Mark McDonald

I have been thinking about something I saw a few weeks ago.
In a sign of how tough 2009 is retailers around the country have jumped the gun on Christmas.  Traditionally Christmas decorations and sales began with Black Friday – this year November 27th.  But the Thanksgiving holiday is late this year and retailers are understandably [...]

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I was at an event a few weeks ago hosted by a leading IT journalist who made the following opening remarks.  “Good times are ahead for IT.  A new investment cycle should happen soon as we have postponed infrastructure upgrades for too long.”  His tone was upbeat and encouraging.  The only thing was that the [...]

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Process means different things to different people.  For some it is a four-letter word.  Something to be avoided.  Something that is bad.  Every organization is taking a fresh look at their processes as they look for new ways to raise performance.  This is transitioning views on process, its importance and its role in companies that [...]

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An attendee at the Gartner Symposium in Cannes last week handed me a piece of paper and said “write about this in your blog” so here goes.
The person did not give their name so I hope they see this post.
Question: In a world where we are faced with throwing away our people through outsourcing, how [...]

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NOTE: this post is a continuation of a prior discussion on Regulation 1.0.
Regulation 2.0 will be shaped as a direct response to the shortcomings of existing regulatory regimes, the potential of emerging technologies and the desire to incorporate state and non-state actors into regulatory regimes.
Regulation 1.0 is based on prohibitions defining the wrong things in [...]

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There are seven sources of waste identified in lean thinking.  Unnecessary Inventory is one of them and found in any company.  There are many forms of inventory:  finished goods sitting in a warehouse unsold, work in progress tied up in your process, and raw materials awaiting production.  In manufacturing a major concern of unnecessary inventory [...]

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Transporting is one of the forms of waste or Muda. Lean thinking evolved in manufacturing where raw materials and work in process move around the shop floor from station to station.  Every movement takes time, increases the risk of damage and requires non-value added activities.  The more transporting activity the greater the opportunity for [...]

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Commoditization has been the buzzword threat for IT professionals for years.  This reached a fever pitch with Nicholas Carr’s books about IT.  If you wanted to scare a CIO all you have to do is raise the threat of IT becoming a commodity.  The commodity threat abated some as people rushed to cut their budgets [...]

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Review Headline: Excellent book on executive collaboration, falls a little short in other areas.
Every company wants collaboration, but few know how to go about it.
Collaboration by Morten Hansen is highly recommended reading for those who want to create collaboration rather than just read about it.  Collaboration is often held up as a universal virtue – [...]

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Recessions entail more than just a pullback in economic growth; they include a retrenchment in business innovation and activities.  The global recession that began to be formally recognized about a year ago in August 2008, has hit companies hard and their business practices harder – particularly in IT.
With global corporate IT budgets declining an average [...]

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