Twyla’s Box: It’s Where Everything Goes

This post by Paul Harrill is a great take on what I’ve been saucily referring to as, “Twyla’s Box.” (Yes, again with the Twyla Tharp book.) I’m sharing it here, because in addition to delivering a thought-provoking slap at the self-abuse of productivity pr0n (“Certainly if you find yourself reading productivity book after productivity book you’re missing the point” [ouch]), it includes a canny synthesis of the overlap between (the best, non-fiddly parts of) GTD and those patterns that seem to help folks like Twyla Tharp to keep making for decades. Nice work, Paul. Loved this (and sorry for arriving so late to the party; I am now subscribed).

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Six ways to make Web 2.0 work

Web 2.0 tools present a vast array of opportunities—for companies that know how to use them. Technologies known collectively as Web 2.0 have spread widely among consumers over the past five years. Social-networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, now attract more than 100 million visitors a month. As the popularity of Web 2.0 has grown, companies have noted the intense consumer engagement and creativity surrounding these technologies. Many organizations, keen to harness Web 2.0 internally, are experimenting with the tools or deploying them on a trial basis. Over the past two years, McKinsey has studied more than 50 early adopters to garner insights into successful efforts to use Web 2.0 as a way of unlocking participation. We have surveyed, independently, a range of executives on Web 2.0 adoption. Our work suggests the challenges that lie ahead. To date, as many survey respondents are dissatisfied with their use of Web 2.0 technologies as are satisfied. Many of the dissenters cite impediments such as organizational structure, the inability of managers to understand the new levers of change, and a lack of understanding about how value is created using Web 2.0 tools.

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Powerful Solving in the Foundation of Innovation - Matthew Battle

Why innovate? “No matter what anybody else tells you: corporations achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation.” Peter Drucker According to the Boston Consulting Group 2006 survey Result, 72% of the executives rank innovation as a top-three strategic priority, up from 66% in 2005. 72% of respondents said their companies would increase spending on innovation in 2006. At the same time, many executives—nearly half of those surveyed—remain unsatisfied with the financial returns on their companies’ investments in innovation. Does that sound familiar to you? Why is innovation so important to CEO s? In the past, there has been a major trend among companies to reduce cost. 6-Sigma tools were so efficient for cost-cutting in transactional areas, as well as in technical areas, that their reputation has reached every big company. What they want: To gain money! This rigorous approach allows you to increase your margin by the given formula: Profits = Revenues – Costs Big profits can for sure come from decreasing your costs. But, in the end, even if a company has become the most efficient one on earth, it doesn’t mean it will be the most profitable. Why? Because the revenues will stay fixed, and more, will decrease year after year as the customer gets used to the product, and because competitors will launch some new, audacious products to compete with it!

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Right Brain Workout - Telephone Booth - Creativity Test

This is a creativity test. We're going back to the days when the phone booth was about the only alternative to the desk phone. You're the president of a company that makes phone booths. Recently your closest competitor has begun to whittle away at your market share. Desperate, you ask all of your employees for ideas. Not just run-of-the-mill ideas, but innovative, creative ideas.

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Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organisation

Coordination, and the communication it implies, is central to the very existence of organizations. Despite their fundamental role in the purpose of organizations, scholars have little understanding of actual interaction patterns in modern, complex, multiunit firms. To open the proverbial "black box" and begin to reveal the internal wiring of the firm, this paper presents a detailed, descriptive analysis of the network of communications among members of a large, structurally, functionally, geographically, and strategically diverse firm.

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