Ekspansja sieci handlowej — prezentacja

How to maximize flow, any flow

http://personalkanban.com says there are just two kanban rules:

1. Visualize work
2. Limit WIP

Goldratt says there are four concepts of supply chain:

1. Improving flow (or equivalently lead time) is a primary objective of operations
2. This primary objective should be translated into a practical mechanism that guides the operation when not to produce (prevents overproduction)
3. Local efficiencies must be abolished
4. A focusing process to balance flow must be in place

But they are concepts. And I was looking for operational guidelines, to serve as implementation milestones in any situation of trying to maximize flow: personal (GTD-like productivity system, multi-project critical chain project, supply chain — anything).

So, based on the two kanban rules, the four concepts of supply chain and on Goldratt’s S&T trees, I came up with the following three operational milestones of maximizing flow:

1. Visualize work (oftentimes clients have no idea what projects they are doing or what the exact sequence of work in a project is)
2. Reduce bad multitasking (ie. limit WIP, which as a consequence of not visualizing work, is usually too high)
3. Balance flow

Phrasing them in this way has given me enormous clarity in approaching client engagements. However in all client situations, we have come across serious misalignments between the measurement system and the overall System Goal. This has prompted me to expand the following list to read:

1. Remove misalignment
2. Visualize work
3. Reduce bad multitasking
4. Balance flow

Details to follow. Meanwhile, you’re most welcome to comment.

Goldratt and N.N. Taleb’s ‘Life’s Barbells’

Two additions to Nassim N. Taleb’s ‘Life’s Barbells’ (entry #132), as per Goldratt’s Criticial Chain Project Management:

• Work on one task at a time at full speed or stop completely. Don’t apply half-effort or multitask.
• Create a schedule with aggressive task times but add a buffer to project end. Don’t use “safe” (long) task estimates.

What is Stupidity?

Stupidity = complexity of behavior much smaller than complexity of system impacted: traditional medicine, econ policy. Inspired by @nntaleb

The Hundred-Year Language is Here!

Paul Graham wrote in 2003 an essay titled The Hundred-Year Language in which he laid out some basic tenets for a programming language of the future. He also designed a language called Arc to lead the way. But it doesn’t seem to have gotten any real traction.

But I have just discovered that the Hunderd-Year Language is here! I found it in the most unusual place of all: in the heart of Mathematica.

I am not really going to attempt to discuss why I believe Wolfram Mathematica really is the HYL; you’ve gotta see it for yourself. The best way is to watch this presentation of Mathematica. It’s a bit long (71 minutes) but I guarantee it’ll shock you.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional programmer, nor have I used Mathematica in real life, so my opinion is just a layman’s point of view.