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March, 2007:

Operators Need Information that Bites

Mar 20th, 2007
by ChuckPapaG.

A critical fact is not information. Information can be ignored. To make sure a critical fact is not lost in a river of information, it must bite. Design systems that deliver information that has teeth!
From a presentation by Jim Collins – Co-Author of Built to Last and Author of From Good to Great

Every time I work with, or lead a team looking at an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation, a Decision Support System (DSS), a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, or an executive team implementing a Balanced Score Card, Dashboard, or Critical Success Factors measurement program I bring this quote out. This is probably the best soundbite anyone has ever given me when it comes to designing effective information systems for managing operations.

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Why hire external consultants

Mar 15th, 2007
by ChuckPapaG.

It’s a funny thing trying to explain to my mom, who never finished elementary school, what I do for a living.  “When are you going to get a normal job?” is a frequent question.  After trying to explain what I do unsuccesfully for many years, I decided the best thing to do was to tell her the five reasons people hire me and my partners to do work for them. 

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Operator or Operations Person – Where does time go?

Mar 10th, 2007
by ChuckPapaG.

The 30/30/30/10 Observation 

Most people in operating positions tend to spend most of their time putting out fires.  That does not make them "Operators."  It just makes them operations people.  A good operator spends his or her time "walking around" the operation.  I always found that good operators spend 30% of their time doing "the job", 30% of their time "leading and managing their people", 30% of their time with "the customers" whether they are internal or external, and 10% of their time "sharpening the saw" either by reading or taking classes.