O que é que pode ser feito?

Lembro-me do meu parceiro das conversas oxigenadoras comentar comigo, talvez em 2011, que estava sempre disponível para trabalhar com novos subcontratados. Estava tão habituado a sofrer com atrasos, com incumprimento de promessas, que tinha sempre a porta aberta a fazer experiências para dar oportunidade a outros.

Na semana que findou estive numa empresa pela segunda vez. Da primeira conversa que tive com os meus interlocutores fiquei com a ideia que tinham graves problemas com a subcontratação. Desta vez perguntei-lhes como tinha evoluído a subcontratação e, para minha surpresa, responderam-me muito animados. Tinham sido obrigados a testar dois novos subcontratados, por incapacidade dos habituais, e tiveram uma surpresa espectacular. Encontraram gente que se punha do lado das soluções e não do lado dos problemas. Escusado será dizer que os subcontratados anteriores não serão opção para o futuro.

Foi disto que me lembrei ao ler "When Solving Problems, Think About What You Could Do, Not What You Should Do":

"Nobody likes a troublemaker at work. We’ve all had colleagues who annoy us or deviate from the script with no heads-up, causing conflict or wasting time: jerks and show-offs who seem to be difficult for no good reason and people who break rules just for the sake of it and make others worse off in the process. But there are also people who know how to turn rule breaking into a contribution. Rebels like Palmieri [Moi ici: Excelente exemplo que abre o artigo] deserve our respect and our attention, because they have a lot to teach us.
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One of the biggest lessons is given a challenging situation — kids who want pizza — we all tend to default to what we should do instead of asking what we could do.
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I then asked participants either “What should you do?” or “What could you do?” We found that the “could” group were able to generate more creative solutions. Approaching problems with a “should” mindset gets us stuck on the trade-off the choice entails and narrows our thinking on one answer, the one that seems most obvious. But when we think in terms of “could,” we stay open-minded and the trade-offs involved inspire us to come up with creative solutions."

Curiosidade do dia

Quando pensamos que se bateu no fundo do poço, aparece alguém com uma retroescavadora e, continua a escavar.

"Academics at a top British university have been told that they should not use the phrase “as you know” during lectures, because it might make some students feel so bad that they’ll do poorly in their courses.
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These instructions were given at an equality-and-diversity network meeting at Bath University, according to an article in The Daily Mail.
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“Some lecturers used commonly known references stating ‘as you know,’ which could make students feel at fault for not knowing and make it difficult to engage with the course content,’” Berenice Dalrymple, co-chair of the university’s student-union race-equality group, said at the the meeting."

Trecho retirado de "The Phrase ‘As You Know’ Declared a Microaggression"

Comunicar com clareza!

“When you’re the CEO or the founder of a company . . . you’ve got to say ‘This is what we’re doing,’ and then you have to model it. Because if you don’t model it, no one’s going to do it."
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For sound decision making, esprit de corps, and superior performance, top-line goals must be clearly understood throughout the organization. Yet by their own admission, two of three companies fail to communicate these goals consistently.
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Leaders must get across the why as well as the what. Their people need more than milestones for motivation.
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In other words: Key results are the levers you pull, the marks you hit to achieve the goal. If an objective is well framed, three to five KRs will usually be adequate to reach it. Too many can dilute focus and obscure progress. Besides, each key result should be a challenge in its own right. If you’re certain you’re going to nail it, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.
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Keep in mind, though, that it’s the shorter-term goals that drive the actual work. They keep annual plans honest—and executed.
Clear-cut time frames intensify our focus and commitment; nothing moves us forward like a deadline. To win in the global marketplace, organizations need to be more nimble than ever before. In my experience, a quarterly OKR cadence is best suited to keep pace with today’s fast-changing markets. A three-month horizon curbs procrastination and leads to real performance gains.”

Excerto de: Doerr, John. “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs”.

Nós é que sabemos o que é melhor para os clientes

“Cars go to a diverse audience and diverse customers, and people don’t always agree with the balance or compromises, and you can’t get upset with that,”

Mesmo no final do artigo, "Car Engineers Scoff at Enthusiasts’ Modifications. But Not Always.",  aparece o trecho acima.

Algo que ajuda a explicar Mongo e a democratização da produção, algo que ajuda a explicar a co-criação, algo que ajuda a explicar o sucesso da Local Motors, algo que ajuda a explicar porque as empresas grandes vão perder o seu mercado actual (a reacção dos engenheiros das marcas):

"“I have no doubt in my mind they cannot do it better,”
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“They can never achieve the finely balanced trade-off we have achieved,”"

Mas a verdade é:

“The reason the market grows the way it does is that the carmakers have a mass-production model and it does not leave a whole lot of room for people who want to improve or personalize or upgrade their cars and trucks,” he said.
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Social media — like websites or Facebook pages for owners of specific models — is also playing an increasing role, Mr. Kersting said.
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“Now people who have similar interests are able to find one another and share expertise and the passion they have for whatever segment of automotive lifestyle or hobby they enjoy,” he said. “It has been very good for the market.”"

Acerca de KPI

Esta semana, em dois projectos relacionados com indicadores usei um disclaimer que sinto necessidade de afirmar. Gosto de usar indicadores (KPI), sou um fã do balanced scorecard (BSC). No entanto, sei que estas ferramentas, KPI e BSC, foram criadas nos Estados Unidos para empresas muito grandes, à escala multicontinental e geridas por pessoas que não tarimbaram ao longo da escada hierárquica na mesma empresa. Assim, um CEO pode chegar ao topo de uma empresa sem nunca ter trabalhado nela previamente. Nesses casos ter KPI é fundamental, já quando se está a falar de uma PME, muita da informação trazida pelos indicadores é pressentida pelo empresário quando escuta o ruído de fundo da empresa. Mesmo numa PME, apesar de tudo, recomendo o uso de alguns KPI, quer para monitorar algo que não é tão visível ou urgente, quer para esticar o nível de desempenho de uma organização para lá dos limites actuais da sua zona de conforto, quer para facilitar o feedback menos subjectivo, quer para facilitar a a aprendizagem de relações de causa-efeito.

Ao ler esta provocação, "Gerir sem KPIs", pensei nestas outras leituras da manhã, "How to Cure a Bad Case of Metric Fixation" e "A timely reminder that using data to make decisions can go very wrong"

Riscos e seu tratamento nos processos (ISO 9001)

Ontem estive numa empresa a trabalhar no desenvolvimento de um sistema de gestão (da qualidade). Estivemos a analisar um processo designado "Entregar materiais para produção" e com três grandes etapas:

• Enviar encomendas a fornecedores;
• Receber e controlar entregas;
• Separar e preparar materiais para produção.

Reunidos com o responsável do projecto e com o Director de Produção olhávamos para o fluxograma que descreve o processo actual. A certa altura o Director de Produção comentou:

- Há algo que não fazemos actualmente, mas que gostava de que se passasse a fazer no futuro. É preciso arranjar alguém com pulso que no dia seguinte à data prevista para a chegada dos materiais ligue aos fornecedores para os controlar em caso de atraso.

Por causa deste comentário, fomos ao fluxograma e criámos um passo para esta actividade. Identificámos uma pessoa que poderia executar esta actividade em acumulação com a carga de trabalho que já tem.

No final, já a conversar com o responsável do projecto comentei:

- Em boa verdade o que estivemos a fazer, sem registos, sem classificação de riscos foi o que a ISO 9001 prevê quando fala de riscos associados aos processos. 

Olhamos para um processo, para a forma como é executado e identificámos um resultado indesejável que ocorre com uma frequência não tolerada pela gestão: o risco de entregas não realizadas na data prevista e que não são comunicadas ao Planeamento. Por isso, o Planeamento não altera o planeamento e ocorrem perdas de produtividade. 

O Director de Produção considerou, sem necessidade de esquemas de classificação, esse risco como relevante e propôs uma alteração ao processo actual para minimizar a ocorrência futura desse risco.

Como se evidencia o tratamento deste risco? Conversando com o responsável do projecto ou com o Director da Produção.

"Do we even know who our perfect customer is? "

"Is my process built on activity or achieving results?   We can’t rely on numbers to tell the story. It’s the story behind the numbers that counts.
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What is the role of time in my process?  We have to look at this from two sides — our side and how we use our time and the prospect’s side and the level of time we’re expecting from them.
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Do we even know who our perfect customer is?  If we can’t identify our perfect customer, then we’ll never be able to describe our perfect prospect.
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Can I identify and put a value on the top 5 outcomes I help customers achieve?   It’s not what we sell that matters; it’s why we sell that counts. And if we don’t know the value of the outcomes we provide, we will never be anything other than a desperate salesperson.
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Where does prospecting fall in my list of responsibilities?  Nothing contributes to sales frustration more than being torn between too many priorities.   Solution lies not in having too many priorities. It lies in how you structure your time."

Trecho retirado de "Which is More Effective: Your Prospecting Plan or Going to a Casino?"

"Measuring what matters"

Voltar a Agosto de 2008 e a uma das frases mais importantes dos meus últimos 10 anos:

"the most important orders are the ones to which a company says 'no'."

Dizer não, implica ter um critério de escolha.

“It is our choices . . . that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” (J. K. Rowling)

“Measuring what matters begins with the question: What is most important for the next three (or six, or twelve) months? Successful organizations focus on the handful of initiatives that can make a real difference, deferring less urgent ones. Their leaders commit to those choices in word and deed. By standing firmly behind a few top-line OKRs, they give their teams a compass and a baseline for assessment. (Wrong decisions can be corrected once results begin to roll in. Nondecisions—or hastily abandoned ones—teach us nothing.) What are our main priorities for the coming period? Where should people concentrate their efforts? An effective goal-setting system starts with disciplined thinking at the top, with leaders who invest the time and energy to choose what counts.”

 Na empresa desta reunião só pretendem sistematizar um conjunto de indicadores. Identificámos os clientes-alvo e o que procuram e valorizam. Daí seleccionámos um grupo de indicadores.


Fica a faltar ser puxado pelo futuro, fica a faltar deixar a postura do gestor para abraçar a do líder que já viu o futuro e quer puxar a empresa para lá. Uma coisa são indicadores para termos uma noção fundamentada se estamos a cumprir ou não os níveis de desempenho considerados normais. Outra coisa é mudar o status-quo.

Excertos de: Doerr, John. “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs”. iBooks.

O futuro passará por voltar ao passado

“In the 1950’s footwear brands offered many different widths and in-store customer service for bespoke fitting. However, with mass scale global production in the 1970’s and fast fashion of today, this went away. Now 90% of the population buy the wrong shoe sizes or don’t even know their correct shoe size. This has created an average of 20% return rate from brick and mortar and e-commerce sales. This mounts to annual 80 billion of lost revenue for the footwear industry! Thus, the pain point is in correct sizing, fitting and reducing returns and not necessarily figuring out the new trendy color for the spring collection. By offering consumers 127 sizes you can capture 90% more of the population simply by offering a vast size range that serves the consumer directly for accurate fit with 3mm increments. The 90% of the population needs to be provided for different widths and global sizing fitting to encompass all markets. 127 sizes will also increase revenue for brands to better serve the consumer for a better fit.”

O futuro passará por voltar ao passado. Uma ideia que não é nova neste blogue.

Trecho retirado de "Janne Kyttanen: Finding the magic number for customization utilizing 3D printing in your industry"

Números interessantes

Números interessantes:

"Inditex sube un peldaño en ecommerce. Las ventas a través de la Red copan ya el 12% de la facturación total del grupo gallego, el mayor distribuidor de moda del mundo por cifra de negocio.
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En concreto, Inditex facturó 2.534 millones de euros a través de la Red en el último ejercicio fiscal, un 41% más que en el año anterior"

Trechos retirados de "El ecommerce gana peso para Inditex y alcanza el 12% de las ventas del grupo"

"Ecommerce in France grew 14 percent last year. The online business-to-consumer turnover was worth just under 82 billion euros and is expected to rise even further in the coming year. The French ecommerce turnover is forecast to be worth 93 billion euros at the end of this year."

Trechos retirados de "Ecommerce in France was worth €81.7 billion in 2017"

Citações

“Bad companies,” Andy wrote, “are destroyed by crisis. Good companies survive them. Great companies are improved by them.” ”

Outra citação de Andy Grove que me deixou a pensar foi:

“There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little.”

Excerto de: Doerr, John. “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs”.

Indicadores e e estratégia

Esquema da primeira folha que vai animar a reunião de hoje:

O balanced scorecard.
A importância de indicadores relacionados com a estratégia.
O que ter em conta ao desenhar uma estratégia.
Diferenciação e perceber quem são os clientes-avo.
Curva de Stobachoff.

“activity trap”

Ontem, escrevi:

"Volta e meia recordo o que aprendi há muitos anos sobre o como as organizações da administração pública definem objectivos. Numa empresa define-se o objectivo de atingir X euros de vendas no final do ano. Na organização pública-tipo dirão: "Não podemos controlar a vontade de quem está fora da organização, não podemos ter um objectivo desses". Numa empresa com o ADN de organização pública-tipo adoptariam o objectivo "número de visitas comerciais feitas". Percebem a diferença? Por isso, é que a administração pública está cheia de relatórios de actividades e quase não se vêem objectivos relacionados com eficácia. Recordo "Mais um monumento à treta - parte II"..Talvez esta mentalidade ajude a perceber "Blahblah economia do mar blahblah""

Depois, quando fui fazer uma caminhada matinal, enquanto deparava com isto:

Cada vez gosto mais da metáfora económica destes espaços pic.twitter.com/PENXp4BMkb

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) July 15, 2018

Lia:

“Andy Grove’s quantum leap was to apply manufacturing production principles to the “soft professions,” the administrative, professional, and managerial ranks. He sought to “create an environment that values and emphasizes output” and to avoid what Drucker termed the “activity trap”: “[S]tressing output is the key to increasing productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.”

Excerto de: Doerr, John. “Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs”

Para reflexão

Relacionar "This Is How a Brick-and-Mortar Store Can Thrive in the Age of Amazon" com "Britain’s Online Shopping Boom Is a Bust for the High Street".

Quando o exterior muda mais rapidamente que uma organização, não demora muito a sentir-se um desfasamento. O mais natural, para quem tem o locus de controlo no exterior, é procurar um culpado e um papá para evitar a mudança interna que se impõe. O clássico "A vítima, o vilão e o salvador".

Metáforas económicas

Esta manhã aproveitei uma caminhada de 6 km para descobrir mais um pouco da Gaia urbana mais recente. A certa altura deparo com a imagem acima.

No lado direito a relva cortada em torno do bloco de apartamentos. A relva representa o planeamento central e a monocultura.

Onde o planeamento central acaba começa a diversidade e a cor.

E não consigo pôr aqui o chilrear da passarada naqueles arbustos.

"an effective, well-integrated business model"

“The basic architecture underlying all successful businesses consists of four interdependent elements that can be represented with four boxes. Every thriving enterprise is propelled by a strong customer value proposition (CVP)—a product, service, or combination thereof that helps customers more effectively, conveniently, or “service, or combination thereof that helps customers more effectively, conveniently, or affordably do a job that they’ve been trying to do. The CVP describes how a company creates value for a given set of customers at a given price. The profit formula defines how the company will capture value for itself and its shareholders in the form of profit. It does this by distilling an often-complex set of financial calculations into the four variables most critical to profit generation: revenue model, cost structure, target unit margin, and resource velocity. Finally, key resources and key processes, are the means by which the company delivers the value to the customer and to itself. These critical assets, skills, activities, routines, and ways of working enable the enterprise to fulfill the CVP and profit formula in a repeatable, scalable fashion.
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Every successful company is fulfilling a real customer job-to-be-done with an effective, well-integrated business model, whether it knows it or not”

Excerto de: Mark W. Johnson. “Reinvent Your Business Model: How to Seize the White Space for Transformative Growth”

"focus, alignment, commitment, tracking, and stretching"

Muito, muito sumo!!!

"reality denial is more about identity than information"

Relacionar "Afinal não há dinheiro"  com "How to Talk to Someone Who Refuses to Accept Reality, According to Behavioral Science":

"Facts don't win arguments.
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When faced with threatening information, people often stick their heads in the sand.
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The problem is almost certainly one of emotions, not knowledge.
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And because reality denial is more about identity than information, throwing facts at the problem usually backfires. "Research on a phenomenon called the backfire effect shows we tend to dig in our heels when we are presented with facts that cause us to feel bad about our identity, self-worth, worldview or group belonging,""

reparem no impacte do turismo na desertificação do centro das cidades:
2006 - https://t.co/8PXRpffUhU
2011 - https://t.co/qnjB8DckdA
2013 - https://t.co/A7ZYGRaASP

Quando os factos estragam a narrativa... esquecem-se os factos

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) July 13, 2018

"A race to the top"

"A race to the top, one that doesn’t happen simply because you announced you’re going to try harder. It happens because you invest in training, staff and materials to make it likely you can actually keep that promise."

Pesquisar aqui no blogue:

• race to the top
• race to the bottom

Trecho retirado de "“You’ll pay a lot but you’ll get more than you paid for”"

A produção do futuro

"Factories will still exist in 2050: buildings where people operate machines that make particular products. It’s difficult to fully imagine the economic structures of a world where cheap, high-volume, mass-production 3-D printing is commonplace. But we can hazard some guesses. Designers will be more esteemed than machinists. Products will be adapted for local needs and preferences, and organic in appearance. There will be fewer warehouses. Factories themselves will be more numerous, smaller, and mostly dark, their machines quietly tended by a highly technical guild."

Fábricas do futuro sim, mas com uma interpretação diferente para o que entendemos por fábrica.

Fábrica = oficina cooperativa de co-criação?
Fábrica = maker's space onde uma cooperativa de artesãos tecnológicos ajudam clientes a co-criarem soluções para os JTBD

Trecho retirado de "3-D Printing Is the Future of Factories (for Real This Time)"

BTW. este artigo "Now you can 3D print an entire bike frame" termina de uma forma que demonstra como muita gente pensa que é possível alterar o método de produção sem que isso tenha implicações na propriedade da produção. Depois de ler:

"Since the robot does all the work, there are no labor costs, it’s feasible to manufacture in the U.S. or Europe and avoid the carbon footprint of shipping bike componets across the ocean.
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Bike brands can design their own new bikes using the system, and the same software could be used to create custom frames for customers within a bike store.
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“The beauty of 3D printing is you can build something with the economics of one unit, because there’s no tooling required,” says Miller. “Not only can we tailor the size, but we can also tailor the ride characteristics, too. Some people want a harder bike or a stiffer bike; some people want a softer, more compliant bike. Because that’s all software controlled, ultimately, we just dial that into the software recipe and then we print that particular recipe out.”"

Não faz sentido terminar com:

"The bikes will be in mass production next year." 

Ou alguém percebeu mal ou há um gato escondido com o rabo de fora.