Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Ninth Tenet and Boyd's OODA Loop

Smaller is Better Our ninth tenet from Purple Curve Effect is about planning in smaller batches, to allow one the flexibility to jump onto the purple curve of unending growth: "Plan your work in small units of time. It will allow you the flexibility to jump onto the purple curve." As H. William Dettmer suggests in Strategic Navigation, "speed alone" is not the key to Boyd's OODA loop. Yes, you must cycle through the Observe-Orient-Act-Decide process faster than your competitor, however, by implicitly knowing your plan, and the incremental transitions to the next step, one gains significant advantage. In Chapter Ten, where this tenet was birthed, I was talking about TOCreview magazine. The plan called for the creation of the full-color magazine in just 90 days. The project plan had a fairly large number of moving parts, but each aspect was broken down into small enough chunks to allow processing. And the constant last minute adjustments that always surface in any project. By looking at the components (and yet knowing the look & feel of the finished product), I was able to elevate any sub-task as necessary to keep the whole project on time. Some of you may know that it actually took 95 days. Eli Goldratt suggested that I use Critial Chain Project Management next time. Good insight. One of the keys of CCPM is buffer management. As i did not allow for any buffers, we ran over five days. Live and learn. And that is the message (one of many!) in Purple Curve Effect. Live and Learn! How are you going to have a dream come true, if you do not have a dream? Already have a dream? Maybe not as big as Bono's? Or Cindi's? So what. Start where you are. If you have not already done so, buy my book... it is that good (and important!). Then jump into action. A generic game plan is included in book, at no extra charge! I even show you how to adapt it to your mission. Still having trouble? Write me. consultSKI@yahoo.com Together, we can change the world! Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah www.ThroughputPress.com P.S. I have added a PDF of Chapter 10 from Purple Curve Effect. (c)Copyright 2006, Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey. All rights reserved.
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