Which adds more value: PMO or Strategic Investment Decision Support unit? I was once asked to design a Strategic Investment Decision Support (SIDS) unit as part of an overhaul of governance for a FTSE 250 company. It was in fact a PMO, where the ‘P’ in this instance stood for ‘Portfolio’ rather than ‘Project’ or […]
Have you read ‘Managing Public Money’? It’s a Treasury publication of the rules and guidance that public bodies and their Accounting Officers must follow when managing public money. Don’t be put off by the 217 pages – the main body of the text is only ~ 70 (the rest being appendices). In particular I like the Foreword. The one that […]
I was reflecting on the nature of trust in business. And on its impact on decision-making (that’s what we spend most of our time doing in Business Decision Design®). I recently did a strategy implementation event design and facilitation for a really interesting medium-sized business. With all the changes to my work focus and new […]
My web-designer does not understand why I have the word ‘design’ in both the Trademarked propositions that we offer. For me it is because the ‘design’ activity is often missing when creating business decision frameworks or creating business strategy. And I mean ‘design’ as a creative endeavour as well as a discipline. Given the media […]
I’m travelling to London as I do most days. I need decision strategies as delays are common place and trains are cancelled frequently. But my experience has taught me that the network tends to recover quite quickly and rather than join the hundreds of other people crowding on to other less direct services I’m better […]
As we slide into the financial year-end, I’m reflecting on the exciting projects that we have been involved with over the last 9 months and how this has created opportunity for Agile Strategy Design® & Business Decision Design® in the year ahead. Shortly after I set up the company I did an agile strategy design […]
For once Harry, (not his real name), does not know what to do. He has been working on the design of a new software application for sales teams. It’s intended to improve the flow of information to potential customers and to increase the availability and accuracy of sales records about specific individual clients. He’s been […]
Sometimes the decision is easy. Logic applies. The decision and the outcome can be parameterised. Data is available. The data is complete and accurate, a tried and tested method for evaluation based on the data is available. Nothing weird or disruptive is happening in the environment, stakeholders are of one mind… I did say ‘sometimes’! […]
We can learn about how we work from observing and reflecting on our decision behaviours be it in work or at home. Here is a cut-down version of one of our Business Decision Design® training course case studies. Narrative: I recently had to buy two rear tyres for our car. I have two young children so I […]
We successfully completed the latest Agile Strategy Review assignment, on time and about 10% under budget. This allowed the client the flexibility to choose between expanding the scope and adding a further design increment or stopping with the previously agreed deliverable and keeping the cash. They chose to add in an additional short design cycle […]
I’m curious about a news story that I recently caught on Radio 4. Some economists from Cambridge and Oxford were publicising the research they have done on human travel patterns before, during and after the February 2014 Tube strikes in London. Link to research and License The researchers had access to millions of anonymised Oyster […]
I’m currently engaged to produce a strategic review for an information services business. I have 13 working days to deliver a Board-level briefing paper with supporting rationale. You can see that I enjoy a challenge. This review is necessarily a study of studies which involves reading ~ 30 documents about strategic intent and having sheep-dip […]
