Category Archives: Product Development System
Common Goals
May 01, 2012
Leave a commentIf your organization is crippled by politically charged infighting and narrow view points, look to the creation of shared goals as a lever to lift the company out of the muck. Getting to credible, agreed upon, vitally important goals is the first order of business for companies who seek to uproot the unhealthy politics that rob them of energy and profit.
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer
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Musings on Perfect Cadence
Apr 17, 2012
Leave a commentCadence is often a conscious feature. We consciously create cadence to regulate workflow. This enabling control feature also carries a cost, and the cost is that it keeps us from Perfect Flow. If Perfect Cadence is that which enables Perfect Flow, then the approach to Perfect Cadence is the cadence that results as the duration of the no-value-added-but-necessary part of the cycle approaches a l...
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer
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Cadence
Apr 03, 2012
Leave a commentCadence. In the world of Lean, the timing of the complex dance of syncopated work is managed through cadence. The most visible and familiar example of cadence in Lean systems is the concept of takt time that controls the production …
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer
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The Game Changer…
Mar 30, 2012
Leave a commentThink of product development, executed by knowledge workers, as a competitive event. Like an athletic contest in which we encounter an advantaged opponent, we need a game changer. The obvious game changer is a field leveler. It is the wide spread embrace and adoption of that American creation, PDCA, the scientific method applied to knowledge work, and its application through its companion tool,...
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer
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The Smartest Guy in the Room…
Feb 29, 2012
Leave a commentIn product development, we like our engineers smart. Engineering is after all the problem solving function of the organization, and, the more intelligence that an individual brings to their knowledge work role, the better. Broadly categorizing, our organizations are divisible …
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer
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A frog in a well
Jan 17, 2012
1 CommentFor functional product development groups, understanding their own bigger picture - the landscape in which their well or silo exists - is the first step in the work of connecting the silos and fostering systematic operation. To all of you who from time to time feel like "a frog in a well", this blog is aimed at letting you know what’s going on outside of your well.
Categories: Product Development SystemAuthor: B. Farmer