Podcast 1.1 – Processes
December 6, 2018In this introductory podcast, I explain what processes are and why they matter. The notions are presented using example drawn from technological change and war, the home environment, and airlines. The following reference material is provided as support for anyone who would like to dig a little deeper and explore specific aspects or material mentioned in the podcast.
Read More...Podcast 2.1 – Value
December 6, 2018In this podcast, I first discuss the nature of value. I go from there to a discussion of value propositions – to customers, employees, shareholders, and society. This leads to an explanation of the value-process connection, followed by a conclusion.
Read More...Podcast 3.1 – Complexity
December 6, 2018Here I introduce complex systems, and complex service delivery processes in particular. The nature of professionals, professional services, and intricate service episodes. Issues related to power, among experts, and between expert and clients bring out the importance of respect at the moment of truth.
Read More...Podcast 1.2 – Rigor
December 6, 2018Rigor involves logical validity, evidence-based decision making, and discipline. It is not sexy and suffers from bad branding. It is perceived as limiting creativity and intuition. In this podcast I endeavor to show that without rigor, much of potential value generated creatively can never be brought to fruition. Don’t think rigor or intuition, but rather rigor and intuition.
Read More...Podcast 2.2 – Value-process connection
December 6, 2018Thinks globally, act locally. In this podcast this oft-heard advice is clarified and operationalized. A model is proposed to link processes to value-creation for customers and employees. The same model allow to view the connections of processes to one another in an operational system. It also connects processes to metrics and operations strategy. A simple example is used to develop and illustrates the various parts of the model in a concrete situation that everyone can relate with.
Read More...Podcast 5.1 – Aspects of quality of service
December 6, 2018In podcast 2.1 we discussed the nature of value, illustrating the discussion using a comparison between Uber and taxis, as well as specific situation involving Google maps saving the day as a built-in car GPS failed. Value of a service is a perception of the benefits to costs ratio of using that service. Quality can be viewed as the perception of the net benefit of the service, that is, result+gains-pains. I will approach this notion from a variety of angles, using different situations to illustrate them. I’ll use personal examples, so that the emotions involves can be described in the only possible way that emotions can be described: by the beholder. I will touch on five aspects: transactional vs relational, the effect of various service features, service recovery, global services, and technical quality.
Read More...Podcast 6.1 – Processes and projects
December 6, 2018As discussed in Podcast 1.2, process suffer from a bad branding. They are perceived as bureaucratic and rigid. hey compel you to do things that you don’t want to do and that appear totally useless and time consuming. Projects, on the other hand, are cool and stimulating. They give you free rein. They open up new possibilities. This is the general perception. It is unfortunate, and it needs to be addressed.
Read More...Podcast 1.5 – Value Stream
December 6, 2018In this podcast, we will dig in deeper into the nature of a process. I will use an airport as our terrain in this exploration, visiting both the passenger and the producer’s perspectives, that is the experience, and the chain of processes that must deliver it, day in and day out.
Read More...Podcast 4.1 – Designing a process
December 6, 2018Having the organizational capability of repairing broken processes and improving processes is essential to any organization. However, without the capability to design processes that work, you end up creating more broken processes than you can actually repair. This cannot be the best practice.
Read More...Podcast 1.3 – Operational risks
December 6, 2018For a long time, the very notion of operational risks only existed in manufacturing. Of course, failsafing a service is as important as failsafing a product. For instance, a pilot error can be as fatal as a turbine defect during a flight. Disastrous failures had to happen for many service industry to open their eyes to these risks and realize that these could actually be managed. The Basel committee on banking supervision, for instance, defined operational risks as: the risk of loss resulting from inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems or from external events.
Read More...Podcast 6.2 – The superstitious organization
December 6, 2018A superstition is a strongly held belief in something that it simply not true. This belief is so strong as to exclude any questioning of its veracity. What gets you in trouble is not what you don’t know. It is what you know for a fact that is not so. In this podcast, I first use metaphor to illustrate how superstition are created, propagated, and maintained. I will follow this with a real life example of the same, including this time the most important part on how they can be called out and the benefits that can stem from doing so.
Read More...Pandemics 1 – A process view of the pandemics
August 3, 2021Aren’t we all sick of hearing about it! Yet, there are lessons to be learned and theories to be inferred from it. Basic systems and process notions are used to frame a conceptualization of the events that unfolded and distill the major teachable moments throughout the episode.
Read More...Pandemics 2 – A business view of the post-pandemics and new normal
August 4, 2021It’s fair to say that many shops and small business owners found themselves caught in a maelstrom, struggling to keep their business afloat, and eventually plot a path out of the crisis. Here we try to view the situation of a couple of restaurants struggling to make sense of their new and fast evolving reality.
Read More...Pandemics 3 – Focusing on critical processes to survive the impact
August 5, 2021Large businesses too have struggled, witness airlines and hotel chains. Considering the real-life case of a global real-estate company: « and suddenly Covid strikes, suddenly, nobody goes to the mall anymore, and that’s what we own, and nobody goes to the office anymore, and these are the assets we invested in”. This case study focus on one typically ho-hum process: treasury management: “we have 100 millions in Brasilian real in Sao Polo” Ok, how and when can I repatriate the cash? Let’s call our accountant in Brazil … they have to get hold of the right person at the Brazilian bank… she’s in vacation…. And we have 1800 active account with 30 different banks...” Listen to the rest of the story and draw some important lessons.
Read More...