Millennia-Vision Consulting

Choosing a company name .. what does it take? and what does it mean ?

2012-02-27T23:43:00.001-08:00

Here are some recommendations/suggestions when you want to choose a name for your new start-up company

Do not rush in selecting the name, take the time it takes to decide it. Once you choose the name, it sticks to you and you stick to it.
You can change the name of course later down the road, but you will lose a track history associated with the old name, and you may reset the counter in your efforts to establish the new name
Think of the name in association of your future branding efforts towards the company name as well as its products/service
Think of the name in terms of the industry/business line you have chosen for it. It would be good to have a self-indicative/self-explanatory name
If you cannot find a short and sleek name that you are happy with like "PaySmart" and you opt for the long self-explanatory names, then you may consider abbreviated names as OPPMS
Think of the name in association with the "logo" that you may choose also for the company and think of the corporate identity of the company within the same context down the road.
Think of the company name in relation to "marketing/promotional materials" that you will produce for the company including business cards, stationary, web site, presentations, logo animation, ... etc.
Think of legal/regulatory considerations associated with the company name registration in the country where you will start your company
Think of language/culture implications of the name you choose in other countries/territories where you may wish to extend your market in the future

I hope these hints will further help you select a good name for your company
All the best!

MV-TCS : The Business Engine

2012-02-20T02:26:00.000-08:00

MV-TCS is the core of the Millennia-Vision business model. It takes "market/technology trends" and converts them to "structured and categorized offerings" that we can take to the market to serve customer needs and expectations.

MV-TCS is short for Millennia-Vision's

Training offerings
Consultancy offerings
Solutions (Products & services) offerings

We can visualize TCS as a 1X3 business engine that we feed with "special/focus areas" and get as output three categories of offerings (1) training offerings (2) consultancy offerings and (3) solutions (products and services) offerings

Focus areas could change and may (over time) incorporate "hot" and "emerging" topics that come along as result of ongoing developments in the "technology" and "market" dimensions

So, we may take information security or business continuity/disaster recovery as focus areas, we will feed them into the TCS engine and produce training, consultancy and solutions offerings accordingly. The same can go for other focus areas

Project/program management
Business intelligence
Strategic planning
IT service management
...

Furthermore, we may take our TCS outputs as inputs to separate and distinguished business lines within the Millennia-Vision initiative

Millennia-Vision Academy that deals with the training business
Millennia-Vision Consulting that deals with the consultancy services business
Millennia-Vision Solutions which can be taken independently from the other two lines to avoid conflict of interest and to preserve the necessary "segregation of duties" between this line and the previous two

Quality and Excellence

2012-02-14T00:18:00.000-08:00

Dear all ...

I have participated in a discussion under this title in another Linkedin group and thought this could be a good topic for this message.

If you had a chance to go through my "O3 Excellence Paper V2" you my remember in the O3 Excellence diagram that I have placed 2 concentric rings showing Quality inside and Excellence outside

The logic behind this diagram is self explanatory. Quality is more specific and more tangible than excellence which is a bit vague and fluffy expression.

When we pursue quality through the available standards and practices worldwide, we will achieve and double score in the quality and the excellence rings together.

Furthermore, I made the notion that when we talk about quality, we need to be clear that we are talking about the quality of the products/services that are outcomes of the total system, and we are also talking about the quality of the processes inside the system, their specific inputs/outputs, as well as what goes inside these processes themselves.

Lastly, I made the notion that seeking higher-level standards and challenging objectives like Six Sigma, we may be pursuing perfection or close to perfection although we know in advance that we will not get there. However, the closer we get to these challenging objectives, the higher we will be in quality terms for both processes and products, and the closer we will be in excellence, and this is all inline with the Overall Optimized Organization (O3) model.

Your comments, thoughts are most welcome !

MV-BMD: Articulating the Business Model Descriptors (BMD's)

2011-12-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

MV-BMD is a Millennia-Vision business model descriptors service offering which aims at helping new (and existing) business entities establish (or revise) their business plans and have an overall comprehensive and holistic view of the business model.

MV-BMD covers a set of 10 key descriptors that cover

Mission statement - why do we exist ?
Vision Statement - where we want to be in the future
Corporate Identity - How we would like to be best know as
Goals/Objectives - short/medium/long term things to aim at achieving
Focus Areas - What should we focus on to fulfill our mission and achieve our vision
Offerings - What products/services we need to work on in light of our selected focus areas that would help us achieve our goals/objectives and contribute to the fulfillment of our mission/vision statements
Markets/Customers - who we should target with our offerings to achieve the prestated goals and objectives
Marketing/Sales Strategies; to penetrate the target markets and acquire the desired market share, implement our offerings, and achieve financial and non-financial goals/objectives
Differentiators - at the company and offering levels articulating exclusives, core competencies, strengths, patents, ... etc giving us a leading edge in tangible, quantifiable and measurable form that our customers/markets can recognize and appreciate.
Corporate Values - that define, guide and control the norms, behaviors and attitudes in conducting our business model

Within this MV-BMD approach, I usually run a 3-days workshop for developing and measuring the effectiveness of the mission statement, and the same for the vision statement, both at the corporate level and also at the department/functional level.

For further details, drop a line here

Is Certification a MUST for consultants

2011-11-11T04:58:00.000-08:00

In my practical touch with the field of consultancy over the past 15+ years, I would point out the following things: -

Word of mouth from past clients is very very important in getting future wok engagements
Proven Track Record of success in past engagements comes next in importance from a future prospect customers.
Past work experience with well-known/highly reputable consultancy firms gives additional weight to being considered by prospect customers
Academic Background (degrees/universities) also gives additional weight in winning consultancy engagements
Testimonies, quotes, references, success stories, press/TV coverage all add to the popularity of the figure and gives better chances of winning consultancy engagements
Taking active role in conferences, events, trade shows ... is also very helpful in building the consultant reputation and popularity
Having publications, books, white papers, newsletters .. is also helpful in spreading the word about the consultant
Observing the smooth and natural relation between training/education on one side and consultancy/advising on the other side is also very important
Knowing your upper tier and lower tier in the business model that you are following is key to spreading in the market and getting more business
Having your unique, clear and tangible differentiators among the crowd and capitalizing on these differentiators to articulate your value proposition to your customers and partners
Being clear about what you will deliver to your customer, and making sure that you actually deliver what you committed yourself to
Gain your customers/partners confidence through professional conduct, ethics and will to walk the extra mile when necessary

Have I mentioned certifications ???

I do not think so

Can a consultant be successful without such certifications ???

I believe so

Will certification make life easier ??

Yes, I think so

Is certification a must ??

Not really !

The meaning of "senior" in "Senior Project Manager"

2011-10-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

A senior project manager may be someone who does not even have a PMP certificate, and I truly and honestly do not believe that any certification scheme including the PMP/PMI thing is an alternative to knowledge, experience and wisdom in this regard.

A senior project manager may be someone with real-life successful experience, good personal communications skills, negotiation skills, conflict and crisis management/resolution, overall maturity/exposure in the field.

Personally, I have a Certified Project Manager (CPM) and Certified Project Director (CPD) from IAPPM, but I count on my own professional experience and successful project delivery since I was with IBM more than I count on certifications.

You also know that I have my Advanced Project Management Topics" (APMT) with its 2000+ members and focus on such topics as project portfolio management (PPM), program management, project/program management office (PMO), project management maturity model (PMMM), project manager capacity assessment (PMCA), organizational project management maturity model (OPM3), and so on so forth.

Lastly, the word "senior" in "senior project manager" does not and should not relate to professional certifications like PMP, and it should not relate (positively or negatively) to the age of the candidate. The word senior is more related to experience, exposure, capability, maturity and wisdom of the individua

"Pain" and "Gain" is what keeps driving us

2011-09-19T23:12:00.000-07:00

Everyone seems to be driven by two things: pain & gain which make things move forward in life. Take it as individuals, businesses, organizations, economies, nations ... and you will still find that it is "pain & gain" that drives things most of the time.

Pain seems to be the "dominant" factor where it becomes a "must" to kill it or get a relief from it. So it is the thing which has priority on top of "gain" which remains as "nice-to-have" but does not generally have that mandatory nature or that urgency like pain.

I may argue that for individuals and entities that want to move forward in a desired directions towards desired results that gain should be the dominant factor due to its importance, but realities of life force us in the other direction which is dealing with the pain, even if we fully realize and recognize that it is not the most appropriate thing to do.

Another interesting view of this "pain & gain" model which keeps things moving forward is that it looks like a 2-stroke locomotive "propeller engine" that you see in railway stations and in old western movies where steam engines were pushing and pulling trains full of people and goods across distances in the wilderness !

I use this "pain & gain" articulation in my management consultancy services with business owners and senior/top management in the organizations I deal with, and this has proven to be a very successful approach when the people in question open up and share their pain & gain issues openly and frankly !

If this could be of interest to you ... drop me a word and let us take it further

Turning "Lemon" into "Lemonade"

2011-09-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

Lemon is "sour" in taste and can hurt your teeth and your stomach, But lemonade is "sweet", "refreshing" and "very pleasant" specially in summer. Many other things in life can fall in this "lemon vs. lemonade" comparison. We all have our down times, failures, disappointments, and this is quite normal in the way things happen and develop in life.

Some people manage to convince themselves not to see these negative things at all. Others just see these negative things and cannot see the good things in life, while the majority usually tends to see both sides as in the "half-full/half-empty" glass model.

Let me pick those who keep complaining and nagging about criticizing bad/wrong things in life.

First and above everything else, I am NOT trying to silence these people or convince them not talk about bad.wrong things in life. On the contrary, I would like to encourage them to be upfront and bring such things to the attention of those who need to know about it and/or those who can possibly do something about it.
However, for your criticism to be effective and produce the results you would like to see, you must turn the "negative" talk into "positive" talk and see how you can possibly turn the "sour" lemon into "sweet" lemonade. If you cannot do that yourself, you can at least give the recipe how to do it and what does it take to do it; water, sugar, ice, apple slices, fresh ment leaves, nice glass jug , .. etc
Back to dealing with bad/wrong things in life including problems/issues in the way we are doing things or in the environment/circumstances we live in. Here is what you can do

Problem Statement: brief description what the problem is about
Impact Statement: how is this problem affecting(negatively)
Analysis Statement: in your view, what is causing this problem and how
Solution Proposal: What is needed to fix the problem

While doing the above 4-element "positive" criticism, try not to over-do things. You are not expected to be totally correct, accurate, detailed and comprehensive all at the same time.
If some of your analysis is not complete or not accurate, do not feel bad about it. This is why there would be follow-on work to rectify these shortcomings

I am not a prophet, magician, or future teller. I do not claim any authority of decision on these things. But I can assure everyone that as long as the homework you do makes sense, and as long as what you say is supported by facts, figures and numbers, then it would be very stupid for not listening to what you are saying and giving it full attention, even get rewarded for it.

This is lemon turning into lemonade !

Managers take the easy way out of the challenges they face !

2011-09-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yes they do, and maybe you should expect them to do so.

let me take an easy and straight forward example starting with a simple mathematical equation

Profit = Revenues - Costs

Profit is the desired thing out of business and people management process and very often it would be a high and challenging. Looking at the equation below we can see an external factor (Revenues) that is very often outside the direct control of management, and an internal factor (costs) that management has a handle on.

You may now start seeing why management tends to take the easy way out and this would be to control/reduce the operational costs even if this means laying off people

Successful and effective managers are encouraged to take the other route and that is to find ways to increase the revenues through extended market reach, intimate customer relations, effective offerings portfolio that addresses markets/customer needs, competitive pricing, .... etc ... etc.

Shall we take this challenge together ?
I can help out those who are willing to walk the walk after hearing the talk

Sales techniques: Push and Pull for best results !

2011-09-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

Yes ... it seems quite logical that you need both; push & pull to get the sales situation moving forward and achieve good results, as if you are trying to physically move an obstacle with something stuck behind it.

Push technique is the most dominant model in businesses today. It is centered around the model that businesses have something to offer to the marketplace, and they put their efforts to "push" what they have towards the market. It is obvious that this is an offering-centric (product/service) approach and starting from this point (that you have offerings to push) then you will need good market reach and this may imply the need for good marketing and sales team to penetrate the markets and reach their target customers.

Pull technique is quite the opposite as it is based on your strength being having effective market reach and intimate customer relations that you become their preferred partner. The customers in this case (and the marketplace) will bring them the business to their front doors as long as they have the right offerings and they can keep their customers satisfied.

While every sales organization may try to blend the two sales techniques in their business model, they have to watch for the right balance between the two modes for optimal performance and best results. This is easier said than done because there are many factors that intervene and have their impact on this balance.

The details of these factors and their analysis/positioning is part of the "sales optimization service" which is a blend of training and consultancy service that I conduct to interested clients who are not happy with their sales situation.

Why projects go wrong (2/2)

2011-09-16T06:47:00.000-07:00

I talked in my earlier posting here about health-check services when things go wrong and I covered specific reasons (causes) of what goes wrong, how and why.

In this posting, I would like to continue the reasoning behind failures and reveal some more factors in this regard.

Wrong Assumptions that go invalidated/unverified all the way to the execution/implementation phase and become effective in net outcomes of the system/process
Harmful compromises that are usually taken under pressure from constraints in time, money and/or resources otherwise needed to do the job right from first time.
Fragmented responsibility/accountability/liability between different entities/persons allowing failures to pop up to the surface while no one is held responsible for what goes wrong in this regard

If you take these three factors as global factors that may intervene throughout all project/program/initiative lifeycles from A to Z, you may pinpoint problems during these phases

Turning "true needs" into "official requirements"
Mapping "official requirements" to "proposed solution capabilities"
Specifying/allocating proposed solution elements
Drafting an implementation for the proposed solution
Execution of the proposed solution implementation plan
Testing and verifying interim and final results of the implementation match the original requirements
Securing concurrence/approval of the key stakeholders all the way through
Documenting the above from A to Z for future audits / health-check services

Hopefully this sheds more light into the challenge of failure and why/how it happens

Have A Great Day !

Where, how and why things go wrong (1/2)

2011-09-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

I have been invited several times to conduct a "health-check" assessment for situations where things went wrong in a big way from desired/planned/expected status.

Now let me clarify that these situations are usually mixed blends of technical and non-technical issues, and in most situations, I could easily see the client "wishful thinking" that I would be able to say "" Aha ,, this is where it went wrong, let me fix it for you".

Unfortunately, things in real life are not that simple and straight forward, and neither me, no one else has that magic wand to point at the situation and "Hoopla ! The situation is fixed ! Well ! I really cannot help it when I see my client getting a bit "disappointed" when I advise on what is possible and what is not. I could easily see the client losing enthusiasm and possibly losing interest in my service altogether. But, I really cannot oversell myself and give "false hope" that I can do miracles or even magic in such problematic situations.

Instead, I do apply my MV-BTC framework/methodology to explore what could have gone wrong at the business level, technology level and culture (people) level. While doing so, I often explain to my clients that the easiest thing to look for and fix would be the technology related problems as in the case of technology defects and failures which tend to manifest them in certain ways that can be discovered and identified through trouble-shooting and diagnostics techniques. I often explain to the client that having said so, does not necessarily mean that I would be able to fix such defects myself. technology/product specialists from authorized technology dealers are the appropriate ones to fix such problems.

Moving the ladder up, the next possible source of failures could be in the "business logic" in which wrong, invalid, inaccurate and/or incomplete "business rules" are coded into the system and executing things incorrectly.

Moving up to the next level, we will find "data quality" problems summarized in the famous saying "garbage-in/garbage-out" regardless how good the engine is. If the data is low-quality meaning wrong data, incomplete, inaccurate and/or out of date, then it would be expected to have failures.

The next level up may have to do with the people side of the model, and the "people-related problems" in dealing with the system. If there is a problem with the basic qualification of these people to deal with the system, their training/skill level, their operating procedures, their motivation, attitude and/or behavior.

This is how basically I deal with system failures through the MV-BTC framework to explore potential problems at the technology side, business side and/or culture side of the situations I deal with

Hopefully this is good and helpful into

The Two Types of Scenario Planning

2011-08-31T04:35:00.000-07:00

Just occurred to me that there is "NORMAL" scenario planning technique which is well-known and in common practice, and there is an "EXCEPTIONAL" abnormal type of scenario planning technique which is not that popular or in common practice

The NORMAL type is the one being adopted in business planning where you put a "best-case scenario", a "worst-case scenario" and a "most-likely scenario" . This kind of planning usually deals with KNOWN/PREDICTABLE & VERIFIABLE facts and figures and hence many people can deal with it and use it effectively, specially for short and medium term planning

The ABNORMAL one is one that is NOT that known or in common practice. I would even say that it is mostly unappreciated by the business community and you will see why.

A good example of such planning is the "extreme (multiple) scenario planning" technique that may span an extended time horizon of 20-50 years or even more

This is one reason why such techniques lack appreciation from business community which usually operates in much shorter time frames that 20 or even 50 years.
The other reason for such lack of appreciation for this ABNORMAL type of scenario planning that in such extended time frames, the picture would not be crisp and crystal clear, lots of the things it deals could be totally or partially UNKNOWN/UNPREDICTABLE and hence the difficulty and lack of appreciation

Still the "multiple/extreme scenario planning technique" would be of particular value to nations, economies, family business owners, political/social economical reform movements and so on so forth. A common example of this type of planning would be the 20 or 25 year vision for some common frame like "Aviation 2050", "Banking 2025", "ArabWorld 2035", " Islam 2050", ...

Here, two more topics come into the model

Brainstorming Methodologies and techniques including mindjet/mindmesiter planning tools to draw mind maps foor the topics being discussed.
Think-Tank/Master-Mind methodologies and techniques which could include the elite of the planning society from all sectors.

More details in future postings ... inshallah !

The R/R chart and actioning your business plan

2011-07-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

I simply call it magic, yet it is so logical, so systematic and so helpful that most organizations will appreciate once they get used to it.

Let me explain it a little bit

The "horizontal R-Axis" is the REACH axis and it is all about customer and markets reach. We may think of customers and markets as individual ones. We may also take them by geography, by industry segment, by size, ...etc.
The "vertical R-Axis" is the "RANGE" axis and this is about range of offerings (products & services) to be offered through "push" & "pull" sales techniques to the selected customers and markets identified in the business model

That's not all ... Let me elaborate a little bit more on the colored arrows inside the chart and explore some of the possibilities out there:-

The red (horizontal) arrow showing the "customer/market driven" growth direction based on having unique strengths/differentiators/exclusivity in the offerings, and wishing to expand the same to new markets and customers.
The green (vertical) arrow is the "offerings" growth direction based on having unique and special relation with the customer(s) that opens the door for new brand of offerings to these customers based on their needs and requirements,.
The gray (diagonal) arrow shows the resultant overall growth direction showing a blend of the horizontal and vertical growth patterns.

Another valuable thing in the R/R chart is that it sheds more light on the start point, its requirements and its potential growth

The simplest model would consist of one customer only and one offering only, ending up trying to sell a specific offering to one specific customer and that is definitely the simplest model.
In real life, no one will opt for the 1X1 model, they'd better go for mX1 or 1Xm depending on their own circumstances and preferences the idea is simple

If they have their strength/excellence/exclusivity/differentiation in the offering itself, there would be a tendency to extend the model horizontally and seek additional customers/markets for it
If they really enjoy a very special "love-love" position with their customer, they may tend to expand vertically in the offerings per customer needs and requirements.

Even for those who choose to go for the 1X1 model and turn to be successful in it, they will naturally go in either direction depending on where their success/excellence/distinction is.

Having said that, there are some additional thoughts to the R/R chart that I would like to share

Many dreamers/wishful thinkers tend to believe they may start with a "small shop" employing the 1X1, mX1, or 1Xm model with very small investment and then grow magically into a "big supermarket". Nothing wrong in the dream itself, but unfortunately, most of these dreamers/wishful thinkers do this without any clear and tangible differentiation on the customers/markets side or on the offerings side.
As a result, the majority (90% more) either shut down after a while or just remain small shops with no hope or future.

Another aspect that business owners and planners can learn from the R/R chart and get prepared for it is what it takes to be at a certain level at a certain point in time, and how to be at another level at another future point of time.

Expanding horizontally in the markets/customers direction implies there is a strength in the offerings side, intended investments/clear action plans in marketing & sales direction. Organizations of this type may ultimately turn into "sales and marketing" entities; distributors, value-added re-sellers, ... etc. regardless of the offerings themselves. Business owners/planners taking this direction need to figure out what it would take/cost to add one (or more) customer, industry segment, geographical location or even a sales branch.
Expanding vertically in the offerings direction implies established strength/excellence in the customer/market side building customer relationship intimacy and mutual trust/respect with selected customers, markets, industries, ... etc. In this case, business owners/planners need to focus more on the offerings side in terms products, services, solutions, and/or other requirements/needs of these selected customers/markets

General Manager role in the organization

2011-07-29T13:12:00.000-07:00

I was in a debate over the past 2 weeks on who would make a successful general manager ? what professional background is best fit for this role. The general direction in that discussion thread was in favor of "Sales and Marketing" being the best function to produce these successful general managers.

I had a different view altogether as you can see in the cartoon below showing the "maestro" leading an orchestra to perform with harmony and give its best.

A general manager of an organization is there to make sure the whole organization performs in harmony with each other, and the entire organization produces its best !

The maestro (and the general manager) is not necessarily a specific instrument player even if it is the best or most important one. The successful general manager needs to orchestrate the performance of the whole team (organization) to get the best harmony among all players and get out of them the best results.

Even if the general manager (maestro) comes from a specific background and not the other, s/he cannot show any bias to the players in that specific discipline on the expense of the others, otherwise, the performance will be distorted and the audience (stakeholders) will notice that and will definitely not like it.

What gives my view more credibility is the fact that there is a "natural" tendency for the organization (orchestra) to lose their harmony in due course of daily performance. Different players may lose focus on the overall direction that the organization should be taking, individualism comes to play, silo syndrome creeps into the organization, and inherent conflicts start surfacing to the top calling for intervention and resolution.

To be continued ....

3M: Mutual Mistrust Model

2011-07-29T06:07:00.000-07:00

I have been around for over 27 years in this field, and I have seen a lot f good stories, bad stories, ugly stories and fun stories about management. I even have my own repository about "managers and management jokes" but let us leave this aside for now.\

Seriously, all who are involved in this field realize and recognize there is a deep issue that is creating a deep crack, gap or disconnect between two levels (perspectives) of the management issue. and this gap is probably the main reason behind many of the management problems today.

Among the many management consultancy & professional services I conduct for my clients, I find the most relevant ones are the ones dealing with organizational efficiency, corporate performance and operational excellence.

Using my own "MV-BTC" master methodology in key/strategic initiatives and/or large/complex projects, I always find the culture dimension dealing with people, organizational aspects, management styles, policies and practices, internal politics, ... etc to be the most interesting and most challenging aspect.

Inn contrast dealing with technology is the easiest part, and dealing with business is still Ok although more challenging. But the cultural aspect is definitely the toughest part.

Numerous service offerings that I have including the MV-QOA (Quick Overall Assessment), MV-EEI (Efficiency/Effectiveness Improvement), .. and others lead to the areas of organizational efficiency and optimized performance of the entire organization.

Here is where the "disconnect" between the two views shows up

Top-down view as seen by top/senior (corporate-level) management
Bottom-up view as seen by the working level (reality on the ground)

Unfortunately, the dominant corporate culture in most of our organizations does not help bridge the gap between the two views unless and until a fundamental cultural change happens, or when someone from outside the organization comes as a senior manager, consultant, external adviser or facilitator to help deal with such issues.

Learn from the birds: Leadership lessond

2011-07-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Many around us take "leadership" as an excuse to enforce things on people, enjoy unlimited privileges, practice authority on others and somehow take leadership as a "gift from God" to justify being there in the ivory towers up and away from the others.

There are many great lessons of true, effective and successful leadership that we can learn from observing what is going around us as in the case of geese crossing incredible distances in their popular V-shape formations

By flying in "V " formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.=>People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.
=>If we have as much sense as a goose, we will stay in formation with those who are heading in the same as we are.

When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.
=> It pays to take turns doing hard jobs, with people or with flying geese.

These geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
=> We need to be careful what we say when we honk from behind.

Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation until they catch up with their group.

Learn from the pencil

2011-07-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Lots of great lessons to learn from the pencil

To produce a meaningful result, a pencil needs a guiding hand
Pencils need to be sharpened from time to time to continue being specific and to the point
The sharpening process may be painful and you may lose something but your gain is much bigger
Like a pencil, you need to have an eraser to correct mistakes when they are done while trying to write meaningful things
It is what is inside the pencil that makes the result and makes the pencil useful

Lessons you can learn from the funnel

2011-07-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

Looking at the funnel the same we use it in daily life, we can see a splendid mechanism showing how things may happen in life

At the top, the wide open end may represent our dreams, ambition, visions and opportunities that we get in our lives. They can be as open and as wild as they may happen to be
Both sides of the funnel with their sloping edges going inside and below represent our capabilities and limitations (constraints) that will together determine what is possible and what is not
The lower (narrow) end of the funnel may represent a multi-level priority system that sequences things that are possible into priories for execution

Another lesson from this funnel that we can learn and observe is that regardless how big and open the top end can be, it is the actual capabilities and limitations that determine at the end what is possible and what is not.

Another lesson that we can learn in many different fields is that getting more out of this funnel depends very much on pushing the sides apart to widen the bottom narrow-end of the tunnel. This means that we need to increase our capabilities and reduce our limitations to increase the overall capacity of what we can do.

One interesting application is the capacity building in executional organizations (Program Management Office, service centers, customer care, ... ) where increasing incoming requests will only make things worse if we cannot increase the overall capacity based on the capabilities and limitations that these entities operate within.
Increasing funding, working budgets, ... etc at the top will not -once again- produce any tangible benefits as seen by the beneficiaries and stakeholders looking at what really gets executed out of the funnel

I hope this lesson is good enough to learn from

Snatching success amid uncertainty

2011-07-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, things tend to go into an open loop amid uncertainty and lack of determination from involved parties. Worse than that, these situations are destined for failure if left on their own simply because whatever momentum they initially start with will soon fade away and these initiatives will be sucked into the vacuum created by this uncertainty and lack of determination.

A typical example of these situations is when something (result) needs multiple elements (causes) together to make it happen (as in the logical AND function). Among these situations is the one when all these elements are independent entities with their own priorities and their own power/decision to join something (or not) as in the case of partnership and joint efforts between complementary functions.

A typical situation may be described as follows

Entity-A: needs a solution and would pay for it provided there is adequate representation and local after-sales support for it.
Entity-B: has the required solution but does not have local representation/support where entity-A exists and is not interested to set up such presence or invest in it.
Entity-C: is already present where Entity-A exists and they are willing to invest, but have no idea of what Entity-A wants and what Entity-B is offering.
Entity-D: is an entity which is distinct from the above 3 entities and cannot play the role of any of them. However, this entity is the one which has early awareness of the situation, the necessary know-how to bring all these elements into one coherent picture as basis for a future business model.

With such inter-dependencies inside this business model and being external dependencies when viewed from within each entity; the first three entities do not have a real chance to trigger such a business model. Good or bad. Entity-D has the real chance to do it although this entity does not own any of the main elements of the model, but their role is crucial to make it happen .. somehow like the role of the catalyst in a chemical interaction, facilitating the interaction but not necessarily part of it.

Entity-D is very well positioned to play the role of the catalyst (facilitator) to bring the three entities (A, B and C) together to build the complete model. To play this role, Entity-D needs to be known to the other three entities and to be trusted by them. Entity-D has also to be creative and forthcoming to approach the three entities and get them to buy into the overall model and commit to their predefined roles in this model.

This is the little secret to make things work and snatch success amid uncertainty and lack of determination.

Establishing "Jordan Freelance Consultants" office (JFLO)

2011-07-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

This is an open invitation for "freelance consultants" living/working in Jordan to join "Jordan Freelance Consultants" office (JFLO) and position themselves for future consultancy opportunities in a variety of ways that will suit their capabilities and limitations.

JFLO is a "virtual office" and not an official company ; no physical office (at least for now), no regular employees, and no fixed overheads in operation - at least not till 2nd phase of this initiative).

The ides is to engage these "idle" people in "paying" engagements in return for well-defined and preagreed results that will be taken with members who have the required qualifications per project requirements on case-by-case basis.

JFLO initiative will give members the flexibility to accommodate the following: -

Part-time and full-time professional engagements
On-site/Off-site work
Totally remote (silent) work (from home)
Scalable durations of engagement

short-term engagements (3 months max)
medium-term engagements (3-6) months
long-term engagements (6-12) months
Regular annual ( 12 months) contract work (1-3) years

Numerous types of engagement

Management consultancy services
Project/Program management services
Functional/Departmental subject matter experties (Finance, HR, Audit, Quality, Risk, ...)
Organizational Efficiency
Corporate Performance
Work Environments

Executive (C-level) employment

Let me clarify few more points for interested future members

There is NO membership fee
Qualified members will be accepted into JFLO and given a reference membership number for identification and future use when dealing with the JFLO
In phase-1, the number of members will be restricted to 100 max, and these 100 members will be given the "JFLO Pioneers" designation.
Senior consultants/professionals with 15+ years of experience and proven track record of achievements and success will be given "JFLO Ambassador" designation.
JFLO will approach public/psrivate sector entities and lobby for their support and coordination to make this initiative work
JFLO will create a special blog, forum and web site in phase-2 and all members with JFLO number will be added as authorized users with proper access privileges
JFLO pioneers and ambassadors will be invited to the first meeting when we reach a pre-defined target size of 50+ members.
Attendance will be "mandatory" to fix the JFLO Pioneer/Ambassador designation and give the JFLO membership numbers.
The first JFLO "projects/opportunities" will be announced during this meeting and we will open the door for internal application for the different roles in these projects.

More details and application forms will be provided to respondents to this announcement.

To protect your privacy, you may like to reply privately if you are interested, and feel free to send me any further comments/suggestions to improve the initiative and make it work.

The "Magic Power Triangle" is your key to success !

2011-07-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Although I have my reservations on the whole concept of "magic" when it comes to business and technology world, I would still accept the principle that the word "magic" is more an indication of the magnitude and quality of the results. Other than that, there is no magic at all but pure proven practice based on solid observation and expert execution of the underlying principles of this triangle

The power triangle strikes a BALANCE between its THREE elements - hence the term TRIANGLE and I must add it is a triangle with equal sides indicating equal importance/significance to every element of this triangle.

BUSINESS/FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE ASPECTS: which include marketing & sales, revenues, operational expenses and profits/loss, market shares, growth (positive/negative) indicators, .... etc ... etc ... etc. Even for non-commercial entities as in the public services sector for example (government agencies, ministries and departments), the financial performance indicators will be replaced by things as the extent the mission/vision is being fulfilled, the degree of achievement of short/medium term goals and objectives, the level of public satisfaction with these services, the overall acceptance and blessing of the key stakeholders, ... etc.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ASPECTS ; which relies on the simple and basic principle that for every entity (public or private, big or small) has its own customers within the entity itself (internal customers) and outside (external customers). These internal/external customers must be highly satisfied with the services given to them meeting the "value-for-money" expectations and beating any potential competitors approaching your customers on Price/performance basis.
OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE ASPECTS; where the internal processes are augmented by the most efficient processes, supported by best-fit technologies and run by qualified and motivated people. This will ensure customer satisfaction leading to achieving the business-level (financial and non-financial) goals and objectives.

Reaching this critical balance is easier said than done, and requires good understanding of the overall business model, full awareness of the internal/external considerations affecting it, accurate understanding of the internal processes, capabilities and limitations, and an excellent monitoring/measurement/reporting system to close the loop and achieve results during the live cycle of the business operations.

On top of all of this, it requires the people in charge to stick to the following five successful management/leaderships merits

OWNERSHIP definition, assignment and acceptance
Full ACCOUNTABILITY of the designated owners towards performance and results
EMPOWERMENT of the owners to fully execute their responsibilities at the best possible level to hold them accountable for the results
Excellent NEGOTIATION practices in every leader/owner and at all levels and directions (up, down, side-ways and within the entities they are responsible for).
Consistent DELEGATION practices to distribute the responsibilities, streamline the operation, and remove potential bottlenecks/barriers limiting the performance from reaching its optimal levels.

Furthermore, and due to the importance of the topic, there are certain approaches that has been developed to deal with such a challenge including MV-AAIO which focuses on MAXIMUM VALUE through maximum levels of ALIGNEMENT, AUTOMATION, INTEGRATION and OPTIMIZATION in a holistic comprehensive view of the whole entity and its extensions.

Diagnosing failure in Key initiatives/projects

2011-07-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

One of the activities I have been doing over the past 15 years is to diagnose reasons of failure in key/strategic initiatives and projects., and I found that kind of experience is worth sharing with my friends and colleagues.

There is another version of this experience which deals with troubleshooting technical problems, but I will leave that one aside despite some overlap between the two.

Focusing on the key initiatives/projects failures, here is a list of most popular causes of failure for your review and discussion

Failure to understand/articulate the TRUE needs, requirements and expectations of the key stakeholders
Failure to negotiate/compromise conflicts/contradictions of these stakeholder needs/requirements and expectations
Failure to translate the needs/requirements into clear specifications that form the basis of contractual obligations with the suppliers/vendors
Failures in execution of the initiative/project and managing the delivery of outcomes, results and deliverables
Invalid assumptions, exceptions and exemptions that go unnoticed and/or invalidated throughout the project/initiative execution.
Failures to understand the underlying processes and workflow logistics resulting in failures to link technical aspects of the initiative/project to the real business logic and its governing rules.
Shortfalls in inherent 'out-of-the-box' capabilities of the selected solution elements in addressing the articulated requirements of the initiative/project.
Underestimation of efforts needs, skills, resources, time, and money
Adoption of the "big-bang" deployment philosophy trying to deliver everything in the first run, versus the gradual, evolutionary phased approach focusing on quick wins, small but sustainable achievements and ongoing improvement process.
Technical failures in the products, services and their implementation in the key initiative/projects
Poor quality input data ( incomplete, inaccurate, out of date, contradicting, ... ) resulting the "garbage-in/garbage-out" syndrome
Loss of momentum in the key initiatives/projects due to the above problems resulting in declining executive support and enthusiasm.
Failures in corporate communications across the organization to involve and enable all needed parties to participate actively and strongly in the initiative/project.
Lack of enough motivation/incentive schemes at the "working level' ranks in the organization.
Lack of management/leadership merits of ownership, accountability, empowerment, negotiation and delegation skills and practices.

3D Printing breaking the barriers into replication of real objects

2011-07-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

3D Printing is a nother way of saying science has broken the barriers into replicating real objects with very high precision measured in microns (less than human hair thickness).

Wow ! This is really something. See how it also extends the capability to moving parts and functionality of the original object transferred into the replicated objects.

Just look into near-future possibilities with this technology, specially when it gets commercialized

Production of replicas of tools and machines
Production of low-cost spares specially when they are needed in a hurry in emergency situations
Use of other materials to create the replicas including metals like gold, silver, aluminum, ... etc
The coloring option opens new horizons for replicas with artificial colors that you cannot find in nature.
Possibility of producing larger or smaller (to scale) replicas of objects we find in real life.
Combining this technology, the scanning part of it least with static and dynamic holograms to produce things that can be captured and projected as 3D holograms into physical 3D objects.
Possible use of this technology and others to produce human-like intelligent machines (robots)

Just to get more on this amazing technology, I am adding few more links for your view

To maintain premium value: stay above the "commodity line" !!

2011-07-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

One of the lessons I learned over the past 27 years or so in business, that it is absolutely vital to maintain premium value in order to survive and grow in this market.

You see, when you can maintain your edge in the market above and ahead your rivals, you can enjoy the best in your professional life, but this is not always easy in such a dynamic and volatile environment we live in.

Another thing I have observed through the continuously changing world around us that what was once of premium value is no more. Evolution keeps moving forward and leaving lots of things behind with no more premium value as they used to be. Just think about it and you will see what I mean !

You may be able to envision this concept if you could visualize what I call the "commodity line" which is an imaginary line that keeps moving forward with time and evolution, leaving "commodities" behind and highlighting "premium value" areas where we can focus if we want to maintain our premium value.

Just to make sure we understand the difference.

When you operate below the commodity line, you would be dealing with commodities at no premium value. You would mostly-likely be one among many others who would be offering more or less the same thing. Competition would be high and prices/profit margins would be very low due to competitive pressures,
When you are in the "premium value" market, you would enjoy a good market position, with few other players (or none) in these premium value topics. You would face less competition, and you would be in a comfortable position to charge premium prices/fees for these premium value products/services that you are offering above the commodity line.

If you take a closer look at this commodity line, you will see that it is positioned a bit into the near future, but not far into the future to lose connection with realities around us. This positioning helps us focus on emerging new paradigm opportunities that result from continuous changes in technology, marketplace, and environment.

"Push" Sales model: what does it take to close the deal ?

2011-07-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Marketing & Sales nowadays adopts a blend of "push" and "pull" sales techniques to close deals and make their numbers, with more tendency towards the "push" model as it tends to be more "proactive" and more suitable for the majority of businesses in "gray" markets.
These are the markets where you can see multiple players competing for business with diversity of offerings and no clear exclusivity or differentiation against each other. If you are in this business model, then you surely appreciate what I am presenting here.

So, in the push sales model, you are the sales person and you have a product/set of products to sell. You identify your potential buyers and try to approach them and close the deal with them.

On the other hand, thinking from the perspective of the potential buyers being approached by someone unknown to them, offering them something that they possibly do not know or even do not need ,,, So, here how it goes

Who are you ? and who do you represent ?
What is it (product or service) that you are trying to sell me ?
Why do you think I need this product or service ?
What makes your product or service different from others in the market ? (Why this product/service specifically)
Why should I buy this product/service from you and not from others ?

If you manage to cut through these layers of uncertainty/doubt/suspicion/fear that separates you from your potential buyer, then you are on the right track, and you eventually manage to break the ice, gain customer confidence in yourself, your organization and your product/service. But this is still NOT enough to close the deal ... right ?

Let us get deeper into what it takes to crack the nut and close the deal

How much would this product/service cost ?
What benefits would it give me ?
Do the benefits outweigh the cost ?
Are there any well-know negative implications ?

This may cover the financial analysis that the customer needs to do prior to seeing the value of the proposal. More analysis is possible of course and it can go in depth into total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis over the lifetime of the product/service being considered. It may also go into feasibility studies and return on investment (ROI) analysis as well just to make sure that the investment is very well justified by the expected return/benefits.

One more thing to take into account before being able to break the ice and close the deal is to address "how the customer will use this product/service and benefit from it". Obviously, this is very dependent on the type of product/service we are talking about.

Is the product/service ready on delivery, out of the box "as-is" for consumption ?
Does the product/service need some "preparation" to make it ready for consumption ?
If so, whose responsibility is it to do this preparation ? the customer ? or you the supplier/vendor ? or both ?
In either case, does this preparation require special skills/tools or what so ever ?
In this case, how "long" would the preparation take ?
How much would it cost ?
Are there any post-preparation requirements ? specially those on repetitive regular basis like maintenance and after-sale support ?
Again are there costs associated with these "post-preparation" requirements, if any ?

The exercise can go on and on ...

Take it in a scenario, drill it well, put yourself in place of your customer and think the same way, prepare your answers and get ready when you make that call !

What does the word "M.A.N.A.G.E.R" really mean in terms of leadership ?

2011-07-06T03:01:00.000-07:00

I have just finished a posting about "how many true managers are really out there in the real world" where I promised to explain a little more on what is "true management" when it comes to people leadership versus pure administration that most managers tend to be.

When talking about managers, we really mean to talk about "people" management (or leadership as many people prefer to call it). We are not talking about managing machines, technology or processes, which could be well known in advance, predictable and controllable. Instead, we are dealing with the "people & culture" dimension which has always proven to be the most challenging, most interesting and most rewarding type of management, and the only one which deserves to be described as "leadership" since we are talking about people and not machines.

OK! So let us spell it out, what does the work "M.A.N.A.G.E.R" really mean ? Luckily, the answer can be represented by the letters of the word "MANAGER" itself. A true, successful, and effective manager is one who

M ( motivates) his/her people to perform their jobs to the best of their capabilities, giving rise to the topic of "motivation"
A (achiever) to give substance to the motivation topic and base it on real/actual experience by the manager him/herself, giving rise to the subject of achievement and how it related to motivation.
N (negotiator) with all concerned in up, down and on the sides within the organization, giving rise to the subject of "negotiation" as one of the main skills/activities of successful managers. Negotiation can be taken within this context and linked to the subject of motivation and incentives.
A (action taker) where successful effective managers put whatever has been negotiated into action, walking the walk after the talk has been made.
G (Goal setter) where successful/effective managers set goals for themselves and for their people reporting to them, Goal setting can be easily linked to the subject of performance appraisal, achievement and reward.
E (Enabler) to make these goals achievable. Successful/effective managers need to empower their people and give them the necessary authrority, power and resources to help them achieve the pre-agreed goals. This leads to the subject of "delegation" as well.
R (Risk Taker) where successful/effective managers will face situations where they need to take some risk when making up their mind about something. Taking calculated risks after deu diligence is made is one thing that differentiates true managers from administrators who go literally by the book. It is also what differentiates us as humans from pre-programmed machines which cannot deal with situations that are not within their programs.

Interestingly, there are different views of any of these merits within each and every manager, not necessarily as seen by the manager him/herself, but also as viewed from other people dealing with these managers, up, down and on the sides.

Transforming administrators into true managers/leaders is possible but it takes some effort and good will. We have a methodology based on the above to help enhance the managers' capabilities and improve their performance through quantification and measurement of the above highy desired merits of successf/effective managers who are true managers and can lead their people and organizations to success and achievement of prestated and agreed goals.

How many "true managers" are there in the "real world" ?

2011-07-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

With tens or hundreds of managers in each company, I guess there are probably millions and millions of managers out there, but how many true managers who really deserve the title are out there ?

Before rushing into the answer, let us elaborate a little on what "true manager" really means.

First of all, it is not everyone who holds the title manager in his business card or his job title, many of those - with due respect - are far far away from the essence of the management discipline. And how about those who have studied management academically and know lots and lots about management ?

Well! It is not how much you know in theory, but also how much out of that you put in practice in real life, and bow successful and effective is this perceived from the key stakeholders you deal with !

Interestingly, when talking about success and effectiveness, it is worth noting to see from what perspective, and in whose eyes ! Is it from the angle people see themselves, or the angle of the people dealing with these managers, or both.

In the new emerging paradigm, and when we talk about the "people dimension", there is some talk about the difference between "management" and "leadership". It is often said that processes need to be managed and people need to be led !

Back to the real world, it is unfortunate to find out that most of the so-called "managers" are truly administrators and not true managers or leaders as we expect them to be. They are often not that successful in their jobs, not effective and not very much appreciated by the people dealing with them. They are often seen as "obstacles" or "bottlenecks" preventing workers from doing their job in the best way possible.

Rather than being a "pain in the the ass" as they say, why not transform to the better model of management/leadership ?

Interested ? let us see how we can possibly do that in the next posting !

In business world: how many "frogs" do you have to "kiss" till you find the real "prince" ?

2011-06-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

We all know the fairy tale of the princess who kissed a frog and turned into a prince !

But we are in a different world; the harsh business world in the 21st century, amid financial crisis, fierce competition, global economy, and what have you. It is a world where the customer is always right, and cash is the crowned king of business empires.

In this harsh world, there are very few real princes who look like frogs, and there are many more real frogs who may look like real princes.
In your search for the real prince, you may find yourself kissing many frogs who unfortunately remain frogs after the kiss !

How much are you prepared to go on kissing these frogs in hope you will come across the real prince one day ?

Words of Wisdom: KRI's are more important than KPI's

2011-06-09T04:20:00.000-07:00

In my own articulation of these #WoW (words of wisdom) topics, I would like to take one message straight to the point regarding what matters to most of us. I would dare anyone to challenge me in my statement that most people want to see results. They may appreciate the effort, but it is really the results that count at the end.

Let me give an example of a being on the road. It is nice to know that the car is doing well, speed, engine temperature, amount of fuel, air conditioning, ,,, etc. But let us remember something, you are not in this car for the fun of it ... or are you ?

Most people are there to reach a destination, another city maybe hundreds of miles away. This is their goal and this is what they want.
Consequently, they might be more interested in such information as how much they went so far, how much is remaining, how much time it will take, and so on so forth. This would be more relevant than knowing the engine temperature, revolutions per minutes (rpm), gear position, ... etc.

Now let me make a distinction here. If you are the driver, this info could be relevant to you to see how the car is doing, More interestingly if you were a test engineer testing a new model to see how it is performing, But if you are a passenger (who does not own the car) then this would be the least of your concerns compared to getting the result you desired and expected when you got in this car from the beginning.

The analogy would be even clearer if you are flying on a commercial flight from city A to city B. You do not own the plane, you are not even permitted to be in the cockpit, and it would be the least of your concerns to see all those meters and indicators on the dash board. Do not get me wrong, this is all good information and could be very relative to the pilot and crew of the aircraft. But all what passengers care for really is when they are going to get to their destination, that their luggage will make it, and possibly spend a good time while on board !

This is exactly the difference between key performance indicators (KPI's) that the captain and first office see and use and the key results indicators (KRI's) that the passengers are really interested in.

So let me simplify the model, what goes inside the box (model, entity, system) is ideally represented by the key performance indicators (KPI's) like the rpm, engine temperature .. and are definitely necessary for the people inside like the captain and crew. However, people outside the box who are benefiting from it are more interested in the results (outcomes, output) from the box. KPI's could be totally irrelevant to the passengers who are more interested in the goal/objective of being on board this plane.

Stakeholders including owners, shareholders, beneficiaries are typical examples of those who are more interested in KRI's than KPI's.

Financial Crisis with A Laugh

2011-06-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJmTCYmo9g

Job Market place in the USA (future prophecy)

2011-06-03T13:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGJq8wrw5I

Millennia-Vision Consulting: True Team Spirit in crucial activities.

2011-05-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Millennia-Vision Consulting: True Team Spirit in crucial activities.: "Couple analogies may be helpful in getting the message across to the reader. A gigantic ship may resemble a small city floating on wate..."

Technology works , people mess up !

2011-05-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Many great concepts fail when implemented in the people/culture layer. Same concepts work fine if they are implemented in the technology layer. Take management for example and let us focus on conceptual/virtual management models. This has worked perfectly at the technology level and failed miserably at the people/culture level.

Back in the 80's, I was an IBM S/370 software support specialist who focused on such systems as Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) and Virtual Machine (VM). Notice the word "virtual" in these 2 systems ! IBM was an early pioneer in bringing the "concept of virtuality" to computer technology. There at the technology level, we had many managers (real and virtual) who just worked fine in good harmony to produce the desired results with no conflicts, no contradictions and no clashes ! Unfortunately, our people/culture implementations of the very same concept still lack the desired level of harmony, maturity and discipline and hence we still have our 'personal' disputes, different views, conflicting priorities, and lots of clashes.

It was in mid 90's, when I wrote a report on "How to transform large organizations (like IBM) to cope with the new paradigm". Remember it was the 90's when we witnessed the dawn of open/distributed computing, peer-to-peer networking and the wide spread use of personal computers and local area networks. These technology innovations led to something parallel at the people/culture dimension with things like "flat and lean organizations", "horizontal vs vertical workflows", "service oriented mentality" and so on so forth.

Back to the virtual management concept. Deep inside the operating systems I mentioned we have some "real" managers that control//manage real/physical resources like processor, memory, disk space, .... and there are some "virtual" managers that manage virtual resources which -in reality- map back to physical resources, calling for full harmony/cooperation/coordination between these different managers at all times.

Comparing this to people/culture oriented organization charts, these organization charts are "vertical" by nature, with "pillars", "business lines", "functional departments" going top-down from the general manager to the janitor. These organization charts represent the "real" structure of the organization, with "real" managers who manage real/physical resources (employees) to get work done within these vertical silos. The trend to go "horizontal" across organizational boundaries between these silos created a need for "virtual" managers in charge of the cross-departmental flow as in the case of customer services and special projects.

Conceptually, this virtual/real management scheme should have worked at the people/culture level as it did at the technology level. Unfortunately this is not the case. Organizations have not yet been able to crack on this challenge to create the detailed working model between these new breed virtual (horizontal) managers who demand resources to get the job done (across the entire organization) and the real (vertical) managers who have the real control on the resources and are limited by the boundaries of their own roles and responsibilities.

This topic is still a challenge despite the fact that there are new approaches, techniques and tools (BPR/BPM, workflow, ..) that tackle the horizontal/cross organization relations, but the real issue is not the model but the reality of the people/culture philosophy and mentality that controls these people.

True Team Spirit in crucial activities.

2011-05-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

Couple analogies may be helpful in getting the message across to the reader.

A gigantic ship may resemble a small city floating on water and cruising towards its destination with several thousand people on board, high volume/high value cargo that is worth a lot to many people on board the ship and outside as well ! What makes such a ship achieve its mission and reach its destination as scheduled is much more than just wishful thinking, giving orders, shouting, yelling and/or drum beating.

These ships usually have a very large crew; each with a specific role/function that s/he can and will do in the right way to get the whole ship moving in the right direction.

People who have overall responsibility for the ship, its passengers, crew and cargo. From origin of the journey till its final destination, these people are in charge of the safety, well being and progress (real vs planned) throughout the entire journey.
People in charge of setting the course and direction of the ship per plan and within foreseen/predictable conditions within the ship and in the sea.
People in charge of steering the ship according to preset directions specified within the overall journey course (master plan). Responsibilities include navigation, maneuvering,
People who are responsible for sailing the ship on due course on day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by minute to ensure the ship is really going according to the plan. Depending on the type of ship, these people may include a variety of positions, roles and responsibilities working in full harmony to execute the preset plan.
People who are responsible for the services provided to the passengers (and other crew members) throughout the whole journey. These may include catering, cleaning, ...
People who are in charge of the engines, machines and equipment on board the ship and make sure they are working and performing as expected.

Well! this is not necessarily a complete/comprehensive list, and it may be not using the right titles for these jobs, but I trust that I have laid the picture correctly of how the ship crew play teamwork relying on each other and trusting each other to achieve the ultimate goal. This could be true because of the long history, heritage and maturity of man's experience with the oceans. It could also be because of the realization of everyone that they are boarding the same ship. Hence they cannot afford not to do their job right, and if this happens for one reason or the other, failure would have another taste and it could mean total disaster !

Another example could come from aviation. Civil aircrafts may be smaller, carry less passengers and cargo and fly shorter times (as compares to ships), but still this is a splendid example of team effort in a very critical thing that cannot tolerate failures of people not doing their job right.

In the cockpit, you have the captain, first officer, flight engineer (!) ... etc who are in charge of setting course and direction, flying the aircraft according to the course, navigate/maneuver, and do whatever it takes to proceed according to course and schedule.
In the passenger cabin, you will have the flight attendants who take care of the passengers, serve the food, ensure the on-board entertainment facilities are working, make the necessary announcements to the passengers, and do execute the required procedures during take-off and landing, .. etc.

Once again, you have people who have their roles and responsibilities very well defined. They work in harmony as a team, they trust each other and they complement each other in a very well-thought plan from A to Z till the aircraft reaches its predetermined destination safely, on time and with considerable level of comfort and entertainment to the passengers.

Comparing all of this to organizations, operations and management, we will easily find a drastically different picture specially in the larger and more bureaucratic organizations. These organizations lack the binding harmony/synergy you expect in effective teamwork as in the case of ships and planes. People in these organizations act in a very relaxed/lazy way, with no sense of urgency and no appreciation for time wasted in doing nothing. More importantly, these people lack the shared common view, goal and objective behind being part of this team, and lack of appreciation that all efforts are needed for survival and prosperity

Why Strategy Execution Fails!

2011-05-27T02:23:00.000-07:00

Having a strategy is fine. Having a valid strategy is great. Having a valid strategy that can be executed smoothly and successfully is the best since bread and butter (and honey) for business owners/senior-top managers.

Strategy and strategic planning is a fascinating topic to the high ranks in every organization. It tickles their dreams and stimulates their imagination and creativity. Artistic design of strategy maps makes them proud and satisfied, and they may fall victim of the illusion that these strategies can be implemented easily and smoothly like many other ideas and initiatives

Wrong ! It is not like this at all when it comes to strategy implementation and execution. World-wide, there is a 50% failure rate in such initiatives, and the remaining 50% are not necessarily 100% successful. Failure (Success) is not a black and white thing, but a full spectrum of gray color. One more thing, self-claimed success (or failure) is not always true and such claims need to be validated somehow.

At Millennia-Vision, we have articulated the issue to be deep into the "culture" dimension of the MV-BTC framework methodology. This culture issue (or challenge I should say!) is the make-or-break for these strategy initiatives. Simply stated, this issue is a "gap", "crack", "disconnect line" between theory and reality, call it whatever you wish. The whole issue/challenge lies in and around this line.

Accordingly, we may find that the "top-down" push approach from higher ranks in the organization downwards diminishes in nowhere, gets sucked into operational black holes, or simply does not click or trigger anything at the lower levels in the hierarchy.

A more specific articulation of the issue/challenge according to recent research of couple hundred case studies worldwide shows the following reasons of failure for strategy implementation projects

Poor communication of the initiative from higher ranks down throughout the entire organization' people at the working level are simply not aware and/or not engaged early in such initiatives.

One-way communication (top-down only) dictating top management view on the lower levels without asking for their opinion or seeking their endorsement.

Lack of buy-in from middle-management layer; well known to be the "change agent" in the organization, either due to poor communications and/or lack of early engagement in the process.

Unclear/Uncommitted/Insufficient articulation of the incentives/reward/payback for people at the working level of the organization. What's in it for me ? question needs to be addressed properly if such initiative is to succeed.

Regular employee/job mentality dominating the working level even middle-management positions in the organization, best articulated as "I do my job and I get my salary end of the month" and that's it.

Missing/Weak buy-in at the lower (working level) of the organization even if they "verbally" support the initiative.

Missing or failing leadership role within the organization; either because of weak capabilities, lack of sincerity, failure to lead by example,

The list may go on and on, new items may be added, modifications may be applicable, but the spirit of the analysis remains basically the same.

As you may notice, the whole list is basically centered on and around the "people/culture" dimension. It is not the technology, so don't get fooled with any technology or software tool that it will fix the problem for you. It is not the business processes either. these can still be mapped, analyzed, improved and streamlined ... whatever. But it is again back to the people to make it happen !

Millennia-Vision Consulting: MV-BTC: The flagship framework for our consultanc...

2011-05-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

Millennia-Vision Consulting: MV-BTC: The flagship framework for our consultanc...: "Not just another acronym. Not at all ! MV-BTC - short tor Millennia-Vision Business Technology & Culture - is the master framework for al..."

MV-BTC: The flagship framework for our consultancy/professional services

2011-05-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Not just another acronym. Not at all !

MV-BTC - short tor Millennia-Vision Business Technology & Culture- is the master framework for all our consultancy & professional services. This is our big umbrella we use in our management consultancy and professional services engagements with our valued clients.
This is the most comprehensive and far stretched framework you can think of, yet it is so flexible that it can fit all situations from the very small/well-known/limited situations to the largest/unknown/unpredictable/unlimited client situations.

Is this claim a fluffy one ? Let us think about it.

What can possibly go outside this umbrella of business, technology and culture ? Think about it, but before you answer, let me give you another perspective of the BTC concept. Have you heard of the "process, people and technology" alignment and synergy/harmony building as a way to reach optimal performance ? I hope so.

Process is a subset of what we cover in the business dimension of the BTC framework. People is the core focus of the culture dimension, and technology is common between the two concepts.

I would like to mention that our dealing with the technology goes beyond and above information technology (IT) or even information/communication technology (ICT) and this will be another topic on its own

MV-SOW: Defining the "width" and "depth" of our engagements.

2011-05-25T05:17:00.000-07:00

At Millennia-Vision, we have adopted MV-SOW as the way to define the scope of work (SoW) of our consultancy/professional services engagements as a 2-dimensional matrix, with the "horizontal dimension" at the top describing the "width" of the engagement, and the 'vertical dimension' downwards defining the 'depth' of the engagement.

Far from being academic talk, our approach is very helpful in putting a practical way to determine the different aspects of our engagements including: -

Size of the project
Level of effort
Required resources and their skill mix
Level of engagement of each resource,
cost/price calculations
Overall project/engagement plan for us and for the client

To do so, we - at Millennia-Vision Consulting- have developed/endorsed two techniques to help us in this 2-dimensional matrix

MV-E2E: Adopting the "end-to-end" approach to define the 'width' of the engagement in a way that covers all important and relative aspects of the engagement, ensuring nothing important is totally forgotten or mistakenly ignored. What goes in this dimension is "not fixed" and depends on the nature of the engagement, its mandates, deliverables and on the customer specifics case-by-case and situation-by-situation.

MV-TOP5 : where we work with our client to identify top-5 (maximum) most significant items under each selected aspect in the horizontal dimension. The philosophy behind "top-5" is that of focus and delivery of results. Focusing our attention on top-5 (max) items will also help us devote our time, energy, money and effort on things that matter most.

Once again, the purpose of this post is to give a brief about the topic and not to cover it in full detail. However, I would be pleased to respond to comments/questions on the above and elaborate on the topic as seen necessary

MV-TCS: the business engine that generates results and money

2011-05-25T02:45:00.000-07:00

NV-TCS: is the business engine developed and adopted at Millennia-Vision. It could be helpful to visualize this model is a 3-way propeller engine that take the business forward, and at every stroke, generates results and money on the way forward towards the future.

TCS is short for "training, consultancy and solutions/services". This sequence is very logical and systematic as training (awareness raising) is a natural "entry point" to consultancy services, and consultancy service usually leads to "solutions/services" to make them work and turn the talk into reality.

Training is a general concept and a big umbrella for lots of topics related to training, awareness raising, skills development, trends and direction topics, knowledge transfer, experience sharing ...etc. This pillar of the 3-way business engine is a candidate for spin-off as an independent business on its own under the "Millennia-Vision Academy" initiative. A complete detailed model/business plan is available for sharing with qualified potential partners who confirm their interest/commitment to this business.
Consultancy: is all about adapting/adopting the general talk of the training discipline to customer specifics on case-by-case basis. This generally results from raising interest/feedback/comments coming from the training business line. Trainers are often seen as "educators" or "advisers" by attendees and delegates, and it would be common practice to see interest/demand for consultancy services coming from the training discipline. Consultancy is already an established business line with over 12+ years of presence in the middle-east market. As demand is much higher than available capacity, it would also be possible to join efforts with potential partners who show their interest/commitment to the consultancy model to expand its market reach and increase its inherent capacity.
Services/Solutions: Talk is nice and easy. Clients usually want things which can be implemented and they want to see results. This is where services & solutions come to fill this post-consultancy market/customer need. Dedicated/specialized solutions comprising specific hardware/software products, networking infrastructure, special applications, etc come from prospective providers along with product-specific training . This has nothing to do with the training/awareness raising pillar of the TCS model.

Naturally, there are more and more details for the MV-TCS model that cannot be covered in this post. However, I think this does serve the purpose of introducing the topic, and I would be pleased to respond to any comment/inquiry on the subject and take the discussion forward as needed.

National-level SWOT analysis/Progress Scorecard

2011-05-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

We need COUNTRY-LEVEL SWOT ANALYSIS/BALANCED SCORECARD to help achieve tangible, quantifiable & measurable progress in Jordan (and/or other Arab middle-east countries)

Despite claims that this has already been done, I tend to believe all past/current efforts still fall short of what I am talking about.

The extent of the effort is huge when it is at the national level where we talk about all ministries/government departments in the public sector, along with all key enterprises in the private sector , with some binding synergy between all. This is why I am saying I am sure it has not been done yet, certainly not at this level.
The quality of the effort is also questionable; even at the single entity level. From my observations, this is usually rushed as a last-minute "boiled egg" exercise to fulfill a formality or satisfy a request/mandate from someone. I have my deep doubts in the value of such exercises done this way.
I am not aware of any national "country-wide" effort like this in the whole Arab world. If you know differently, share the information with me and prove me wrong. I would be happy to hear that. The width and depth of such an initiative would be just overwhelming and things like this don't go unnoticed. We would have heard of such a thing.
One of the serious issues/challenges in such an effort has to with the quality of such work. We all know of the "garbage-in/garbage-out" syndrome. So regardless of how good the tool being used, methodology and approach, the use of low-quality data much below the expectation ( honest, factual, complete, up-to-date, valid, relevant, accurate, precise, numeric, measurable, verifiable) would get us for sure into the quality issue.
Moving from the genetic to the specific, and focusing on the details, the devil is in the details as they say. This could be another overwhelming dimension of the challenge that we are facing with such a national-level effort
Turning ideas into actions and focusing on "how-to" aspects of getting things done. This required proper planning and good execution of the plan with clear management, monitoring, measurement and reporting to make the proper analysis and take necessary adjustments/corrective actions accordingly.

I would still urge for this exercise to be done as part of our short-term (tactical) and long-term (strategic) planning at the national country-level within an overall future vision, goals, and destination statement where we would like to be in 20 or 50 years from now.

Switching from negative (nagging) to positive thinking mode

2011-05-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Criticism seems to be part of our nature as human beings. We always end to notice what is missing, what goes wrong, what causes problems to us in our personal and professional life. The easiest thing would be to just complain and nag about the problem, act as the poor/innocent victim and expect someone to come from the skies to fix the problem and save the situation possibly with a magic wand !!

We know life is not like this, and when we just complain and nag about problems, we may be labeled as "negative" people seeing things through black glasses. We may argue back and forth on this thing, but we will never reach an conclusive result

Instead, I would propose that we take the extra step forward, do our homework and help in approaching the problems and trying to reach resolutions for them.

What I am proposing is a 4-step approach:

Problem Statement: a brief name/description of the problem to say what it is and where it exists
Impact Statement: give a description/assessment of the negative impact (harm, damage, loss, ...) of the problem, preferably supported by facts and numbers as evidence
Initial Analysis: Why the problem is happening and what is causing it, avoiding naming persons by name and avoiding personalizing the problem, fingerprinting, blame-game, ... etc Root-Cause analysis and Cause-effect (fish backbone diagrams) can be used to make the point and explain the relations.
Suggested approach/solution: from your knowledge/experience with the case, what would be the approach/solution for this problem, what would it take, how much it would cost, ...

I can assure you from my consultancy engagements with business owners, top/executive management of several public/private sector entities throughout the middle-east region that this approach is highly appreciated, more accepted, and has a better chance to be adopted.

The call is yours !

MV-AIO: the ultimate objective of change management

2011-04-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

MV-AIO -short of Millennia-Vision focus on (1) automation, (2) integration and (3) optimization- is the ultimate objective of change management to maximize gains and/or minimize losses.

First impressions from selected friends and colleagues when I proposed this MV-AIO concept that it is a technology topic. The truth is that it applies to technology but it also stretches outside technology to the entire working model of any organization.

To help you grasp the model, I would encourage you to consider processes (as in BPM), people (as in HR) and technology (as in ICT, high-tech and other forms of technology) and building highest levels of harmony between them to get things done at their best.

To get the idea even clearer, we need to envision a flexible dotted black box that can surround and include all elements within the work model and apply the concept of automation, integration and optimization to it. This will include the business model, business processes, work environment, facilities, people and their organization, working procedures, decision making processes and procedures, documentation, policies, politics, culture ...

See my O3 Excellence paper addressing excellence in the Optimized Overall Organization (enterprise) to get more ideas and details on this concept.

MV-PIOVI the essence of moving forward !

2011-04-16T04:26:00.000-07:00

Moving forward to the better has always been a haunting target for business owners, top managers and public/private sector leaders in general. Some have adopted the revolutionary (big bang) approach where major dramatic improvements are sought in one shot. Others have adopted the evolutionary (ongoing small & gradual improvements) approach.

Millennia-Vision has embraced MV-PIOVI as our adopted life-cycle for moving forward and used it internally as an all inclusive framework for developing its focus areas & offerings.

PIOVI stands for

Plan
Implement
Operate
Verify
Improve

Through MV-PIOVI, we are able to address true customer/market needs in a structured and systematic way and help leaders, owners and senior managers move forward towards their stated goals/objectives and achievement of their mission/vision statements

PIOVI is an extended and enhanced version of the popular P-D-C-A (Plan-Do-Check-Act) basic life-cycle

Paving the road to success !

2010-08-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

Road to success is not always rosy, we know that already ! In fact, we know that most of the time it is not rosy or easy at all, and this makes lots of sense. Otherwise, everyone would be successful, and in absence of failure, I really don't know what success means.

I remember the proverb "Great Sailors are not made on calm seas" and I would expect, wait for and even welcome difficulties as they arise. Challenges are also door openers for great opportunities in life, we should always remember that !

The other thing about this success is that it is both easy (theoretically speaking) but difficult to achieve in reality. Things look great at the macro-level from 100 miles above the ground, but when getting into the micro-level on the ground where the action takes place, we discover truly that "devil is in the details" and if these details are not well thought in advance, they may simply wreck your ship.

Remember the titanic in its first and last journey ... Everything looked great at the beginning, the dream was so big, the people in charge were so arrogant, they took miscalculated risks when they changed the route and ended up because of an iceberg

Let me continue this subject later on ...

Putting a face to the name !

2007-01-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Not being too proud of it, but - for the good (I hope) or the bad - this is how I look more or less. This could not be the best or the worst photo, but probably one out of a few that have high resolution to be used electronically.

One of the earlier comments I heard on this photo was I should have added a smile on the face. It adds something I was told and it costs nothing. Well ! I thought for a moment that this photo is emotionally neutral, and that could be the best mode to be in when posing in front of a camera. However, people who know me in person, know that I am usually a cheerful person, with a positive character and attitude, quite ambitious, and very helpful to my folks, whenever and whereever possible.

Oh yes ! one last word on the photo. It was self-taken by a new digital camera in 2002 in my own living room, so I hope you understand, appreciate and excuse any negative thing in it from a professional viewpoint.

1st blog post

2007-01-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

this is my 1st blog post!

Will do more when i can!