Category Archives: Decision Making

Identifying and dealing with key issues

The Return Of The J Curve: A Lesson From Netflix

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Nothing is free… or at least not free forever. The same goes for the lowest price. Eventually it goes away. Either a new, lower price is found, or the price rises. As the economy continues to rebound, free is no … Continue reading →

Posted in Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Outsourcing Obstacles Too Big To Swallow?

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Last week I saw a question on Linked-In that I thought was particularly interesting. The question was, “What are the top five challenges in BPO transitions that  need to be addressed in the outsourcing/offshoring industry?”  If there were any “winners” … Continue reading →

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Higher Clouds: Learning From Amazon’s AWS Strategy

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Last month, Amazon had a conference in New York to show off its latest web services. At the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Conference a number of very experienced executives presented some exceptionally impressive technology.  Still, as they day wore on … Continue reading →

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 3 – Building Consensus

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

A Project Charter is a document that describes a project, names the people who will perform the project, what their roles will be and the name of the project sponsor (the individual that requested the project). Any book on Six … Continue reading →

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 2 – A Step by Step Guide

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

When you’re ready to start a project you need to create a Project Charter. In our last Blog we went over the consequences of not having a charter. Today, we’re going to cover the steps you need to take to … Continue reading →

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4th Sigma: Project Charters, Part 1 – Do We Need Charters?

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

If you were to take everything in the very large Six Sigma toolkit and try to identify the top ten most important tools, the Project Charter is near the top. A charter is just a very good description of what you … Continue reading →

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How Much Do Your Services Cost?

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Budgeting in Corporate Services has always been an approximate science. In some cases, very approximate. Because your services are far removed from the products that your firm sells to the outside world, it’s hard to know how and when to … Continue reading →

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The Regulators: Round 2 – Are Your Costs In Line With The Market… Which Market?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Yesterday we spoke a bit about the rise of “Regulators” in Fortune 500 Firms. In the past service managers would periodically see directives for firm-wide budget controls, freezes for new hires, or (during especially difficult economic times) special committees that … Continue reading →

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Management Trends for 2011: MORE!

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

The corporate world is changing. The biggest firms in the world are almost entirely public corporations, and an every smaller number of the largest firms are privately owned. Of the largest firms in America, the top five public firms are … Continue reading →

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The 4th Sigma: Analysis Paralysis… More Options Don’t Always Help

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Chris Niccolls

Any good management book or management system provides you with more than a few tools or the steps for a process. The best books remind that you are applying these systems to people, people with preferences and limitations. Some people … Continue reading →

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