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I believe that time is our most precious resource.  Once it is spent, it cannot ever be recovered or replaced.    minute of laziness and sloth-like behavior may cost 10 minutes of productivity, so time even has a multiplier effect.  Wasted time costs not only production but impacts those around us as well. Project Management Schedules…

Risk is kind of a negative word.  We usually associate risk with bad things happening.  We feel relieved if we have taken a risk and everything turns out okay.  Companies hire specialists in risk management to minimize physical hazards and financial exposures. The Project Management Institute (PMI) talks about risk more as an uncertainty.  There…

In any business endeavor, success depends on the right process as well as the right people.  In new product development (NPD), we follow processes (like WAGILE) to minimize investment risk and maximize value delivery (to both customer and company).  NPD projects are executed by cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams. NPD teams are the sum of a core…

I am not a big fan of rules.  I suppose it’s because my mother had a lot of rules while I was growing up.  Some of them, in retrospect, were to help keep the house clean and running efficiently.  But some of her rules made no sense at all – even when I view them…

Loans among friends can quickly impact their friendship in a negative way.  I have learned that loaning a book to a friend really means giving them the book.  Not intentionally, people lose or damage the items they have borrowed so they cannot return them.  (Or are embarrassed to admit it.) My dad was a CPA,…

In the summer of 2022, I had the privilege of speaking at the Houston PMI Annual Conference.    It was really terrific to be back in person after the long break for Covid and to meet old friends.  It was also rewarding to meet new friends over coffee, at lunch, and during breakout sessions.  In the…

If your project management teams are struggling with time-to-market, consider applying Lean NPD principles or the WAGILE Product Development process.  Read about WAGILE Product Development in Part 3 of The Innovation PROCESS Book.  WAGILE integrates customer feedback continuously throughout the process but maintains the structure of stages and gates from waterfall to offer decision security…