Ignoring the obvious

by jed simms on March 31, 2010

I recently watched a group of workmen take down a building safety barrier. There were five workmen – two had hard hats on (risk management) but they stayed well away from the action (auditors?). The three workmen doing the work (…)

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The difference between an Audit and a Diagnostic

by jed simms on March 24, 2010

An Audit checks compliance to some standard or expectation. A report or plan is reviewed to see if it complies with the expected standard, if completed correctly,  fully and is appropriately signed off. A Diagnostic is a diagnosis of the (…)

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Do recruitment supplier panels add value or destroy it?

by jed simms on March 17, 2010

Strategic sourcing outfits love to set up recruitment supplier panels to minimise the number of vendors and get the best terms, conditions and prices. This is an exercise in purchasing efficiency. What you want is operational effectiveness. The true measures (…)

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Are Project Managers a ‘commodity’?

by jed simms on March 10, 2010

One organization is getting rid of its pool of project managers as “you can just go to the market and buy them as necessary”. Another organization outsourced its project managers to a major systems implementer on the basis that “we (…)

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Solving the non-problem

by jed simms on March 3, 2010

We recently moved into new offices. Great. But our mail was being returned to sender. Bad. We contacted the Post Office and they said that they did not deliver to individual floors and unless there was a post office box (…)

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