Business Process ImprovementTag Archive

If you work in IT, then you will know that there is the ever-present spectre of zombie systems, which remain active and running, but not actually doing anything. These can be servers that were implemented for a project that got cancelled, file shares that are no longer accessed, databases that… Continue Reading What is a Scream Test

I will show you how to achieve successes through playing off the inherent nature of people to be lazy. There is a tendency for people – no matter how intelligent and engaged they are – to take the easiest option, and there are ways that you can use this to… Continue Reading Use the lazy option for success

I have encountered many baffling processes in businesses that leaves me wondering – who is your process written for? You may have spent many hours performing a Digital Transformation, focusing on streamlining processes and removing paper forms and taking advantage of new technologies to automate and accelerate processes and functions… Continue Reading Who is your process written for?

Unfortunately working extra hours and overworking has become a ‘badge of honour’ to try and prove that you are a hard worker and somehow to justify that you are valuable to your business. I strongly disagree and consider overworking a disease that must be cured. Overworking leads to burnout. Overworking… Continue Reading The overworking disease

2020 has not started well, particularly in Australia with bushfires, floods and now Coronavirus. It is undeniable that life and culture will be changed forever by the lockdown of business and society caused by the global pandemic that has gripped the whole world. The short, medium and long term effects… Continue Reading How Covid-19 may change business and IT

I have been involved in the drive for Digital Transformation for many businesses over the last few years, and time and again I see the spectre of misunderstandings appearing. The truth is, Digital Transformation is about process and people, not technology. Here are some of the biggest errors; Digital Transformation… Continue Reading Digital Transformation is about process and people, not technology

Even though public cloud is mainstream, and more businesses are going “all in”. They are going for a multi-cloud, hybrid or blended cloud – yet there are still many misunderstandings in those who have not started, and many cloud myths persist. For businesses that are early on their journey to… Continue Reading Misunderstandings of Cloud

We have all had it before – something that has been around for a long time, and we have no idea if it is important any more – but no-one will take the ownership to declare that it can be disposed of. This is where the Scream Test comes in.… Continue Reading The Scream Test

Skills evaporation is a blight that affects many businesses, particularly monolithic large businesses and governments. Skills evaporation will happen when good people leave a business to pursue better opportunities, taking knowledge with them – but also the culture of the remaining people is that their skills are reduced by the… Continue Reading Skills evaporation

In the new economy, innovation and creativity is highly desirable, emotional intelligence and adaptability are more important than ever. But, has the education system kept up? Is it true that education makes us stupid? Are we being educated out of innovation, or is innovation being educated out of us? Education… Continue Reading Educated out of innovation

Strategy is a word that is often over-used so much that it has become poorly defined and understood. You can have a ‘strategy’ to buy your groceries before you buy alcohol … it can be a ‘strategy’ to start a meeting on time… the term has become watered down and… Continue Reading The Hallmarks of a Strategy

As you may realise from this blog, I’m a Principal Consultant – and that means not only do I work with customers, I also need to lead other Consultants on their journey in consulting. I work with some exceptional and smart people, but the top 5 “rules” for consulting can… Continue Reading Top 5 rules for consulting

Corporate culture can be formalised, or it can be “this is the way things are done here” lore that defines how people act, react, make decisions, and deal with problems. The impact of corporate culture on a business can be significant to the way that corporate culture in IT projects… Continue Reading The importance of understanding corporate culture

I recommend that all businesses perform a paper exercise of running a BCP drill, as a way to tease out the conceptual and procedural issues related with planning for business continuity. It can be a desktop process of running through the BCP plan, and it helps to have a critical… Continue Reading The BCP Drill

The old Waterfall methods of project implementation are less able to cope with a dynamic and changing landscape. The approach to front-end a project with planning, scoping, preparation, and documentation are often at the expense of taking the lessons learnt about previous failures – from project postmortems. There is huge… Continue Reading Premortem for project delivery success

We learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes, but it is better to learn from other’s mistakes, because you don’t need to suffer. In many encounters during my career, I have learnt from the failures that occur during disasters. The disasters in disaster recovery may not… Continue Reading Disasters in disaster recovery

As Rear Admiral Grace Hopper said – “It’s easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission”, and this is true in many areas of change. When I am fighting against “this is the way we have always done it“, I find that the path to success is to… Continue Reading Ask for Confirmation, not Definition

If you have a smartphone, you may know that if you have the OneDrive app installed, it can automatically upload your photos to OneDrive. However, the app does not allow you to upload photos automatically to OneDrive for Business. It has been an annoyance for many that Microsoft have decided… Continue Reading Copy Photos to OneDrive for Business

The role of the IT department has changed, and modern IT functions need to re-invent themselves to maintain their relevance and role within the modern enterprise. The changing IT department is moving from the nerds in the basement to real business partners. The Changing Face of the the IT Department… Continue Reading The changing face of the IT department

Humans originally evolved to be dependent on fear. In modern life, the fears that we had evolved around are no longer relevant; we are not going to be hunted by large animals, we have conquered the dark, winter and times of hunger are distant memories. It may be true to… Continue Reading What was a fear, becomes a strength