OODA loops in Lean Startups

Eric Ries from Startup Lessons Learned-blog held interesting presentation at Government 2.0 Summit. Where he talks about rapid experimentation as a reason to why some startups succeed and some die. The ability to perform more experiments per dollar. And direct mention of OODA included as well :)

His blog goes to my reading list.



(Found via Lean Blog)

Is there a way to survive crisis without firing people?

Henrik Mårtensson at Kallokain thinks so. He has a blog post up titled 19 Ways to Survive the Crisis Without Firing People where he does lot of acronym dropping, but at the same time managed to give at least to me some new things to look into.

Especially Donella Meadows list of places to intervene in System was interesting. Managed to skim trough it, but I think I'll have come back to this list after I have given some thought to it.

OODA as basis for business strategy

Long time and no posts. Shame on us.

I have been trying to write, but it seems that every succesful company could be used as an example of one or another management principle if you just spin it enough. I think that has raised my bar too high when looking for that true example of company utilizing maneuver conflict. Or I have just been too lazy.

Luckily there is atleast one company that has openly based their strategy on Boyd's principles. There is writeup about them on Chet Richards' blog by Jim Bowes, writer of Secrets of a Midnight Entrepreneur. OODA Loops in Contract Manufacturing tells interesting story on how they utilized low cost software solutions to support their strategy and not other way around.

Ofcourse, being the manufacturing guy that I am would've kept manufacturing inhouse, but outsourcing volume manufacturing to experienced partner rather and try to build up manufacturing capacity in addition to product development and spread resources too thin can be wise solution for startup.

Technorati revealed this blog to me. They have nice presentation on Lean principles and OODA in software startups. Ideas seemed sensible to me.

Webcast on principles of Principles of Business Strategy

I have stumbled upon blog Kallokain by Henrik Mårtensson but really haven't had time to read more. His most recent post includes webcast on business strategy principles and what tools Apple has used in battle against phone giants.

In addition to nice overview of principles in the webcast I recommend reading comments, they provide some useful insight as well.

On other note, I have Fast Strategy on its way from Amazon and I'll report back when I'm finished reading it.

Fast Strategy

Has anyone read Fast Strategy by Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen? Review of it in Amazon is promising:

In their Introduction, Yves Doz and Mikko Kosonen assert that strategically agile companies "not only learn to make fast turns and transform themselves without losing momentum but their CEOs and top teams also have higher ambitions: to make their companies permanently, regularly, able to take advantage of change and disruption. They want their organizations to learn to thrive on continuous waves of change, not to periodically and painfully adjust to change, in an alternation of periods of stability and moments of upheaval. Put differently, they want [everyone in] their companies [at all levels and in all areas] to learn a new competitive game: the fast strategy game - a game where nothing can be taken for granted, where no competitive advantage edge may last, where innovation and the constant development of new capabilities are the only sources of advantage."

Doz and Kosonen respond to critically important questions such as these:

What separates winners from losers in this "game"?
How differently are the winners led?
How are they organized?
How do they make decisions?

Sounds pretty much like maneuver conflict, or what do you think?

CMM or Constraints Management

Meant to write something about SKI on Troughput blog allready some time ago, but forgot about it. Now it popped up again from my Google Alerts. Just a generic comment on Bob Nardelli at helm of Chrysler, but in the post there are two books that I hadn't heard of before. Any of you read either of these and could give some comments?

The Logical Thinking Process: A Systems Approach to Complex Problem Solving by H. William Dettmer

A major rewrite of Dettmer's classic Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, this new edition presents a whole new approach to building and applying logic trees. The logical thinking process referred to in the title is nothing less than a broadly applicable, systems-level approach to policy analysis. Dettmer has streamlined the process of constructing the logic trees while simultaneously ensuring that the results are more logically sound and closer representations of reality than ever before. He explains an easier, more logically sound way to integrate Current Reality Trees with Evaporating Clouds. His new version of the thinking process "retires" the Transition Tree in favor of the marriage of a more detailed Prerequisite Tree and critical chain project management. This book contains new examples of logic trees from a variety of real-world applications. Most of the diagrams and illustrations are new and improved. Explanations and procedures for constructing the logic trees are considerably simplified. Completely new to this edition is a unique graphical software application - Transformation Logic Trees, designed primarily to create thinking process logic trees and only secondarily for other flowcharting uses. Provided on the accompanying CD-ROM is a full-function, unrestricted copy of version 1.0 for new and experienced users of the thinking process alike to use in building their logic trees. Appendix J in the book provides more information on how to install and use the software.

And
Strategic Navigation: A Systems Approach to Business Strategy by H. William Dettmer

There are many parallels between the business world and the military world: both must always be wary of the competition; both must be able to adapt to rapidly changing conditions; and if either falters the results could be devastating. Yet while military leaders have employed essentially the same strategies for thousands of years, business leaders often feel the need to try the latest fad in an effort to capture lightning in a bottle and lead the company to success. In Strategic Navigation: A Systems Approach to Business Strategy, best-selling author H. William Dettmer explains how sound, proven strategies used by great military leaders from Sun Tzu to Schwarzkopf can also be easily and effectively used in the business world.

Dettmer begins the book by introducing the conceptual framework of military strategy and maneuver warfare, which dates back over 2,300 years to the time of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. He first explains how the time-tested principles of war planning and military execution can be readily applied to non-military uses, such as commercial business, not-for-profit organizations, and government agencies, leading to considerable benefits in coherence and focus. Dettmer then introduces a logical, systematic tool set to help you translate the military strategy ‘template’ into action, which can then be applied to nearly any industry or business type. The system described by Dettmer is quick and easy to use, flexible enough to accommodate changes in the external environment, and supports the creativity of both strategists and executors.

Apple designing snowmobiles?

Michael Lopp, senior engineering manager at Apple held a presentation at South by Southwest. Summarized here by Tech Beat. Isn't following quote something in the line with Boyd's Snowmobiles concept or am I completely wrong?

This was really interesting. Every week, the teams have two meetings. One in which to brainstorm, to forget about constraints and think freely. As Lopp put it: to "go crazy". Then they also hold a production meeting, an entirely separate but equally regular meeting which is the other's antithesis. Here, the designers and engineers are required to nail everything down, to work out how this crazy idea might actually work.

This sort of arrangement encourages designers to design snowmobiles and not restrict flow of thoughts but at the same time deliver actionable results.