Classes

Executive Education and Tutorials

I offer several executive training courses and tutorials.  Most are available in half- or full-day versions, at your site.  Customization is also possible.  For further information on any or all courses, please send me an e-mail request.

Tutorials/Workshops:

Half- or Full-day courses, offered at your site for groups of up to 30 people; flat fee

• Introduction to the Design Structure Matrix:  Applications to Systems Architecting, Organization Design, Process Analysis, and Project Management    Course Description

• Information-Driven Project Management:  Why Schedule Tasks When You Should Schedule Results?    Course Description

• Using the Risk Value Method to Forecast and Track Progress and Added Value in Projects and Programs    Course Description

Executive Education Courses:

Half- or Full-day courses, offered at your site for groups of up to 30 people; flat fee

• Process Improvement:  Lean, Six Sigma, and Toyota Production System (1 DAY)

• Introduction to Project and Program Management (½ DAY)

• Project Risk Management (½ DAY)

• Project Scheduling (1 DAY)

• Developing Operational Excellence (2 DAYS)

  You will gain critical knowledge about how to plan and manage the work done in an organization, and how to make sure it’s the right work.  The curriculum covers aligning strategy, product and service design, marketing, and operations, as well as how to identify and design processes that are measurable, effective, efficient, consistent, and value-adding to your firm.  You’ll also learn how metrics, analysis, and tools such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Lean, and Six Sigma can improve processes—and discern real improvements from temporary “mirages.”  We’ll discuss differences between production processes and service processes, and recognize the characteristics of a well-designed service system.  You’ll leave with new insights on best practices to boost your organization’s performance.

  ***Next Open Enrollment offering on the TCU Campus through the Tandy Center for Executive Leadership:  May 21-22, 2009

   

•  Information-Driven Project Management (1 DAY)

  Information is the life blood of projects.  Given a perfect, value-adding activity, it is the information that it bases its work upon that makes the difference between a good result and a poor one.  Indeed, often project work is done based on assumptions that turn out to be poor, or on bad inputs, which causes rework, delays, and wasted resources.  Since information enables job performance, it would make sense to understand the information flow patterns in projects from a system perspective.  However, most project management methods and tools fail to shed light on these.  Information-Driven Project Management (IDPM) allows managers to unlock the information flow structure of a project and to visualize, organize, and exploit information relationships between activities.  The focus shifts from managing activities to managing results, which form the basis for agreements, commitments, and accountabilities in projects.  Managers will learn about new tools, such as the Design Structure Matrix (DSM), to manage information flows and reduce project cost and schedule risks.

   

•  Program Management for Executives (1 DAY)

  Contemporary organizations are organizing more and more of their work as projects.  Yet, many projects fail or are significantly challenged to meet their original time, budget, and quality goals.  This course is designed for the executive who oversees multiple projects, a project portfolio, or a large program in their organization.  Program Management for Executives provides methods and tools to support decisions about project selection and appropriate levels of support.  It addresses the skills to look for when selecting project managers.  It highlights the latest ways to estimate project uncertainties, risks, and opportunities.  And it presents how to determine appropriate metrics and leading indicators of success for projects.  The goal of the course is to increase the executive’s confidence in the way his or her projects are managed, and to arm the executive with the right questions to ask to uncover problems sooner rather than later.

   

•  Enterprise Process Integration and Communication (1 DAY)

  Many organizations are organizing their operations around enterprise or business processes.  However, this transition is challenging.  It requires a new way of thinking about work, and it creates a new set of problems—chief among these being getting the right information to the right place at the right time in the organization.  Enterprise Process Integration shows executives and managers how to unlock the information flow structure of their organization.  Tools are presented for uncovering, analyzing, and improving communications and results throughout the organization while avoiding information overload.  The techniques enable tighter integration and synchronization of enterprise processes, through the establishments of commitment networks and laser-sharp accountabilities.  An executive using these techniques will be able to enact policies and directives that enable workers to self-organize and make better local decisions.  The course includes a role-playing game, where participants enact the roles of various process leaders in a large organization and hammer out tough agreements on process interactions.

  ***Next Open Enrollment offering on the TCU Campus through the Tandy Center for Executive Leadership:  Fall 2009

   

•  Business Process Analysis and Improvement (1 DAY)

  This course covers the basics of analyzing and improving any repetitive business process, where the goals are efficiency, effectiveness, consistency, and high customer or stakeholder satisfaction.  We will clarify the fundamental metrics and their meaning, tying everything to the strategic goals of the organization.  The course includes an interactive case analysis and discussion, where participants consider the production and service process of a small start-up company as a building block for the operations of large organization.

   

•  Inventory Management Models and Techniques (1 DAY)

  This course presents a basic set of decision support models for managers who must determine order quantities and frequencies in their organizations.  The models provide the most economical order quantity given carrying costs, demand uncertainty, stock-out penalties, profit potential, variable service levels, and other considerations.  The presented models address both one-time and recurring orders.  We will also consider the role of inventory from a strategic perspective and discuss cost-saving opportunities such as inventory pooling.