Ian Gotts - blog

Technology Limbo

2006-02-10T08:05:00.000Z

Everywhere you look, the electronics industry seems to be playing its own mutant variations of limbo. But the question isn't "How low can you go?" At Dell, it's "How cheap can you go?" At Apple it's "How cool can you go?" And at Microsoft Windows division, it's "How slow can you go?"

Conference snoozefests: why DO we have Powerpoint?

2005-12-08T14:27:00.000Z

"We end up being flown on average planes to average hotels to sit in average conference rooms and hear average speakers doing presentations filled with bullet points."

There must be better way.... there is..

"The sound of one room napping"....

http://presentationzen.blogs.com/presentationzen/2005/11/the_sound_of_on.html

Well worth watching is Dick Hardt's presentation, which can be seen here

2005-11-27T11:31:00.000Z

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." Douglas Adams

The Usual Suspects

2005-11-19T08:25:00.000Z

When it comes to driving improved performance there are 6 "Usual Suspects" which are wheeled out. These are the ones that are going to be able to fix the performance or process issues. In reality it is none of these, because you need to dig deeper into the root cause of the problems.

So the line up is:

Training - if we just give the guys some more training then they will perform better

Inspection - we need to do more checking of the delivered product/service

Automation - there's some software which means that we can remove all humans

Add people - lets throw more people at it

Reorganize - once the team reports to Harry it will be fine

Outsource - let's make it someone else's problem

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Companies need to make managing change a COMPETENCE, not just have experienced a lot of change

2005-11-18T13:00:00.000Z

Many companies say that they "experience a great deal of change", or even "are experienced at change".

But to really drive continuous improvement in a fast moving world, comapneis need to make change management a Competence. Something that they recognise as a skill that can be taught, honed and developed.

2005-11-18T12:54:00.000Z

"If we are going to base the decision to be based on opinion, I'd rather it was based on mine" Jack Welch

Business Networking Events and Singles Parties... are really the same.

2005-10-13T07:31:00.000Z

Everyone's been to a few "business networking" events. With talk of mixing business with pleasure made me consider the real similarities between networking ewvents and singles dating clubs.

Location: Networking events are often held in a bar. Guess what? Singles mingle in bars all the time, and the booze is a flowing in both types of events.

Attendance : much like Saturday night at a sports bar, the men will vastly outnumber the women.

Breaking the ice : Much like attending a matchmaker's party, the business networker is often given something to help break the ice while meeting new people. Sometimes it's just a name tag. Other times it's a badge, colour-coded to what your professional niche is, or what your convention status is. Oreveyone has a code badge with specific characters - find another person with an identical stamp on their card and you win a prize. Sounds like arranged marriages!!

The people: At networking events, there seem to be two types of people: those huddling with entourage, only occasionally leaving their group to fetch a new drink; and those who approach potential partners and drop opening lines like "Hi, my name's Bob. What's your job?" Sound familiar?

Making the introduction: At networking events, the vast majority of opening lines revolve around dropping your title and/or enquiring as to the other person's job. So it's not "what's your star sign", but "what do you do for a living". An opening line is still just that, even if more people lead in with a handshake in networking events than their singles equivalent.

Leaving with a Partner: At a business event, you might be looking for a long-term strategic partner or just a partner for a particular short-term need. The exact same thing occurs at a singles party, although modesty precludes too close an examination of this context.

Looks are important: While you're out looking for that business partner, there are frightening parallels. Looks are still important, though the emphasis is maybe the cut of one's suit. Business cards are collected and fancy titles savored. All the better if you partner with the CEO, instead of a programmer.

Looking for funding : When the networking is for Venture Capital and potential investorsthen this is the business equivalent of a Sugar Daddy. A lot of people would like nothing more than to have an investor fund their short-term, exit-strategy-focused venture. That is to say, they want to be taken out for dinner and bought some jewelry before they stop returning phone calls. Then there's another class of investor-stalking attendee that's looking for first-round financing for a long-range business plan. These people are looking for a ring.

The morning after: Especially in the case of the investor function, just like Saturday night, even though everyone's out looking for a partner, almost every one still goes home alone. And for those who don't go home alone, sometimes their new partners don't look so good in the morning. Much as a single person would rather gnaw off their arm, as to slip out in the morning without waking a particularly distasteful partner, a breach of contract lawsuit is the ultimate extension of Coyote Love.

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CPM explained - Interview with Ian Gotts, author of Common approach, Uncommon Results

2005-09-27T20:23:00.000Z

The companies, who want to adapt themselves to the changing competition conditions in a short time, support their improvement activities with various management types, information technologies and accumulation management activities. One of the management approaches is CPM. Could you please provide brief information about CPM?

CPM (Corporate Performance Management) draws together a number of existing, proven management approaches and combined they will allow the company to understand its current level of performance, and therefore take actions to improve.

The approaches or disciplines are Strategic Planning, Budgeting & Planning, Process Management, Scorecarding & Metrics, Compliance Management. i.e. the metrics, processes, roles and responsibilities all presented in a consistent coherent picture which everyone in the business can understand, with an auditable history of all changes.

It is expected that the demand for CPM will be increasing in 2005. Do you think there is an inclination to CPM solutions in today's environment? Could you give some numbers as an example to this increase?

Firstly you should consider Performance Management rather than CPM, as this term is more general. Various analysts and software vendors seem to each have their own version and acronym: BPM (Business P.. M.. ), CPM (Corporate P.. M..), EPM (Enterprise P.. M.. ) SEM (Strategic Enterprise Management) and so on.

We are seeing that there is significantly greater interest at the Executive Team to consider Performance Management overall, rather than as individual initiative or projects being delivered in isolation down in a business unit or department.

Another measure is the number of well-attended conferences. I now speak at 2-3 events per month on the subject of Performance Management.

There are niche analysts covering purely Performance Management, and all the major IT analysts, such as Gartner, Butler and AMR Research have dedicated analysts covering the area.

One final point, is that for some Business Intelligence software vendors CPM is seen as simply Planning and Budgeting for the Finance Department. This is far too narrow a definition.

Do you think the companies started to apply CPM in an efficient way?

Every company has a different driver (or catalyst) for starting to get a better understanding of the metrics, processes, roles and responsibilities in their business.  Only once the basics are in place can a company consider CPM.

We are already seeing companies with fantastic benefits from applying CPM, and these projects have been delivered in less than 12 months.  For example Lockheed Martin, the defence contractor, in the UK has reduced costs by $8m this year and expect year on year savings of $6m, and have identified process improvement savings of $21m.  This has resulted in their contract win rate going from 30% to 100%.

The greater level of awareness, plus the improvement of the economy combined with strong competitive pressures is forcing every company to consider how it can improve its operational performance.  And that is what CPM is focused on.

Time, cost and efficiency-based directing and monitoring are essential to achieve success of the projects that have been started by the companies, who want to adapt themselves to the competitive environment. What could be the difficulties that a company faces with during the realization of the strategies? How can a company overcome these difficulties?

With any initiative / project the challenge is getting the changes in working practices or improvements, which were identified by the project team, adopted or accepted by the rest of the company.

In the book we have a formula R = I x A2 where R is the result for the company, I is the initiative / project and A is Adoption of the changes suggested by the Initiative. Some people have said it should not be A2 (squared) but An where n=14. It is FAR more important to get adoption for a few key initiatives than no adoption on a huge range of disconnected initiatives. < /FONT>

For the success of the organisations, the ability to realize the strategies is as important as determining them. The research shows that only 10% of the companies realise strategies successfully. What is the most important reason for this?

I think that there is a real problem with company's ability to translate the strategy into a series of activities which are clearly communicated and can be understood at the lowest levels in the organisation. The strategies stay in senior management's heads, and the workers carry on as normal.

When the CEO says "We will be more Customer Focused", what does that mean for the Call Centre operator? Should they pick the phone up and smile, or give a bigger discount. The critical part is – "How to you want me to act differently based on the corporate strategy, and how am I going to be mesured".

The approach of hierarchically breaking down the top level picture of the business (the strategy) which is described in terms of metrics (outcomes) and activities to deliver those outcomes (processes) is THE way to communicate the strategy and turn it into reality.

Two of the reasons of project failure are not to spread the project deliverables amongst employees and not to connect the strategy to the people's daily operations. What must the companies do for the possession of the strategies by the employees? What are the benefits of the adoption of the project outputs and the strategy?

I think that I've covered the first part in the answer to the previous question.

The benefits of adoption are
- better staff morale (people know what is expected of them)
- more efficient/effective operation (people are doing the right things)
- the business is more agile (change to react to markets can be faster)
- can expand more easily (you have a blueprint of how the business works)
- alignment of strategy with day to day activities

If a company applies the CPM in an effective way would there be an increase on its profit?

Of course – that is what we are seeing from our clients in profit making industries. In non-profit making industries (Government) we are seeing reduced cost, or additional capacity.

Do you have any advice for small and medium sized companies? What do they have to do in order to increase their profitability? How must they use CPM?

The principles of CPM is relevant to large as well as small companies. It is is more difficult for an organisation with less than 75-100 employees, because they cannot necessarily afford to dedicate a full time project manager and part time project team to really make the project deliver. However, when we were only 40 people Nimbus adopted the principles and it has enabled us to respond to a huge demand from the market.

My advice is to start to apply the principles, no matter what size of company you have. It is is critical to appoint a Project Champion who is part of the Executive Team and who has the energy, vision and rive to ensure that the work is completed.

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Advice to new CEO's.

2005-09-27T13:41:00.000Z

New CEO is given 3 envelopes by outgoing CEO and told if you fail to hit quarterly targets, open an envelope.

After problems in the first quarter, he opens first envelope which says "blame the previous CEO"

At the second quarter he's still behind target so he opens second envelope which says "blame the market"

ITs not going well, and after poor results for the third quarter, he opens third envelope which says "take 3 envelopes..."

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AQPC Reports after 12 months research on "Why Process Management?"

2005-09-21T22:38:00.000Z

All work is a process--a series of interrelated activities that convert inputs into outcomes (results)--and those processes must be managed. Business process management (BPM) is a management approach that governs work (and flow) in an organization and considers suppliers, the connectivity among the organization's functional roles, and customers. BPM enables organizations to become process-focused, understanding and managing their inner workings from a horizontal, process viewpoint, rather than a vertical, functional viewpoint; this more comprehensive view yields greater operational efficiency, control, and customer satisfaction. This report examines how organizations use BPM to better understand and improve their work, design and implement a successful BPM initiative, and translate BPM into high-impact business outcomes.

In addition to qualitative and quantitative data concerning key findings, this report has in-depth case studies of best practices at: Air Products and Chemicals Inc., Coors Brewing Co., Deere & Co., Northrop Grumman Space Technology, and Operations Management International Inc.

Click here to view the executive summary for this report.

Actually said in Courts

2005-09-17T10:18:00.000Z

These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters - who had to suffer the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place.

________________________________________
Q: Are you sexually active?
A: No, I just lie there.

________________________________________
Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July 15th.
Q: What year?
A: Every year.
________________________________________
Q: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
A: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.
________________________________________
Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A: Yes.
Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A: I forget.
Q: You forget. Can you give us an example of something that you've forgotten?
_____________________________________
Q: How old is your son, the one living with you?
A: Thirty-eight or thirty-five, I can't remember which.
Q: How long has he lived with you?
A: Forty-five years.
______________________________________
Q: What was the first thing your husband said to you when he woke up that morning?
A: He said, "Where am I, Cathy?"
Q: And why did that upset you?
A: My name is Susan.
________________________________________
Q: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo or the occult?
A: We both do.
Q: Voodoo?
A: We do.
Q: You do?
A: Yes, voodoo.
_________________________________________
Q: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?
_________________________________________
Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
__________________________________________
Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?
______________________________________
Q: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
A: Yes.
Q: And what were you doing at that time?
________________________________________
Q: She had three children, right?
A: Yes.
Q: How many were boys?
A: None.
Q: Were there any girls?
________________________________________
Q: How was your first marriage terminated?
A: By death.
Q: And by whose death was it terminated?
_______________________________________
Q: Can you describe the individual?
A: He was about medium height and had beard.
Q: Was this a male, or a female?
____________________________________________
Q: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?
A: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.
___________________________________________
Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.
__________________________________________
Q: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A: Oral.
___________________________________________
Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an autopsy.
__________________________________________
Q: Are you qualified to give a urine sample?
__________________________________________
Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.
Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.
Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.
Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere

Some new words (and their definitions) for 2005

2005-09-17T09:55:00.000Z

TESTICULATING
Waving your arms around and talking bollocks

BLAMESTORMING.
Sitting around in a group, discussing why a deadline was missed or a
project failed, and who was responsible.

SEAGULL MANAGER.
A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, shits on everyone, and
then leaves.

ASSMOSIS.
The process by which people seem to absorb success and advancement by
sucking up to the boss rather than working hard.

SALMON DAY.
The experience of spending an entire day swimming upstream only to get
screwed and die.

CUBE FARM.
An office filled with cubicles.

PRAIRIE DOGGING.
When someone yells or drops something loudly in a cube farm, and
people's heads pop up over the walls to see that's going on. (This
also applies to applause from a promotion because there may be cake.)

MOUSE POTATO.
The on-line, wired generation's answer to the couch potato

SITCOMs.
Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage. What yuppies turn
into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay
home with the kids or start a "home business".

STRESS PUPPY.
A person who seems to thrive on being stressed out and whiny.

PERCUSSIVE MAINTENANCE.
The fine art of whacking the sh1t out of an electronic device to get it
to work again.

ADMINISPHERE.
The rarefied organisational layers beginning just above the rank and
file. Decisions that fall from the "adminisphere" are often profoundly
inappropriate or irrelevant to the problems they were designed to
solve.
This is often affiliated with the dreaded "administrivia" needless
paperwork and processes.

404.
Someone who's clueless. >From the World Wide Web error message "404 Not
Found," meaning that the requested document could not be located .

OHNOSECOND
That minuscule fraction of time in which you realise that you've
Just made a BIG mistake (e.g. you've hit 'reply all')

New Oxford Dictionary definitions

GOING FOR A McSHIT
Entering a fast food restaurant with no intention of buying food,
you're just going to the bog. If challenged by a pimply staff member,
your declaration to them that you'll buy their food afterwards is
known as a McShit with Lies.

BEER COAT
The invisible but warm coat worn when walking home after a booze
cruise at 3am in the morning.

BEER COMPASS
The invisible device that ensures your safe arrival home after booze
cruise, even though you're too drunk to remember where you live, how
you got here, and where you've come from.

JOHNNY-NO-STARS
A young man of substandard intelligence, the typical adolescent who
works in a burger restaurant.

MONKEY BATH
A bath so hot, that when lowering you rself in, you go: "Oo! Oo! Ho!
Aa!Aa!Aa!".

MYSTERY BUS
The bus that arrives at the pub on Friday night while you're in the
toilet after your 10th pint, and whisks away all the unattractive
people so the pub is suddenly packed with stunners when you come back
in.

Definition of Success

2005-09-02T18:36:00.000Z

"The ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" Winston Churchill

Chinese version of book a success.... first 5,000 copies sold

2005-08-31T09:19:00.000Z

5,000 copies of the book have been printed in Chinese... and have already been sold. ... so they are currently printing a further 15,000 copies.

Sadly, I can't comment on the quality of the translation, but I'm told it's very accurate although some of my more cynical (dry British sense of humour) footnotes were a little tricky to translate.

publisher: Tiandi Publishing House of Sichuan Publication Group www.tdph.net

Video interview revealing an unusual use of book

2005-08-31T07:02:00.000Z

The video should start immediately

Keynote - DIA - Prague

2005-08-31T06:55:00.000Z

The event is the annual conference of the DIA (Drugs Information Authority) in November in Prague.

Title - Prescription for Change - A2

Technology offers the possibilities of greater efficiency. To really realise these benefits there will need to be changes in working practices. These changes need to be adopted consistently throughout the organisation, but too often technology projects focus on the technology, not the end users of the technology. For the end users WIIFM stands not for "What's In IT for Me?, but "Why Is It Forced on Me?". The prescription: A2 (Adoption2) to be taken daily, until the WIIFM symptoms go away.

The number 7....

2005-08-30T21:37:00.000Z

The number 7 is a recurrent theme in our universe. It represents the
number of; days in the week; wonders of the world; sides of a 20p and
50p coin; million cubic feet of water let into the ocean by the Amazon
River every second; items most people can process and remember (called
the digit span); spikes on the statue of Liberty crown; days after a
Japanese baby's birth when celebrations take place (they also mourn
the seventh day and seventh week following a death). From cradle to
grave the number abounds in our daily lives.

Just a thought....

Book review in Computer Business Review

2004-11-17T07:21:00.000Z

The book has reviewed in a number of magazines. - Computer Weekly, Infoconomy, Computer Business Review. And every review is very positive- which is great

Click here to see the review from Computer Business Review as a PDF.

Book synposis and reviews

2004-10-03T06:40:00.000Z

The book is finally finished. Some great reviews by people who don't know me and don't owe me any favours kept me motivated during the final weeks of proof reading, reference checking and all the other boring stuff.

Go here to read a synosis and some of the reviews

The first book - published

2004-09-19T06:34:00.000Z

It's finished - Common Approach, Uncommon Results. The first book.

Check out the publishers website www.ideas-warehouse.com

My background and thinking behind the book

2000-01-01T21:55:00.000Z

Some insights into Ian’s past life, and the decisions which has shaped his career

What was school like?

Bedford Modern School, where there with a strong sporting theme - 1st XV Rugy and sailing coupled with a good academic results - 10 'O' levels - 7A, 3B and 4 'A' levels - 2A, 2B ... when an A at 'A' level actually meant something!!!

What University did you go to?

I was sponsored to read Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University by British Railways. I was offered sponsorship by several companies (Rolls-Royce, Perkins Diesel Engines, IMI) but chose BR as they offered a huge range of opportunities. This meant that I spent a year between school and Uni working for BR in Derby alongside 15 other students, some of whom I still keep in touch with. Through Uni I was required each summer to work in a different part of

BR.

One summer it was in a design shop working at a drawing board, another it was working in a repair shop on nights changing the brake blocks on commuter coaches.

What was your first job?

I worked during the school summer holidays in a meat factory on the unloading bay, and in an envelope making factory etc. to fund my new habit - sailing. But my first proper job was after Uni working for BR in East Croydon. I was in a technical department for 6 months helping analyse train failures, but I then requested a move to get more 'man-management' experience. I was transferred to be a shop-floor foreman in a repair shop in Dartford - responsible for 110 men.... 6 months after graduating. It was a baptism of fire, and I grew up very quickly, and it was something I clearly had an aptitude for.

How did you get into sailing?

I was first introduced to sailing in 6th form at school - so by today's standards I came to it very late. My father was brought up in the Norfolk Boards and we were living next to a small gravel pit, so we bought a dinghy and he taught me to sail. That summer I worked to buy my own one-man dinghy and spent every hour possible on the water. I won the junior British championships 6 months later. Unfortunately there wasn't the junior coaching and squad system that is now in place to bring on young sailors - it was very much self-taught.

I went to Southampton Uni, which attracted the top sailors and was captain of the 1st team and we dominated the

university team racing circuit - and now many of the top British Olympic sailors go to Southampton University.

Tell us a bit about being in the 1984 Olympics?

Olympic sailing was not a full-time and Lottery-funded as it is now. We scraped together money to fund the boat and the travel from family and friends and a few sponsors. It was 2 weeks training and sailing at a regatta in Europe and 2 weeks back at work. I sailed with someone I met through University and we sailed in the Star Class - which is still an Olympic class. It was my first introduction to international regattas and we finished 2nd at the British trials so we were the 'tune-up crew' to ensure that the British representative in the Olympics was fully prepared and up to speed.

Soon after the Olympics I joined Andersen Consulting and an early question in every interview was "So you WONT be competing in the 1998 Olympics" - so sailing became a passion, but secondary to developing my career within Andersen Consulting.

In Accenture I used my experience of managing large project teams and I specialised in Programme Management - managing high profile, high-risk monster projects (£100m +).

Accenture is a great learning ground

I had an opportunity at Accenture to run a wide range of projects, such as RAF LITS, Rolls-Royce, Shorts Aircraft and VSEL. But I was in the fortunate position of being seconded to the DSS (Department of Social Security ) as one of their IT Directors.

As a Grade 5 Civil Servant, I got to see and experience everything in the "Yes, Minister" TV series, first hand. Aged 32, I had 500 Civil Servants report to me and a budget of £40m. The stories from that 2 years in Government will live with me for ever. On the flip side, the teams reporting to me were dedicated, hard working and passionate about what they did. I was extremely proud to have been part of the projects which delivered a new payroll, personnel and accounting system for the 180,000 employees at the DSS, and the work to identify and reduce fraud which launched the programme to put benefit payment terminals in every Post Office.

How did you start Nimbus & why?

I was working for Accenture on track for Partner that year and Richard and Paul (2 co-founders of Nimbus) came to me with an idea which I would have used on every project I ran. I had a decision - did I stay in Accenture and become a highly paid partner flying around the world first-class, or did I start from scratch and build a business?

It was an easy decision influenced by a guy on a plane 5 years earlier. He had been offered the European franchise for Lego because he didn't think kids would want to play with plastic toys, so he turned it down. I didn't want to be in that situation. So it was back to zero. In fact I funded the development of the company by 6 months contracting work to the MOD to project manage the Army roll-out of a new accounting system. Nimbus started in what is now my daughter’s bedroom, and I can still remember taking the sales call from Orange

Austria

when they said we had won our first big project. Orange, 7 years later are still a client.

Where do you see the company and yourself in 5 years time?

In 5 years time Nimbus will be have strong relationships and interfaces with the software companies who we work alongside - Cognos, Hyperion and Business Objects in the Business Intelligence space and SAP, Oracle in Enterprise Applications space. Our

business and Chinese businesses will be vying for the fastest growth and they will have overtaken our EMEA business in revenue terms.

We will still be in Stansted House, but by then we will have expanded to fill all but the main country house.

What was the inspiration for your book?

What we are suggesting to clients is not rocket science, but it is a subtle change in thinking - for which the change in results are profound. It is easily missed. So many clients who I have spoken to have got excited about the potential of what we are talking about. But any meeting or presentation always left them wanting more, and wishing that they had another 5 people and another 2 Directors in the room.

Therefore we are very much in an education phase of development - with clients, with consultants, and with analysts. Therefore the book is aimed at a senior level manager / Director (small words, lots of pictures) and explains the principles of Adoption - which strikes a chord with everyone who has been involved with change - and brings it to life by drawing on real-life examples from the last 5 years working with clients.

Writing the book has suddenly catapulted me onto the conference speaking circuit. I now speak at seminars, conferences and events around the world. I love it, and that is clearly reflected in the feedback I get from the delegates. There is clearly a need for simple straight-forward thinking is a world which seems to be filled with jargon filled Powerpoint presentations from consultants.

What is the main message you want to get across in the book?

There is a better way of managing business change - getting Adoption (or buy-in) from the entire company for the changes in working practices is key - bus not necessarily very easy. The book describes a proven approach for getting significantly higher levels of adoption, and hence change leading to a High Performing Business.