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The Shocking Truth About Your Improvement Project

6 August, 2013 by James Lawther 9 Comments

Is this an improvement?

Yesterday I read that only 5% of the changes we make at work are changes for the better.  Only 1 in 20 improvements actually improve things. Allegedly everything else we do is ineffective or, worse still, counter-productive. Ungrounded statistics I thought that sounded horribly harsh.  Only 1 in 20 improvements are really improvements?  It sounded more […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: beliefs, continuous improvement, office productivity, project management, service improvement

How Come Your Projects Are Always Late?

15 December, 2012 by James Lawther 7 Comments

Scafolding and Rain

Mrs Lawther wants an extension to the kitchen, she also wants us to break into the loft and build (or, as she says, create) another bedroom.  Her friend is an architect, she tells us that all the natural light will be uplifting.  My heart on the other hand, is sinking. Think of the noise and […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: planning, planning fallacy, project management, risk assessment

“Are We There Yet?”… 5 Leadership Lessons From Your GPS

8 August, 2012 by Ofra Tessler 3 Comments

GPS Lost

This is a guest post by Ofra Tessler. I have travelled a fair bit with my family these summer months and have used a few different E-maps, GPS’s, location trackers and gadgets. The traditional GPS with turn-by-turn directions is my least favorite.  I went from using it extensively to ditching it completely – in favor […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: communication, project management

Are Your Project Managers Killing all the Canaries?

10 April, 2012 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Managing projects is a little like keeping canaries: One canary will flutter about quite happily in a cage Add a second canary and they will sing to each other If you have a nice big cage you may well be able to keep 5, 6, 7 or 8 canaries There is a limit though.  Try […]

Filed Under: Blog, Wild Cards Tagged With: focus, project management, video

Problem Solving: 4 Simple Steps to Success

21 January, 2012 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Problem Solving

I was once told that success in life is as simple as getting your arms around a problem and knocking it off.  If you agree with the principle, (and there is not really a lot to disagree with), then by definition, problem solving leads to success.  Solving problems isn’t that difficult, it is just four […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: fessing up, problem solving, project management, root cause analysis, test and learn

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