Team size can make a big difference in the success of your service or product. What is counterintuitive for most people is that the larger the team size, the lower the likelihood of success for your service or product.  Why? Entropy can set in and large teams are inherently bad vehicles for communication. More insipid, however, is that the larger the team, there is a higher likelihood of accountability and responsibility being diffused across the team.  When accountability and responsibility is massively diffused, then the mantra holds: if everyone is charge, then nobody is in charge.

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One principle in Wing Chun is the maintaining of forward tension.  To explain, I’ll draw the distinction between Tension and Energy and show how this principle in Wing Chun can be applied to Change Management.

Tension is a type of Energy

A Wing Chun maxim goes as follows:

soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy

That maxim means that forward tension is not necessarily using force, or forcing through a barrier or “pushing through”.  But, there is soft force, or tension, such that when a gap presents itself, then the hand or arm shoots forward like a spring.  The “shooting forward” is not done with force, but is an unleashing of potential energy.

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Our little baby boy was born June 23, 2008. Lakin (pronounced “lay-kin”) is our 8th child and we brought him into our family through the blessing of adoption. For long-time shmula readers, you might remember that we just adopted Mylie in November 2007 and we adopted Preston in November 2006. Yup, we did it again, and we’re very, very happy.

Some people ask why we have so many kids, or why we’ve adopted so much. I’ll attempt to answer those in the People Are Dang Nosy Section Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section at the end of this post but, first, I want to explain a little about the Adoption Process.

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Every system has constraints — sometimes several — minor bottlenecks and major bottlenecks.  What makes managing constraints even more challenging is that bottlenecks move: up-and-down the process paths.

I saw this phenomenon recently during a visit to a fast food restaurant, which I discuss in this post — but, my application of the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma as applied to a Restaurant can be applied to any Dynamic System.

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I’ve spoken extensively about the unheralded — but, arguably, the most important — Pillar of The Toyota Production System: Respect for People. Today, I want to highlight an interesting company that appears to have done an amazing job at Participative Management and in eliminating fear and mediocrity in the workplace: Semco Group.

I was first made aware of Semco Group after watching this amazing video on the MIT website. I sought to learn more about Semco and found some pretty amazing case studies such as the following:

• Harvard Business Review: Managing without Managers

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For Father’s Day, I was expecting the traditional breakfast in bed, cards from the kids, and my only sleep-in-past 7AM for the year, but I got something extra this year: tickets to see Snoop Dogg and 311!

Six Sigma and Snoop Dogg

I have to say this was a huge surprise because I don’t listen to Snoop Dogg. I like 311, but I’m not into Snoop all that much. When I was in 5th grade, I bought my first tape — a $2 USD bootleg of NWA. I pretty much grew-up on NWA, Eazy-E, and Dr. Dre, but I never got into Snoop. Those early years of my life were years of trouble and self-destruction and I’m glad I’m not there anymore. Now, I’m fully focused on staying positive, contributing back to society, and just doing good in the world.

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Several months ago my wife mentioned, in a subtle way, that she misses Giordano’s Pizza. Giordano’s is our favorite pizza joint and we used to eat there daily while I was a graduate student at The University of Chicago. I’d say most of my graduate student loan debt went to Giordano’s in exchange for their delicious and famous stuffed pizza.

To appease my wife’s appetite (and mine), I decided to purchase some Giordano’s for overnight delivery. In this post, I’ll discuss good pizza and the supply chain it takes to deliver it, including the strategic role of The Warehouse.

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“people remember experiences, not features or attributes” - a.g. lafley

I love companies and products that are disruptive, simple, and yet elegantly meets an unarticulated but dire customer need.

Today, we are speaking with Gauri Nanda, the inventor of Clocky and founder of nandahome.com.

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Tell us a little about yourself: education, background, and career focus.

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