“Lean” meets “Demand Management” in IT – Managing the Constraints

15 February, 2012
Project Management
1 Comment

It has been a few months since I've posted, but I haven't been idle - two significant projects (aside from working very hard at the full-time job), only one of which I can talk a bit about at this time. Tomorrow (Thursday, 16 Feb 2012) , I am presenting at a conference on IT Portfolio Management in Rosemont, IL - a case study on how we use ideas from Lean Manufacturing and Demand Forecasting to solve a fairly common problem…

Theory of Constraints in IT: Keeping Busy, but Adding No Value?

28 June, 2010
IT Management
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A good conversation this week with some IT folks, talking about how Lean principles apply to IT work. The specific topic was the Theory of Constraints, and the example used was optimization of a production line. To fully optimize the whole line, it's entirely probable that we will be underutilizing a specific workstation. If we optimize every workstation (point optimization), we will build up WIP inventory at the slower points - therefore generating waste. For people on your IT team,…

Leading Change: Knowing, Understanding, Empathizing

28 February, 2010
People Management
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Understanding the job - not just the How, but also the Why - is just as important as Doing the Job. A key component of Change Management is helping the team see the difference.