Bodies in Motion Tend to Stay in Motion

by Robert on May 18, 2010

My apologies to all the physicists out there.

This week, I’ll be attending the SHINGO Conference in a new role for me.  Usually, I present at this type of “get together.”  This time, I’ll be representing ASQ, the newest Partner of the Lean Certification Alliance.

This has been over 3 years in the making; I’m glad it has come to fruition.

I’ll be the guy in the ASQ booth in the Exhibit Hall.

Next week, I’ll be at the ASQ Conference in St. Louis.  Same role.

The week after that, I’ll be in Calgary sitting in on a 2 day in-house workshop that my colleague Alec Sharp will be presenting.

I’ll be representing myself in that role.

In between all of this, I’m writing more books.  I’ll be in an author role, for that.

The only role I’ve neglected, it seems is that of Business Owner.  The boss (also me) is not happy with that.

Stay tuned.

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3 Surprises About Change, Indeed

by Robert on March 21, 2010

I’ve started reading a book called Switch, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath.

I’m not very far in it, but I know I will already recommend it to anyone seeking to create the conditions for change in organizations.

From the very first chapter:

  1. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem
  2. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion
  3. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity
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6 ways to grow your business

March 21, 2010

6 ways to grow your business Posted using ShareThis I came across this in the latest issue 3/22/10 of Fortune magazine. Usually these snippets are full of “go forth and do better” statements; at least that is how I interpret them. But not this one.  Simple, Clear, and Actionable. I hope this becomes a trend. [...]

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What’s In our Name?

January 17, 2010

Welcome to the blog section of THE BOTTOM LINE GROUP site. When I chose THE BOTTOM LINE GROUP as the name for my company back in 1988, I did so for two reasons. I thought it would be easy to remember. I wanted to convey a guiding principle of the work we do; we use [...]

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What's the One Book in your Field that you Keep Coming Back to Again and Again? (part 1)

December 2, 2009

I came across this question recently while I was scouring a site on the web.  I’m not sure I answered it there, but the question sure stuck with me. I read a ton of books. (In Texas, we measure by weight, not volume) Most are marked-up in various ways.  Highlighted, post-it notes, etc.  This is [...]

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How much Waste is Present in the Work your Organization Performs?

November 22, 2009

A 1990 study published by Boston Consulting Group answered this question in part by what they referred to as the “05 to 5 rule.” “Across a spectrum of businesses, the amount of time required to execute a service or an order, manufacture and deliver a product is far less than the actual time the service [...]

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What’s in the Business Process Improvement Workshop?

November 21, 2009

Thanks for asking! The biggest challenge is distilling 50 years of combined consulting knowledge and experiences into 3 days of practical activities so that you leave ready to get results. Here’s what we came up with: Detailed list of topics · Thinking in process terms – concepts, terminology, principles, and techniques · Variations on what [...]

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How to Improve Flow in a Business Process

November 21, 2009

If you wanted to improve flow in a business process, how would you do it? 1. What principles would you apply? 2. What steps or procedures would you follow? 3. What work products would you produce as a result? 4. When you assess a business process, where would you look, and what would you watch [...]

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Business Process Improvement & Lean Thinking!

November 21, 2009

What a great combination! Who knows, it may turn out to be the “Reeses” of continuous improvement. More and more people are searching for training that helps them apply lean principles to business or transactional processes. So I created this 3 day workshop. It draws upon my 25 years of improving business processes. But, there’s [...]

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"Flow, Not Joe"

October 31, 2009

Too often when those new to “lean thinking” first discover Ohno’s 7 forms of Waste, there is a tendency to equate waste with non-value added job tasks.  This really gets problematic when the entire job turns out to composed of non-value added work, which is quite possible in business or transactional processes. Especially if “Joe” [...]

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