A Business Technology Place

JIT Action Items for the Office Worker

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Just in time. Picture this. You are reviewing a list of tasks that was assigned to colleagues in your business. You remind one of the task owners their action item is due tomorrow and they respond, “I have it on my list, but I’m operating just-in-time.” This happened to me recently. The word choice “just in time” (JIT) is from a Lean concept in which production output is managed by when the customer requests delivery rather than when the producer can complete the task. Most office workers today don’t match-up their behavior with Lean Principles. But even if you aren’t a Lean practitioner, there is tangible value to considering the JIT approach.   One of the primary goals of JIT is to eliminate waste by not working or storing excess inventory. For this blog post, I’m writing about assignments, tasks, and action items for office personnel. Think of excess inventory as

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Revisiting – What are you known for?

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Deja Vu I recorded a few rambling thoughts one day after work this week. That’s how many of my blog posts originate. Things happen through the course of a day that stick with me into the evening. When I jot down my thoughts, I see interactions with people, process observations, desires for a better solutions, and things I want to change. This week I looked over my notes and thought, “What do I want to be known for?” It’s a question I knew I had asked myself in the past. Three years ago, I wrote a post entitled What are you known for?  In that post I expressed my desire to be known more for providing solutions over following processes. I’m a practitioner of following processes, but the process itself isn’t bigger than the results it provides. Dr. No Fast forward to today. The Information Technology landscape is increasingly burdened

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Level loading straight talk

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Listen to the clues. This week was not unlike many others. I had multiple conversations with colleagues about the amount of work expected of them. Common phrases include: “We don’t have enough resources.” “I’m overworked.” “We are working hard, but are we working smart?” “I’m drowning.” “Are we working on the right things?” “I plan my day with important activities, but then urgent activities take my time.” Thoughtful answers to this classic dilemma usually involve some form of level loading to try to even-out and prioritize the work expected from employees. Last year I wrote about one technique my group uses to try to control the volume of input on our development team leads.  One the biggest challenges in controlling work inputs is a concept I call organizational entropy. I define organizational entropy as a measure of disorder or randomness by which work is created within a company.  This ultimately

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Built-in automobile technology is distracting our driving

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We’ve all seen the consequences of texting and driving.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has education content for public awareness campaigns. But, do you think we have a myopic focus on cell phones as the device providing the distraction? Touch screens and electronic functions built-in the latest automobiles can provide as much temptation and distraction as cell phones.  Cars today come with a variety of electronic options including GPS navigation, bluetooth audio, streaming music services, and yes even texting. My car has a text function that is part of the bluetooth handsfreelink feature. The feature only shows messages when the car is stopped. However, it will read messages out loud using a text-to-speech module when the car is in motion. I use the physical controls to manipulate the function. But wait, there’s more. This feature also allows me to select pre-written replies using the physical knobs in front of

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Easier password rules

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Somebody give these guys a high-five. Finally. There is a glimmer of hope for resolution to the insanity that has become password complexity rules. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently revised guidelines for password complexity. The prescribed password complexity recommendations are detailed in Appendix A – Strength of Memorized Secrets. The NIST findings not only acknowledge the impact to usability of the existing recommendations for complex password rules, but they reveal the impact to improved security is not significant. This will make you smile and is sure to get a round of applause from everyone. Here’s an excerpt: “Humans, however, have only a limited ability to memorize complex, arbitrary secrets, so they often choose passwords that can be easily guessed. To address the resultant security concerns, online services have introduced rules in an effort to increase the complexity of these memorized secrets. The most notable form of these

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