Closing down for an indefinite time
February 10, 2009 at 8:54 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentI’m going to stop blogging for a while because:
1) Very busy at new job
2) Spending a lot of time on Facebook
3) Decided to concentrate on writing a book or two.
See you later on.
Welcome to the new home of Eclectic Bill
February 2, 2009 at 8:34 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentI’ve moved because I was tired of having my Blogger site constantly hijacked by spammers. Give me a week to update the links and I will be back to regular posting on February 9th.
Reference for TOC and the Scientific Method
January 27, 2009 at 1:44 am | Posted in Theory of Constraints | Leave a commentTaking a quick break from the dissertation:
I’ve had two emails asking for a reference to an earlier posting on the Theory of Constraints and the scientific method. It was from a discussion on the Critical Chain Yahoo! Group: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CriticalChain/message/8964
Back to the dissertation.
See you on February 1st
January 13, 2009 at 12:59 am | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentI am taking some time off for a final three-week push to complete my dissertation draft. Wish me luck.
See you on February 1st
January 13, 2009 at 12:59 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 CommentI am taking some time off for a final three-week push to complete my dissertation draft. Wish me luck.
Can the Theory of Constraints Actually Deal With Complex Systems and Complex Problems?
January 9, 2009 at 12:57 am | Posted in TOC, TOC Wicked Problem Challenge | Leave a commentEver since I attended the Odyssey Camp in July 2008, I have been nagged by the thought that the Theory of Constraints is not the universal problem solving tool that I thought it was. That was the motivation behind my TOC Wicked Problems Challenge which has yet to have at least one TOC practitioner give it a try. That doesn’t prove that TOC is not valid but, if TOC is a powerful as it is touted to be, you would think at least one TOC advocate would give one of the problems a shot.
In the meantime, I am going to spend the next few months examining the fundamental assumptions of TOC to determine for myself if TOC is still valid or should be supplanted with another problem-solving methodology. Occasionally, I will post my reflections along this process. I will start with how valid TOC is in regards to systems theory.
Self-Handicapping: How Project Teams Fall Apart
January 8, 2009 at 12:17 am | Posted in project management, self-handicapping, teambuilding, teams | Leave a commentNew York Times has an interesting article about how people deal with their low expectations by creating excuses early for their anticipated poor performance. As I read this article, I thought about several projedt teams that were damaged by self-handicappers and apologist. This is an important topic that I haven’t seen mentioned before in the project team literature but it should be.
New Year Resolution: Get Even More Organized
January 7, 2009 at 1:12 am | Posted in personal knowledge management, personal productivity | 1 CommentI’ve always been well-organized but I feel that I could do better. And with the new job, finishing up the dissertation, my online teaching, and desire to become active in professional associations, I’m realizing that my old system of To-Do lists and Yahoo! Calendar may not be sufficient.
So, I am signing up for an online Getting Things Done application (Nozbe), an online mindmapping tool (MindMeister), an online collaboration tool (Huddle), and online backup tool (Mozy). These four tools should work well together in helping me stay focused, organized, and productive this year. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
About the dissertation. . .
January 6, 2009 at 2:10 am | Posted in change management, mental models, vision | Leave a commentJack Vinson gives me some good advice in not letting my new job derail my dissertation. No worries there because I have an hour in the morning commute and an hour in the afternoon commute to work on it (while spending all day on Saturdays working on the dissertation). And I have one interesting conundrum so far:
If there is a lack of a specific change vision, do those affected by the change create a compensating change vision composed of the preexisting mental models and their own views (negative and positive) of the future? Does this sound familiar or reasonable?
Attention is the new work ethic
January 3, 2009 at 1:58 am | Posted in attention, focus, personal productivity, Web 2.0 | Leave a commentIt’s the old adage of “work smarter, not harder” updated for the Web 2.0. as InternetNews talks about the ability to pay attention in Web 2.0 age. I fully agree that four hours of focused attention is far superior to twelve hours of sitting at the desk attending to all of the interruptions from email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. As our tools get smarter, we should get smarter about using them.
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