Lovejoy, the Airlines, and Big Data

One of my favorite concepts of Operations Management is the OM Triangle, also called Lovejoy's Triangle.  It describes the interrelationship of Inventory, Information, and Capacity.

My Customer Journey at the Apple Store

A few weeks ago I noticed that my new iPhone was coming apart.  I wasn't sure why, but it was under warranty so I decided to try to get it fixed.  First I went to the AT&T store, and although they were very sympathetic they told me that they did not handle warranty repairs and that I would have to go to the Apple Store.  Now in spite of my affinity for Apple products I had never actually been inside an Apple Store before. My experience was decidedly mixed, so I decided to try my hand at customer journey mapping in order to describe it (at least from my point of view.)

Aristotle and Leading Change

A recent HBR blog post talks about the 3 critical elements of great communication as postulated by Aristotle.  According to him an effective communicator needs to have pathos, ethos, and logos.

Leaps of Faith

About 12 years ago I got the bright idea to try skydiving.  It was a thrilling and memorable experience; and as I've reflected on it over the years I've come to realize that it was a lot like a lean conversion.

Standard Work and Managing by Means

Recently I was talking with a friend about leader standard work.  She's a leader - a production manager - so naturally I value her opinion on the subject.  She was lamenting the fact that she did not have any standard work to support the objectives that she is given.  For example, she was recently told by her managers that her team's productivity was below target and needed to improve by 10%.