It is time for lean six sigma to grow beyond its focus on process improvement and deliver the reality of an agile enterprise. Capping a series of articles, I explore the organizational need for a Process Center of Excellence, how it would work and the agile results it would deliver.
When Lean Six Sigma Works
While titled So What is Lean Six Sigma, I think this article does one of the better jobs of pointing out the strengths and limitations of the practice.
Creating Value Stories – ABPMP Summary
I presented this Thursday at the ABPMP Denver meeting on the topic of how to build support for BPM initiatives. My message was primarily that to get traction and support for these initiatives, internal and external services organizations need to create a compelling value story. "Stories" are how these initiatives communicate how they will solve …
How to Survive the Downturn
Is a downturn inevitable? Given all the talk in the past couple months, it seems that a downturn can no longer help but to become a self-fulfilling prophecy if it has not already set in. The only question is how long and how deep? How should companies approach these uncertain times? Most of the companies …
The Value of Process Improvement
I will be presenting at the November ABPMP event in Denver this Thursday from 4:00p to 6:00p. The topic is Using Business Cases and ROI to Justify BPM. The content is based on my work with a BPM software vendor's sales team where we built an approach and model for them to deliver customized Business …
Growing Centers of Excellence
Continuing a series of posts addressing some of the lessons and take aways from recent experience in establishing Centers of Excellence. I believe different enterprises are at different levels of sophistication in their use of centers of excellence (CoEs) and view them at different levels of strategic importance. Organizational Maturity Models are a good approximation …
What is a Center of Excellence
Continuing a series of posts addressing some of the lessons and take aways from recent experience in establishing Centers of Excellence. I've never really liked the term. Sounds so haughty. I prefer 'Competency or Capability Center' or pick any another term you like. But, 'Center of Excellence' seems to be what has stuck in the …
Why Create Centers of Excellence
I've been focused on setting up centers of excellence recently. I will be sharing a series of posts addressing some of the lessons and take aways from that experience in a few upcoming Centers of Excellence posts. The first question many customers ask is why would I want a center of excellence? The best answer …
Value Driven Sales
I'm in Dallas today co-presenting at the global sales conference for a large BPM software provider. The topic, using return on investment to drive strategic sales, was well received by the audience. The CEO and VP of Marketing in the company were familiar with the case study I presented from previous work together. The CEO …
Testing for Agility
I endorse a post by Dean Leffingewell on evaluating enterprise agility. In it he explains three key test areas: Variable Scope. Fixed Quality Incremental Value Delivery Empowerment and Accountability I am going to get picky here, so read the rest at your own discretion... Perhaps, I'd rearrange the sub bullets under different main headings. For …
Horizon Line Group 