Along with Donna Cox of Mantra Training and Development, I attended the Canberra Business Council (CBC) (of which HolisTech® is a Corporate Member) and Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) luncheon. Apart from doing a little networking (not that I am good at that), we listened to an interesting presentation by Dr Michael Schaper, the Deputy Chairperson of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). It was titled Small Business - Future Opportunities & Challenges.  ....read more

Johansson, F., The Medici Effect: Breakthrough insights at the Intersection of Ideas, Concepts and Cultures, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 2004

Johansson has produced an interesting story here. It's interesting because it is provides a thesis (perhaps the wrong word) on how and perhaps why, innovation occurs or why some people are able to gain breakthrough insights and others not. It's not an academic text, but it does have a "folksy" type of appeal with its stories and approach, which kind of makes me feel that it doesn't have that "robustness" to make it a real solid contribution, although I also suspect many will find it useful. It is all a bit lightweight and has a "guru" type feel to it that always makes me a bit suspicious of the validity of some of the insights.

Now I need to combine these vertical and horizontal dimensions. If we do that we get this three dimensional look.

Continuing on from Organisational Program Framework (01). The next dimension, the horizontal dimension, is about understanding the basics of how an effort to change an organisation needs to progress. I have touched directly on this in my previous blogs at Project Knowledge Sectors (01), Project Knowledge Sectors (02), and The Business Plan and Projects. So I need to return to the knowledge sectors idea to explain the horizontal dimension.

Rich, B.R. and Janos, Y., Skunk Works, Little Brown and Company, New York, 1994

I have had this book in my library for quite some time and although I've browsed it before, I recently had the opportunity to actually read it. Why I didn't read it earlier, I just don't know because it is just so full of stories and wisdom on many levels.

For those who don't know - the Skunk Works were (are still?) a top secret Lockheed shop for the design, development and manufacture of advanced and innovative aerospace systems.

I wish to take some previous blogs on my Project Knowledge Model (PKM) further, specifically the blogs at Project Knowledge Sectors (01), Project Knowledge Sectors (02), and The Business Plan and Projects. This is about understanding the big picture and how the program concepts can "flow" ..... horizontally and vertically.

Camrass, R. and Farncombe, M., Atomic: Reforming the Business Landscape into the New Structures of Tomorrow, Capstone Publishing Limited, UK, 2004

Atomic attempts to identify the future business construct based upon trends identified today. Camrass and Farncombe take the analogy of an "atom" that can become part of larger molecules to form value adding business structures. These are more agile and focused organisations than the monolithic businesses today.

Bennett, W. and Crawley, S., Wayne Bennett - Don't Die with the Music in You, ABC Books, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2007

I have this question I ask at dinners/lunches which is "If you could have any three people as dinner guests who would you have?" with the variations of dead or alive or alive only or politicians or sports people and so on. It can sometimes give you an insight into the person, but it always throws up surprises as often they are an obscure person. I am shallow enough to admit that Elle McPherson is always on my list (...because she is an inspirational business person ... duh!!). BUT ...the other one is Wayne Bennett ...and I often change the third person.

I said in a previous blog (The Value of a Program of Projects) that projects are a way of ".....pulling one or more of the levers of revenue, expenses or investment in a "controlled" manner. Because projects are a deliberate and "controlled" mechanism that supports proper governance with defined expenditure, risks, schedules and outcomes or benefits."

I just wish to provide more insight into what I said above.

One of my goals in life is to illustrate the value of projects to the general management fraternity. Perhaps more accurately, explaining the value of project management to executives. For a number of years now I have been "monitoring" the level of acceptance of project management into the broader management community. I do this by looking for project management books in the management "guru" sections of bookshops. I must say .... I am yet to find one devoted solely to project management. Normally the project management books are in the IT section or the academic sections. It's an interesting "index" which I have started to call the "PM guru status" index.