrum in a team of one and why?

There may be cases in agile development where we want or need to develop a product in a form of one man scrum. There are more than just few reasons for doing that but mainly more questions of how should we address this issue. Here are some interesting reviews for professionals out on the field on why should we adapt this personal approach and if so, how?