I just finished reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.  It took me just a few hours and it was really enjoyable reading.  The book presents leadership in teams in the form of a self-reflective story that is engaging, educational, and in ways that ring true. 

Patrick Lencioni presents the following model as the The Five Dysfunctions of a Team:

Below is his explanation for each piece of the model:

Keep Reading [525 words, 2 images & 2:06 Average Reading Time]

This is an invitation to all former Amazon employees to join the Amazon Alumni Group on Linkedin.  I moderate the group and we currently have 91 members that were former employees at Amazon.  Some of the former Amazonians are now at Google, eBay, Facebook (5 at last count), Peerflix, Jobster, Microsoft, Last.fm, Yahoo!, TripAdvisor, and at many other high-flying, not-so-high-flying, and other interesting ventures.   To join, please follow the instructions below.

Keep Reading [166 words, 1 image & 40 sec. Average Reading Time]

I resigned from my previous position with Ancestry.com; after considering 3 offers, I accepted a position with eBay.  Our family will still be in Utah (eBay has a large office here), but I’ll most likely travel to other offices also.  I’m very, very excited to be at eBay.  From a high level, I’ll be leading the efforts to improve the customer experience by implementing Lean, Six Sigma, and Service Operations best practices.  I’m really looking forward to the challenge and opportunity.

Keep Reading [1354 words, 0 images & 5:25 Average Reading Time]

I stumbledupon an interesting article on Lean implemented at a Call Center.  Their implementation of Lean is pretty basic, but I think it’s a decent start.  In addition to what they did, I would have taken the Lean Consumption and Lean Provision approach.

Specifically, this is what they implemented:

• Use visual workplace to expose production problems
• Began to identify "waste" in the context of a call center environment.  In their case, this was an outbound call center that collects data via surveys.  When quota is met, then additional surveys after that is considered "waste." 

Keep Reading [896 words, 0 images & 3:35 Average Reading Time]

I’ve written previously about team dynamics and team size.  I’ve since modified my feelings regarding those previous claims. 

Here is what I said previously:

• 2 people are smarter than one
• 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 people are smarter than 2
• a team larger than 9 people is just one big dumb blob

Ok, that’s not true at a wholesale level, but it sure feels like it. A small team with highly smart and capable team members can do much more than 10 mediocre team members.  The Wisdom of Crowds mentality doesn’t work that well when it comes to efficiency in teams.

Keep Reading [1498 words, 3 images & 5:60 Average Reading Time]

I went to California earlier this week for business.  I rode in an elevator and that experience reminded me of a simple, yet effective way to aleviate the negative feelings that accompany waiting, or the Psychology of Queueing — mirrors in an elevator.

There are a few key behavioral responses or reactions to queues, or waiting.  Below are the propositions for the Psychology of Queueing:

1. Unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time.
2. Process-waits feel longer than in-process waits.
3. Anxiety makes waits seem longer.
4. Uncertain waits seem longer than known, finite waits.

Keep Reading [294 words, 1 image & 1:11 Average Reading Time]

While at the doctor’s office sometime back, I picked up a copy of a local Utah business magazine.  In that magazine, there was an article that highlighted Magleby Home Construction as the recipient of the national home builder award of the year.  The article included an interview in which Paul Magleby shared his thoughts on quality and credits Deming for the quality philosophy he has built into his company.

From the article, we read:

Paul: I always go to conventions and attend every class I can. One time there was a class called “Deming and the Quality Builder.”  Do you know who Deming is?

Keep Reading [930 words, 0 images & 3:43 Average Reading Time]

Taiichi Ohno is known to have said that "having no problems is the biggest problem of all."  He viewed problems not as a negative but as a "Kaizen opportunity in disguise."  Whenever problems arose, he encouraged his staff to investigate the problem at the source and to as "ask ‘why’ five times about every matter (src)."

Keep Reading [1349 words, 3 images & 5:24 Average Reading Time]