Links by Category
- Abreast of the Changes - Rick's Recommended Regular Reading
- Broad-Focus Organizations
- Complexity and Chaos Theory for Business
- Consultants Who Understand Agility
- Knowledge Management
- Learning and Education
- Research & Development Organizations Relevant to Business
- Tools for Business Engineering
- Tools for Collaboration
- Tools for Learning and Thinking
- Uncategorized (for the moment)
- Virtual Enterprise
Abreast of the Changes - Recommended Regular
Reading
- Automotive
Design and Production - This Gardner Publications magazine, in cooperation with
SAE International, actually has an editor-in-chief that understands what
agility is all about - and it often shows in the stories he chooses to cover. They also
are past publishers of Rick Dove's monthly essays in the Agile & Otherwise column - so we know them
well.
- Aviation Week
& Space Technology - The news source in the aerospace industry.
- Business Week -
The classic in its field - a must read - and they are exploring ways to use the Internet.
- CIO - You gotta read it if
you're a serious IT manager, you oughta read it if you're a serious
enterprise executive.
- Electronic Business
Today - From semiconductors to electronic board production to finished electronic
products - this periodical tracks technology, business, and market trends and statistics.
- Fast Company -
Devoted to the fast-paced business environment and chock full of real innovative thinking
- with plenty of information available on-line at their web-site.
- Fortune - Somewhere
between Business Week and Harvard Business Review - reasonable case story depth and
digestible light versions of HBR material - and a few of their columnists regularly write
things worth reading.
- Harvard Business
Review - Still the best in its class for case studies and deep thinking - a genuine
classic. Article reprints are easily ordered on-line and quickly delivered.
- Industry Week
- A narrower, deeper, and somewhat kinder focus than Business Week - on-line, too.
- Information
Security - An excellent source of news and understandings related to
information security issues and technology.
- Information
Week - Broad-based, timely, and useful coverage of the IT world.
- Knowledge Management
Magazine - A real information source, with real knowledge demonstrated here.
- Optimize - A
unique and valuable perspective that merges business and technology into
enterprise executive issues.
- PC Gamer - What?
You don't have time for this? Real soon some of us will be doing business in virtual
reality meeting rooms - and getting from one to another on time will take good 4-D
navigation skills. Besides, the future of continuing education is unfolding here right
now.
- Scientific American -
When you really want to know science things and how they work this can't be beat - and
much of it impacts business and business decisions almost immediately.
- Training
Magazine - Their tag line "The Human Side of Business" says it all.
Despite its tired, archaic name, this publication addresses the issues of the day.
- PC Magazine -
Office technology keeps changing and here is one place to find excellent and timely
reviews on what to buy next - a good reference book to archive for six months or so.
- Wired - If
you're not reading this you don't know what's really happening in business - a must read.
"Wired charts the impact of technology on business, culture, life. Browse selections
from archived issues. (Or get a free issue to check out the real thing.)".
Agility Focused Periodicals
International
Journal of Agile Management Systems - "...will help senior managers, technical
staff and researchers - in all sectors of manufacturing and service industries, and
academia - to understand, design and implement agile management systems to sustain
competitive advantages. This new multidisciplinary journal will keep you fully informed of
advances in the development and application of systems that will help organizations
respond faster and more flexibly to customer demand - ensuring future survival and
success."
Agile IT Development - What a concept!
Complexity and Chaos Theory for Business
- Chaordic Alliance
- Dee Hock, founder of VISA, has established The Chaordic Alliance to "collaborate
with groups committed to organizing themselves as chaords - systems functioning on the
edge of chaos with enough order to give them pattern."
- COMPLEX-M - "COMPLEX-M is an E-mail based discussion group for
people who are interested in the topics of complexity science, management, sensemaking,
and the relations among them. Complex-M reflects the belief that a shared language based
on the new science of complexity can have an important role in managerial sensemaking. The
use of complexity theory can change the way managers think about the problems they face.
Instead of competing in a game or a war, managers of a complexity thinking enterprise are
trying to find their way on an ever changing, ever turbulent landscape. Such a conception
of their organizations' basic task can, in turn, change the day-to-day decisions made by
management. The most productive applications of complexity language have to do with new
possibilities for innovation. These possibilities require new ways of thinking, but old
models of thinking persist long after they are productive. New ways of thinking don't just
happen; they require both discussion and support."
- Dick Morley @ The Barn
- Dick has been a pioneer in exploring and applying chaos theory to manufacturing and
production. He runs two thought provoking conferences per year on the subject in the USA,
one on the east coast and one on the west coast - six months apart.
- INFORMS - The Institute for Operations Research and the Management
Sciences and their web-site on "Applications of Complexity Theory to Organization
Science".
- New England Complex
Systems Institute - their associate's directory reads like a partial who's who in
complexity theory and features many of the academic gliterati in the Massachusetts local
university community. They hold conferences, publish papers in an on-line journal, and
have an active section devoted to corporate and organizational aspects of complexity
theory. The on-line journal appears to have some momentum going, and contains a few
hundred papers on a broad variety of complexity-related subjects - with some interesting
ones in the social areas of business and organizational systems.
- Santa Fe Institute
- This is where you go for the first and last word on complexity theory, and its
application to anything. Our main categorization for this highly respected and cogent
institution is below in the Research and Development Organization section.
Consultants Who Understand Agility
- A.
& B. Dove Educational Services - Aimed at educational institutions, this group
specializes in faculty development, curriculum design, and IT workforce development
strategies. Two faculty workshops of particular interest are "Becoming an Agile
Faculty Member" and "Multiple Intelligences". Dr. Bob Dove was an active
member of the Agility Forum and has published papers on agile educational concepts.
- Cheshire Henbury - This is UK-based business-book author Paul Kidd's
company. "Cheshire Henbury's web site containing information about agility and next
generation manufacturing], ... including further details of leading high quality
management reports aimed at senior executives in innovative firms."
- The Hartman
Group - President Susan Hartman is a serious student as well as a real contributor to
the growing knowledge base of agile enterprise concepts. In their own words: "The
Hartman Group (THG) is a technology-based consulting firm specializing in overall business
assessment, operational planning, project management, and process optimization."
- Lyceum - An
agile-savvy consulting group that designs and conducts job-skill assessments, employee
development programs, and general continuing education projects.
Knowledge Management
- @BRINT -
This is as good as it gets. A wealth of research, books and articles on knowledge
management and learning organizations - and a very intelligently organized web site.
"A ... searchable knowledge map of Contemporary Business, Management and Information
Technology issues. It provides access to hundreds of full-text articles & papers,
magazines & journals, case studies and tools, and thousands of other resources on some
of the hottest issues of interest to Business, Technology & Information
professionals."
- Buckman Labs
- One of the real pioneers and application leaders in KM. This site has an especially good
reference library. "Our goal is to host a place for people to dialogue, to provide
people with the means to share information and to establish a resource to help people
learn about knowledge management. Our audience is not only our customers and our
associates within Buckman Laboratories, but also the worldwide knowledge management
community - practitioners, newcomers, academics, students, and thinkers. As pioneers in
this field, we receive many inquiries about our journey. The Buckman Room is a special
section on our knowledge sharing efforts at Buckman Laboratories."
- David Skyrme
Associates - UK-based, David distributes a free and very informative monthly
newsletter that you can sign up for. As to his web-site: "The Knowledge Connections
pages of David Skyrme Associates - pages aimed at giving you insights into the emerging
global networked economy, where intangible assets, such as information and knowledge, will
determine future competitiveness. Successful organisations will make effective use of new
methods and technologies such as knowledge management, the Internet, teleworking
(telecommuting), and will operate in virtual corporations."
- Entovation
International - Prolific author and knowledge-management pioneer Debra Amedon lives
here. "Knowledge InnovationSM Strategies for the Millennium. Insights and
strategies into knowledge management, innovation benchmarking and customer dialogue to
help you leverage your knowledge for innovation in tomorrow's dynamic marketplace."
- The Knowledge CoP - You can join in the many discussions or simply
lurk about in this free "community of practice". This active conference hosted
by Denham Grey shares knowledge about everything related to knowledge management , and
utilizes one of the best and most comprehensive "virtual community" conferencing
and chat systems I've seen on the open Internet ( See CommunityWare under the Tools &
Technology section elsewhere on this page).
- Karl-Erik
Sveiby - Site contains a library of Sveiby's wisdom and
writings. Tom Stuart in Fortune Magazine described Sveiby as "one of the first and
best thinkers about intellectual capital". That's Stuart's bias - Sveiby has a lot
more to say about knowledge and business as well. Also check out his Tango! business
simulation board game.
- Knowledge Management
Consortium - These people are making things happen. If you are involved in knowledge
management in any serious way you should check out the various membership categories and
projects... "Incorporated December 1st, 1997. The KMC is a nonprofit organization
devoted to developing a balanced view of knowledge management from the context of the
enterprise. What we mean by balanced is to define knowledge management as part of a
complex system involving people, processes, and technology."
- The
Knowledge Management Resource Center - This site does a good job of cataloging links
and books on knowledge management - with 104 titles in July of '99. In their words:
"On this site you'll find a comprehensive collection of KM resources, each of them
reviewed and briefly described to help you quickly locate what you're looking for.You can
explore knowledge management in our 15 departments, browse our bookstore, search the site
by keyword, or just check what's new."
- MG Taylor
- This is Matt and Gail Taylor's organization. Her background is accelerated learning as
an educator and his is architecture. They teamed up some time ago to develop concepts that
create innovation environments to nurture innovative thinking and action. Quote I like
from Gail: "You don't manage people, you manage the world in which they work."
This site is chock full of good information in their Journal of Transition Management.
- Phrontis -
"Phrontis Limited works to promote the effective use of systems thinking in
organizations. We believe that the ability to think systemically underpins effective
action in organizations through better decision taking."
- UT-Austin -
If you're looking for a good repository of on-line papers on KM here's a good one.
"This Knowledge Management Home Page is dedicated to the investigation and
exploration of the topic of Knowledge Management as it relates to the business world of
today. Please feel free to provide comments, papers, and other information relating to
Knowledge Management to assist in building a community based knowledge forum. This
Knowledge Management Home Page was developed within the University of Texas at Austin by
students participating in the Masters in Business Information Management Concentration.
Learning & Education
- Association for
Supervision and Leadership Development - This group has an excellent publication
called Educational Leadership. Though aimed principally at professionals in the K-12
educational community, their general coverage of emerging educational technique is superb,
and should be of interest to anyone seriously involved in learning activities.
- New Horizons for
Learning - A rich source of information and tools from people who are at the forefront
of learning research and application. Commissioned by IBM, CEO Dee Dickinson wrote Positive
Trends in Learning: Meeting the Needs of a Rapidly Changing World, a landmark report
available on the site. In their words: "New Horizons for Learning is an independent,
international, nonprofit network of people supporting an expanded vision of learning that
identifies and fosters the fullest development of human capacities. New Horizons offers
resources for learning organizations, translating research and theory into workable
solutions for contemporary learning organizations. We .... provide information about
people who are making a difference, environments that support teaching and learning, and
guides to promising, research-supported resources of all kinds."
- The Innovation
Network is a real-life example of self-directed learners helping each other in a
"community of practice". It is a source of inspiring information and an example
of good web-site design. In their own words: "The Innovation Network is a dynamic
group of people dedicated to improving their organizations through the powerful use of
innovation, creativity and collaboration skills. The Innovation Network was created
[...so...] folks could meet and talk about common problems and opportunities especially as
they related to innovation and creativity within organizations. At the end of 1996, we
have just over 500 members representing change agents in organizations and consultants
working in innovation and creativity. Members are located primarily in the U.S. although
representation from other countries is growing rapidly. "
Manufacturing Focused Membership Organizations
- Association for
Manufacturing Excellence - "The Association for Manufacturing Excellence enables
members' companies to achieve excellence and competitive advantage. This is accomplished
through education, documentation, research and experience sharing. AME membership provides
a forum for all functions of manufacturing enterprises."
- CAM-I - "The
Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing - International is a not-for-profit
industry-sponsored cooperative research organization that was established over 20 years
ago to support the development of implementable business solutions that address issues
common to the manufacturing industries. Since 1972, the membership has expanded to include
several industries outside manufacturing."
- National Center for
Manufacturing Sciences - "The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences is a not-for-profit
collaborative research consortium of North American corporations. The largest
cross-industry consortium in the United States, NCMS is backed by some 175 member
companies, an annual R&D project portfolio exceeding $80 million, and a ten-year track
record in the successful performance of complex, multi-partner manufacturing technology
programs."
Research & Development Organizations Relevant to Business
- Concurrent Technologies
Corporation - CTC is an independent non-profit organization serving the USA's
industrial base. Through relationships with academia, government, and industry, CTC
executes research, development, deployment, training, and education in a wide range of
disciplines including: concurrent engineering, electronic commerce, material
characterization, product analysis, process modeling, shaping/surfacing/joining processes,
software development, energy conservation, environmentally conscious manufacturing,
education and training technologies, and related areas. Over 525 engineers, scientists,
and other professionals utilize 220,000 square feet of offices and laboratories and
another 410,000 square feet of demonstration factories.
- Fraunhofer
Institute - Among other things, this group is guiding German firms into
self-organizing "Fractal Factory" operating concepts. They are also a highly
regarded manufacturing research institution: "The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is the
leading organization of applied research in Germany. It operates 47 research institutes in
Germany with about 8,500 employees, about the half of them scientists and engineers. The
Fraunhofer Gesellschaft expands to a worldwide Organization."
- Sandia National
Laboratories - Don't be fooled by the nuke talk - Sandia is a heavy player in the
field of competitive industrial technology and agile enterprise infrastructure support,
and a good resource for companies in need of good applied science work. "We are
funded primarily by the U.S. Department of Energy to design all of the non-nuclear
components of the nation's nuclear weapons. We also work closely with many U.S. government
and industry groups in various ways to help preserve the nation's security."
- Santa Fe Institute
- Journalist Kenneth Blake says it well enough: "The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) draws
scientists from universities and research institutions throughout the world to pursue
broad research problems. Much of the work focuses on the science of complexity, which
examines underlying patterns and regularities behind a wide assortment of real-world
phenomena. Researchers collaborate at the Institute on projects ranging from the
communication patterns of ants to the way information spreads across economic
markets."
Tools for Business Engineering and Management
- Enterprise Engines, Inc.,
"...was founded in 1990 by David A. Taylor to develop a unique combination of
methodology and technology for building agile business systems.The methodology is
Convergent Engineering,® a new synthesis of business and software engineering.
The supporting technology is the Enterprise Engine,® an object-oriented,
Internet-based platform for creating executable business designs without programming. The
company also hosts the Convergent Engineering Institute, which provides education,
certification, and business design services to individuals and companies world-wide."
- Enterprise
Software - A living enterprise, like any organism, is self aware and of one mind. A
far cry from today's organizations which are managed by monthly performance reports,
annual planning sessions, and locally optimizing decision makers. What a dream. At least I
thought that's all it was until I saw a demonstration of a real-time enterprise management
system that turns wish into reality. This is a management infrastructure unlike anything
anywhere, and may be difficult for some to swallow as it leaves no place to hide. It is
hard to imagine a truly agile enterprise without this capability.
Tools for Collaboration
- CommunityWare
- What a find! Durand Communications is providing a truly valuable and useful service
offering free usage of its Internet conferencing system for public and private conferences
of your choosing. In literally a few minutes time you can institute your own conference on
any topic you wish - for free - and you can organize, grow, and maintain public and
private conferences all from simple point-and-click interactions. A real knowledge
management tool in the right hands.
Tools for Learning & Thinking
- Asynchronous Learning
Network - This site is located at Vanderbilt University and funded by the Sloan
Foundation. An "ALN is a people network for learning that is largely asynchronous. It
combines self-study with substantial, rapid, asynchronous interactivity with others. In
ALN learners use computer and communications technologies to work with remote learning
resources, including coaches and other learners, but without the requirement to be online
at the same time. The ALN Web contains: the Journal of Asynchronous Learning
Networks (JALN), the ALN e-zine, columns, news posting areas, workshops and other features"
- The Centre for High
Performance - I experienced a quick application of SmartSkills in a conference
workshop and respect it as an effective tool for collaborative as well as individual
thinking and problem solving. In their own words: "In 1977, Philips, the
Holland-based, multi-national electronics company launched the Deva Project – a
four-year research and development project aimed at improving organizational performance
and productivity worldwide. The Deva Project team identified the deep structures that
underlie the relationship between thinking processes and effective action. They identified
and classified a system of 25 core conceptual competencies."
- The TRIZ Institute
(and Journal) - Rick's view: This is an effective left brain technique to arrive at
right brain creative results - with excellent application possibilities in the engineering
and product development arenas. In their words: "TRIZ is a Russian acronym
meaning Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems. Genrikh Altshuller and his
colleagues studied over 2 million patents and identified the body of principles and
knowledge that define the process for solving extremely difficult (i.e., inventive)
problems."
- Lego Mindstorms
- Inspired by Symore Papert's book "Mindstorms" this site is nothing short of
unbelievable in its promise. Joe Bob says check it out! In their words: "Start off
with the Constructopedia, Challenges, and over 15 sample programs included in Robotics
Invention System. This complete system works with your PC to let you build and program
robots that move, act, and think on their own."
Virtual Enterprise
- @BRINT -
A wealth of research, books and articles on new organization forms featuring IS
Productivity & Outsourcing Policy, Virtual Corporations & Network Organizations,
Outsourcing, and Other WWW Resources on New Organization Forms. "A ... searchable
knowledge map of Contemporary Business, Management and Information Technology issues. It
provides access to hundreds of full-text articles & papers, magazines & journals,
case studies and tools, and thousands of other resources on some of the hottest issues of
interest to Business, Technology & Information professionals."
- AimsNet - One of the
principle agile-enterprise infrastructure projects funded by DARPA, AimsNet is a
special-purpose pilot network that facilitates collaborative and virtual enterprise
interactions in the engineering, manufacturing, and supply-chain activities of business.
Prime contractor is Lockheed Martin with Boeing Rocketdyne and Texas Instruments as
principle partners.
- Russian-American
Virtual Enterprise Network - This is a CAM-I project: "The Russian American
Virtual Enterprise Network (RAVEN), currently under development, will be an on-line system
that can be accessed by American or Russian manufacturers (small or large) via the
Internet or a dial-in service. RAVEN development is intended to assist in the integration
and production of jointly designed and/or manufactured products".
Uncategorized (for the moment)
- American Productivity
& Quality Center - Excellent publications and a resource for studies and
benchmarks and best practice cases. "If you're interested in performance improvement
and decision support, you've come to the right place. The American Productivity &
Quality Center (APQC) is a nonprofit education and research organization that helps
companies and the public sector change and improve....Explore others' successes through
APQC's Knowledge Management inPractice series—a quarterly best-practice case
study series that takes you through an organization's journey toward success."
- AMR Research -
Smart people here. "Boston-based AMR is the pre-eminent industry and market analysis
firm specializing in enterprise applications and related trends and technologies. Tracking
more than 400 leading software and service providers, AMR helps Global 1000 companies
evaluate, select, and manage new systems for every part of the enterprise, including
logistics and supply-chain management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing
Execution Systems (MES), and electronic/Internet commerce."
- Best Manufacturing
Practices - Get on their mailing list to receive frequently published in-depth
corporate case studies. Sponsored by the Office of Naval Research "To provide a
national resource to foster the identification and sharing of best practices being used in
government, industry and academia; and to work together through a cooperative effort aimed
at strengthening the U.S. industrial base and its global competitive position."
- Gartner Group
- One of the premium research and consultancy groups available. They
have a serious interest in Agility and many reports available on the
subject.
- UtiliPoint
International - Dedicated to the Energy and Utility sector, this
firm does exemplary research and multi-client studies, and maintains
free daily and weekly newsletter lists with 50,000+ readers. They are
taking a leadership role in Utility Agility. .
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