Posts by Mike Shipulski
You Can’t Innovate When …
Your company believes everything should always go as planned. You still have to do your regular job. The project’s completion date is disrespectful of the work content. Your company doesn’t recognize the difference between complex and complicated. The team is not given the tools, training, time and a teacher. You’re asked to generate 500 ideas…
Read MoreThree Rules for Better Decision Making
The primary responsibility of management is to allocate resources in the way that best achieves business objectives. If there are three or four options to allocate resources, which is the best choice? What is the time horizon for the decision? Is it best to hire more people? Why not partner with a contract resource company?…
Read MoreFocus on the Right Work Product and the Rest Will Fall in Place
We think we have more control than we really have. We imagine an idealized future state and try desperately to push the organization in the direction of our imagination. Add emotional energy, define a rational approach, provide the supporting rationale and everyone will see the light. Pure hubris. What if we took a different approach?…
Read MoreFour Ways to Run Projects
There are four ways to run projects. One – 80% Right, 100% Done, 100% On Time, 100% On Budget Fix time Fix resources Flex scope and certainty Set a tight timeline and use the people and budget you have. You’ll be done on time, but you must accept a reduced scope (fewer bells and whistles)…
Read MoreEntrepreneurial Efforts for Innovation Must Fit Your Brand
To meet ever-increasing growth objectives, established companies want to be more entrepreneurial. And the thinking goes like this – launch new products and services to create new markets, do it quickly and do it on a shoestring. Do that Lean Startup thing. Build minimum viable prototypes (MVPs), show them to customers, incorporate their feedback, make…
Read MorePeople Are Always the Hardest Part
The toughest part of all things is the people part. Hold on to being right and all you’ll be is right. Transcend rightness and get ready for greatness. Embrace hubris and there’s no room for truth. Embrace humbleness and everyone can get real. Judge yourself and others will pile on. Praise others and they will…
Read MoreA Little Uninterrupted Work Goes a Long Way
If your day doesn’t start with a list of things you want to get done, there’s little chance you’ll get them done. What if you spent thirty minutes to define what you want to get done and then spent an hour getting them done? In ninety minutes you’ll have made a significant dent in the…
Read MoreTesting Your Business Model
Sometimes we get caught up in the details when we should be working on the foundation. Here’s a rule: If the underlying foundation is not secure, don’t bother working on anything else. If you’re working on a couple new technologies, but the overall business model won’t be profitable, don’t work on the new technologies. Instead,…
Read MoreMake Life Easy for Your Customers
Companies that have products want to improve them year-on-year. This year’s must be better than last year’s. For selfish reasons, we like to improve cost, speed and quality. Cost reduction drops profit directly to the bottom line. Increased speed reduces overhead (less labor per unit) and increases floor space productivity (more through the factory). Improved…
Read MoreHow to Design for Success
What do they want? Some get there with jobs-to-be-done, some use Customer Needs, some swear by ethnographic research and some like to understand why before what. But in all cases, it starts with the customer. Whichever mechanism you use, the objective is clear – to understand what they need. Because if you don’t know what…
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