Process management

Three rules from a company that's been fully remote since 2014.

By thoroughly mapping the job a customer is trying to get done, a company can discover opportunities for breakthrough products and services.

Recently, I asked some business executives for their top three IT wishes. Across the board, their responses echoed a common plea: “I wish IT projects would come in on time and on budget.” Funny thing is – this very reasonable sounding request is actually quite unreasonable. You see, we are no longer simply automating existing […]

Studies of corporate performance reveal a growing link between certain kinds of technology investments and intensifying competitiveness.

Increasingly, it seems, there are just two types of companies left in the world: dot-coms, born on the Internet, and "wanna-dots," established organizations...

You've been ordered to reduce overhead by 10%, 20%, or even (wince) 30%. How do you do it? First, don't expect to reach your target with a single big...

In recent years, the leaders of American companies have been barraged with attacks on their investment policies. Critics accuse American executives of shortsightedness and point out that managers in Japan and Europe often fix their vision on more distant horizons. Here, it is claimed, managers pay too much attention to quarterly earnings reports and not […]

Lessons from a 10-year review of Sony Ericsson’s product development process.

Projects have displaced operations as the economic engine of our times, but despite this shift, many leaders still undervalue project management. Companies need to reinvent their approach, embracing a new set of tools and principles.

What do IBM, Texas Instruments, Owens Corning, and Duke Power have in common? They’re all redesigning their organizations around their core processes—and reaping enormous benefits as a result.

The U.S. may be the world’s leading innovator, but it won’t be for long if investors, regulators, and the legal establishment continue to penalize companies for risk taking, says Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness. Recently, the council’s National Innovation Initiative, a leadership network of CEOs and university presidents, released a report in […]

Most of the time, the schedule is a joke.

For organizations like GE, P&G, and Visa, management innovation is the secret to success. But what is management innovation? Why is it so important? And...

Deep, lasting culture change requires an integrated approach that remodels a company’s social systems. The leadership team of Home Depot employed a remarkable set of tools to do that.

When you head up a big construction project for your organization, coming in on time and on budget isn't enough. If you want to avoid squandering what...

Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase...

What does it take to effectively manage projects whose requirements are constantly shifting?

Just five years ago, salespeople at Whirlpool were in the habit of referring to their supply chain organization as the "sales disablers." Now the company...

Financial incentives don’t reduce errors. Employees must be passionate about eliminating mistakes.

Traditional approaches don’t lead to breakthrough innovations.