This Focused Performance Weblog is a "business management blog" containing links and commentary related primarily to organizational effectiveness with a "Theory of Constraints" perspective. TOC is noted for its applications in Project Management and Multi-Project Management (Critical Chain) and Operations Management (Drum-Buffer-Rope), as well as in Marketing, Strategic Planning and Change Management (TOC Thinking Processes). If you are on an archive page, current postings are found here.
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Link-o-Rama - Communication and Collaboration -- Weblog entries from me might be a bit sparse this month, at least compared to April and May, so I figured I'd clean out some of my accumulated stuff, all of which deserve more comment but might merely clutter up my to do list if I don't share them -- at least in a quick and dirty fashion. The general topic that ties them together is communication and collaboration.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong? -- Project risk management is all about clear communication and open collaboration about the realities of an effort or of a situation. There are very few better places to start than with the question "What if?," as suggested in this StickyMinds column (may require free registration) by Esther Derby.
How to Turn a Mistake Into a Positive Event -- If you don't address the "what if's" sufficiently up front, you'll probably find at least a few -- as these Brits put it -- "cock-ups" along the way during your project, or even in less formally managed efforts. Since we typically learn more from mistakes and failure than success, it behooves us to openly discuss the less than ideal aspects of what we do and turn them into lessons for the future.
Shared Vision: A Key to Project Success -- Clarity of purpose, and the extent to which it is shared and owned by the team is a solid foundation for project success, according to Donna Fitzgerald, founder of NewGrange center for project management.
Keep the Project Mission Alive -- Once you've got Donna's shared vision and mission out there in the team, don't slack off in keeping it in the forefront of the team's mind, advises Hal Macomber.
The Information Cycle -- Systems are not only a collection of parts; they are a collection of interactions -- communications for collaborative use of information -- between those parts, according to my friend Tony Rizzo. And I agree with him.
The New Character of Positioning -- The subject is marketing, from a 1997 piece by Doc Searls, one of the authors of the seminal Cluetrain Manifesto. Since every commercial system has, at one time or another, a "constraint in the market," clear communication of where one is coming from with offered products and services is crucial.
Mapping Communication -- A fascinating -- and good looking -- taxonomy of communication flow between individuals and groups.
Getting Up to Speed on Wikis -- If you're reading this, you probably get the idea of weblogs. I know you understand email. You might be familiar with email discussion groups and Usenet. Add "Wikis" to your vocabulary if you're interested in many-to-many communication via the web. This is a good intro to the tool from Jim McGee's weblog.
Not bad for a first pass at some spring cleaning, eh? More to come.
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