Getting things done: How to overcome complexity

[Deutsche Fassung]

Complexity – designed by humans

Complexity – designed by humans

It is very easy to make things complex; but is very complicated to make things easy. Humans tend to do the first thing and suffer from that, and work very hard to reach the second. Very often it is not the issue itself which gives us a headache. We as human beings tend to make things very complex. How come that projects round the globe, even reviewed regularly in project status meetings, tend to run longer than scheduled or financial targets, technical drawings are not in line with the technical specifications, budgeting processes are always on a critical path, or the year end closing process is overdue? Controlling departments administrate overtime at the end of the year, the technical project manager feels like tearing his hair out because he is not able to stay on schedule, or the sales director runs crazy, as the sales figures are not reached. Does that sound familiar to you? Is all that a coincidence? Weiterlesen

Battle of complexity: the Cato principle

[Deutsche Fassung]

Whoever searches examples of modularization or standardization, will find one in the automotive industry or other mass production businesses. That leads to the impression that modularization is only possible combined with high volumes and would not be possible for a low volume or even a “lot size 1”. Is that really the truth? Weiterlesen