Decision: Process Initiatives

Most successful organizations invest regularly in process initiatives that grow their core competencies.  The past few years a lot of companies have burnt their budget for such things on six sigma, lean “whatever” or various gate process frameworks.  All of these contribute to operational excellence with very little benefit to strategic excellence (see my June [...]

New features coming in July

I started work this week on 2 new features that will show up in both Decision Driven® Strategy and Life during July.
First, I’m adding a second Compare Alternatives chart.  The current alternative comparison uses a Tornado Diagram to enable users to compare the relative advantages of any pair of alternatives.  It does a great job [...]

Decision: Trial Strategy

Almost all new products merit some form of market trials prior to full-scale launch to the masses.  These may be clinical trials in the case of medical devices or new drugs; they may be alpha or beta releases in the case of software.  The decision pattern within the Decision Driven® Strategy web service includes a [...]

Multi-decision innovation framework

Creating the future is fun!  One of the most enjoyable and profitable uses of a proven decision pattern is as an innovation framework.  If your organization is looking for disruptive, game-changing innovations that propel you to a new competitive position, you need a way to stimulate and align breakthroughs that span multiple business and product decisions.
Start by making [...]

Decision: Methods Engine

Whether you are a consultant, accountant, university, repair shop or a barber, there is more to offering a high-value, high-performing service that just an intense desire to meet your customer’s needs.  High performing services need a high-performance engine - this engine can be thought of as being a “Methods Engine“.   Within the Decision Driven® Strategy pattern, [...]

Strategic vs operational excellence

I continue to run into folks who are pouring mucho money and effort into applying six sigma techniques to everything.  Six sigma provides a rich toolbox for continuous, incremental improvement of existing processes and systems; it’s great for helping organizations achieve operational excellence.  But the same things that make six sigma work in the operational world, [...]

WIIFM - Why should I master decision management skills?

What’s in it for me?  Why should I expend the effort to master decision management skills?  Here are a few reasons:

Career growth: The greater the breadth and depth of decisions that you master, the more valuable you are to any employer.  More money.   Job security.  Some folks can make or assist in only a very narrow [...]

Courseware design decision pattern

I’ve delivered a few hundred workshops over the past 25 years and designed at least 10 courses myself.  Based on those experiences, I’ve developed and refined a courseware design decision pattern.  This decision pattern helps me create courses and course variants much more quickly than I could otherwise.  It also helps me take a longer-term view [...]

Continuous decision management

Newton’s Second Law of Motion expressed as an equation is F = ma; Force = Mass x Acceleration.  This law is one of the most useful principles of the physical sciences; nearly every thing we do and every product we use leverages (or obeys) it in some way.
Can F=ma be applied to non-physical objects such [...]

Strategy for non-profits

The decision patterns that are delivered with the Decision Driven® Strategy web service can be applied directly to innovate, evaluate and manage the strategy of any non-profit organization.  Decisions are fundamental questions/issues that demand and answer or solution.  Non-profit organizations face essentially the same set of decisions as a for-profit business; they just answer some [...]