Ramblings on project management, process re-engineering, business improvement, and anything else that may be pertinent.
If you are at all interested in mindmapping you need to check out the rash of blogs that have sprung recently:
And if you haven’t discovered MM yet, the postings, discussions and comments will drive you to explore.
A recent poll surveyed executives at companies with annual sales of at least $50 million. The vast majority said that information technology spending was on the rebound and that avoiding tech purchases could create competitive disadvantages. And the consequences?
Fifty-eight percent of employees have dated their fellow officemates, and twenty-three percent say they have had sex in the office according to this survey Vault’s Office Romance Survey, 2003: Workplace. Better check those prints on that glass conference room table! And, what does that really mean if you are self-employed?
How do you know when to reengineer a process? I get this question posed to me during every engagement, usually about a specific process, and mostly from company executives and managers whose business has stagnated. As people start to view processes as a critical success factor for business, they naturally want to improve their processes to better fit their way of managing the business.
Business management is process management. If your management style does not include process management in your organization, it should.
Here are some factors to mull over when deciding how to handle a process change:
impact of results you seek.
You must question each step of your process. Getting down to whether or not each step adds value to the overall process, is a painstaking process in itself. Ask yourself when deciding to reengineer, whether you have the knowledge, the time, and the patience to walk through all the steps one by one, probably with multiple groups multiple times. While your department, division or management group may have something to gain, another group may end up feeling like they lost. Remember, just because you have figured it out and realize great savings can be had, your peers and associates may well take some hard convincing. So improve that process when you see huge gains from cutting or mutating many steps, when your change may make the difference between success and failure, or when adopting a new technology will allow you to leapfrog your current, out of date, processes.
The number of small businesses nationwide declined by 300,000 from 11.6 million at the end of 2003 to 11.3 million at the end of last year, according to a study released last week by infoUSA, a mailing list vendor. The state with the largest increase in small businesses from 2000 to 2004: Nevada, which grew 32.9 percent, from 78,203 to 103,925. The largest decrease from 2000 to 2004 occurred in Hawaii, which lost 11.4 percent, from 51,837 to 45,945.
There have been several well documented blogger firings from companies in the recent press, and it brings up many questions of legality, morality and human resources. There’s a good article at Workforce Management, but you’ll need to register for free to read it. Bloggers Find The Ax is Mightier Than The Pen recounts some of these recent firings and the questions that arise.
Do employees have the right to post online commentaries about their employers and jobs? Is it wise for employers to restrict these sites? And what happens when employees step over the line and post something that’s embarrassing or detrimental to co-workers or the company?
You’ll find some examples of employee blogging policy and recommendations from attorneys on how employers can address the Internet activities of their employees during and after work, while not infringing on employee rights.
Companies must understand that this isn’t just a random hobby that a few people are engaging in. It’s becoming a mainstream and widespread form of communication. Employers must recognize that unless they accommodate blogging, they risk losing good people.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot more of this!
No, not the Oscars, but The 2005 Business Blogging Awards. Visit and read them all.
