Art

Frustrating Paradox: Simple and Difficult

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ September 1, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I think this is one of those fundamental concepts that, once it is pointed out to me, become self-evident and obvious (ie. why didn’t I think of that). I’m curious if other people agree … When something is simple to describe, it is difficult to create. When something is difficult to describe, it is simple [...]

Who owns Master Data in your company?

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ May 30, 2009 ⋅ One comment

I’ve had to respond to this question, inside and outside of the company, in a number of different conversations over the past few days. It’s interesting, because this is one of those conversations where semantics mean a lot – what people say is just as important as what people don’t say. I only mean that [...]

Practical Applications of Twitter in Manufacturing?

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ April 5, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Over the past few weeks I’ve had a couple of interesting discussions about the introduction of Twitter to Manufacturing. When someone poses a question like this to me, it throws me for a minor loop, because for very basic, practical reasons, it just doesn’t seem to apply. More keyboards & data entry on the floor? [...]

PMO Nirvana is a Conversation, not a Schedule

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ February 22, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

We continue to iterate on our PMO processes – managing too few resources and too many project requests, an environment I have consistently seen in every IT group I have ever worked with. Our latest discussion concerned the concept of FIFO work on projects … … when presented with five things to do, I will [...]

Hacking the Google Chart API from Excel

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ January 18, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

a bit of code on a Saturday night … I’ve written before about a simple way to measure and report IT value to the business – quantifying alignment with strategic initiatives project spend in context. It all culminated with a single, simple slide – numbers, with some Tufte-esque Sparklines thrown in. Well, technologies come and [...]

I Think I’m Learning SAPanese …

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ November 23, 2008 ⋅ One comment

Spent time at an industry conference last week (ain’t Boston great!), and heard the term SAPanese – that special language SAP users learn when immersed in worlds of Walldorf and their ubiquitous software. It’s not unique to SAP – lots of software companies develop their own vocabulary. Heck, IT “geeks” are famous for it – [...]

A Plea for Empathetic Communication

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ November 17, 2008 ⋅ One comment

It’s impossible to over-communicate Sounds a bit strong, but if you think through your real-world experiences, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. No matter how hard you try, your message will be missed by someone … Problem: It’s all their fault! Rely on Web 2.0, and … … they won’t subscribe to the RSS feed; they don’t [...]

Linkfest: Data Visualization

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ September 7, 2008 ⋅ One comment

I’m a long-time fan of effective visualizations, and I’ve often written about the effective use of visual information when making presentations or communicating complex information. I’ve subscribed to my share of blogs and feeds on the topic, and have amassed quite a backlog of interesting links … presented here for your hyperlinking enjoyment … Best [...]

Finally! Relevant Applications for YouTube and Twitter in the Enterprise!

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ July 11, 2008 ⋅ One comment

If you are involved with manufacturing these days, you’ve no doubt heard about Lean Manufacturing. I’ll not go deep into this area here, but one fascinating (for me) aspect is the thread (in some quarters) that ERP and computer systems are the enemy of Lean. On the whole, I don’t disagree – process improvement, kanbans, [...]

Don’t Accept Snap Answers Too Quickly

By Jim MacLennan ⋅ July 6, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

A few years ago, I was working on an interface project, and wanted to have the ERP system send copies of any and all transactions that have changed over the past few days. I’ve done this before on other platforms, so I asked the lead developer what I thought was a no-brainer request: Do the [...]

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