According to the Wikipedia, “A Pareto chart, named after Vilfredo Pareto, is a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where individual values are represented in descending order by bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the line.” A related Wikipedia article on the 80/20 Rule states that “It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.”
Can Companies Really do Twice the Work in Half the Time with Scrum?
In 2014, Jeff Sutherland published “Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time” – a provocative title that caused many to flock to Agile methodologies, particularly that of Scrum, as a possible panacea for productivity in the workplace. Can it be true? Can Scrum live up to this claim, where so many …
Read MoreCan Companies Really do Twice the Work in Half the Time with Scrum?
When Things Change, How to Stay Sane?
Welcome to a pace of world change that can feel dizzying. Just when we think we have learned to navigate in our new environment, it seems that there is something else worthy of our attention. In March, we published on Change Management with one of our experts in the field, Charae Gibbs. Charae has also worked remotely for many years …
Prioritize Your Post-COVID Pivot
Three years ago, I wrote an article advocating that companies prepare to disrupt their own business model. Inspired by notable speaker and author Professor Robert Wolcott of Kellogg, who had spoken at a conference I had just attended, the article challenged business leaders to consider the following question: “What will happen to my business when people stop buying …
Operations Management in the time of COVID-19 with Erin Barsuglia
What is Operational Strategy Consulting? Armed with your goals, Operational Strategy works with your team to develop implementation plans and identify strengths, gaps, opportunities, and threats to your organization’s ability to meet those goals. Tell us about the importance of continuous improvement/process improvement in the operations world. Continuous improvement is incredibly important to operations. It …
Read MoreOperations Management in the time of COVID-19 with Erin Barsuglia
Has Working Remotely Accelerated Your Team’s System Pains?
COVID-19 is sending many workers who used to be in the office to Work from Home (WFH) remote situations. Systems that seemed “fine” when working on premise now seem antiquated when workers are remote. Some issues that AJC clients have experienced so far are: getting Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) loaded onto their computers to securely access systems …
Read MoreHas Working Remotely Accelerated Your Team’s System Pains?
Change Management with Charae Gibbs
The COVID-19 crisis is at the forefront of everyone’s minds and hearts right now. We are all dealing with the changes the crisis is bringing, both at home and professionally. Our Change Management consultant and ProSci Change Management practitioner, Charae Gibbs, shares ideas for maintaining productivity through virtual teams. We hope these ideas will help you in your organization through …
A Crash Course in Process Mapping
Businesses often wish to re-evaluate how they perform certain operational activities or workflows. In other words, they wish to perform “Process Improvement.”
The underlying assumption to improving anything, is that you understand how it is being done right now. In a business setting, when there are multiple departments, roles, or even people within a departmental role, all working together to achieve an outcome; it is hard to say that every step of the way is currently understood.
5 Tips to Increase Productivity from Your Existing Workforce
When employees begin to complain that they do not have enough time to get their work done on a daily basis, it can be challenging to know whether this is a true capacity problem, or if it is more of a utilization one. Specifically: Do we need to hire more people, or can we help the …
Read More5 Tips to Increase Productivity from Your Existing Workforce
So you want to go Agile. Where to start?
Alex Jones, a Certified Scaled Agile Program Consultant with over 20 years of Agile and Lean Transformation experience at a large semiconductor manufacturer, recently presented on how companies can use Agile in non-software related applications such as product development, knowledge work, or service related businesses. Here are the take-aways for companies who know something about Agile …