AGILENOMICS™ Newsletter – February-March 2020
VALUE-SIDE THINKING BY AGILENOMICS™ LAUNCH
The first online course videos become a reality ahead of BTOES 2020
…THE GOAL OF THE FIRM IS TO MAXIMIZE SHAREHOLDER VALUE…
(MOST ECONOMICS TEXTBOOKS)
On March 20th, 2020 the first online course modules were released into the production environment of our website, www.agilenomics.net. The first online course is also our flagship course, titled “Value-Side Thinking and Decision Making”. This course introduces our philosophy around the need to treat all corporate expenditures as investments that should yield some kind of return for the company’s bottom line. Economics and Finance textbooks have taught for decades that there is a fundamental axiom upon which all economic theory rests – The goal of the firm is to maximize shareholder value… This principle appears to be simple enough, and there are very few corporate citizens that will disagree with this principle. Most workers work hard to excel and do a good job, and many times they will supply uncompensated overtime hours to the firm in order to deliver successful projects on time. But despite all this hard work and dedication, it is not an automatic truth that successful project delivery proves a maximum return to the shareholder. Throughout the multi-year course of our consulting experience, we continually observe case studies where real budgets are spent on activities that, after calculating the details, do NOT meet the aforementioned goal of a firm. In our opinion, the primary factors that lead to such case studies include:
- A gap in practical understanding of how to apply Lean / Agile economic principles in the real world.
- A gap in understanding of how to identify “low” or “no” value projects.
- A gap in understanding between what we call “Cost-Side” and “Value-Side” decision making.
- A gap in understanding of how to predict and measure the Cost of Disruption (or Economic J-Curve).
Although all of our AGILENOMICS™ brand courses focus on helping professionals bridge these gaps, the Value-Side Thinking and Decision Making course is the one that does the comprehensive “deep dive” into the theory and case study examples that will enable the student to reflect holistically upon the general practices, mindset, and state of their own organization.
We are excited about being one of the industry pioneers to offer a series of online, on demand training that is designed for immediate practical application in any organization. The case studies speak for themselves, and the methods and techniques that we introduce in these courses can help every professional build a business case from the shareholder’s point of view (see our motto “Bottom Line Agile”). Ultimately, our goal is to help everyone re-align with the textbook notion that our hard work must ultimately maximize shareholder value. Having the mindset, knowledge, and techniques to focus on this goal is a necessary prerequisite. We look forward to taking this journey with you.
OTHER NEWS
CHRYSINOU CONSULTING, LLC’S PLANS TO ATTEND THE BTOES 2020 CONFERENCE THWARTED BY COVID-19… BUT WHAT IS A TRUE TRANSFORMATION VS. A PROCESS OPTIMIZATION?
Under the shadow of the 2020 COVID-19 Corona virus outbreak, where most publc events are being canceled, the BTOES 2020 summit was also postponed. Chrysinou Consulting LLC was planning to attend this forum in order to understand a) where the industry is heading in the Transformation and Operational Excellence space, and b) to determine if the legacy definition of a Transformation is still valid with respect to what is being presented as a “Transformation” at this conference.
In order to understand the difference between a Transformation and a Process Optimization, we need to take a step back in time. In the 1990’s MBA courses would teach a concept known as Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Over time, and especially after 2005, the word Transformation appeared to dominate the industry. Whether BPR was replaced by the word “Transformation” in an exact or partial swap is something we leave to the academic researchers to conclude, but the important thing to note here is, both BPR and Transformation are different from Process Optimization.
In Process Optimization, whether we use a Lean or some other approach to continuously squeeze out “waste” and improve cycle time, the overall business objectives in that process – what the end product should be – generally remain stable.
BPR was big about questioning the process as a whole, and warning professionals to look out for the trap of “optimizing an inefficient process” vs. “changing the process”. This is why BPR is in the same category as the word Transformation.
In a Transformation, the textbooks imply that it would be very difficult for someone to recognize the “before” and “after” as being the same business. Let’s look at a couple examples of real companies that have undergone “real” Transformations over the years. As a simple ice-breaking question…would Walt Disney recognize the company that bears his name today? Would the founder of Wells Fargo ask where the horse and carriages that are on the corporate logo are actually kept?
Certainly, we know the answer to both questions…In theory, a real Transformation should make it extremely difficult for someone to recognize the new business when compared side by side to the old business. Today in the industry, the word Transformation is used in a generous way, but perhaps not exactly as originally intended in its purest definition. This is not inherently good or bad, because society and culture ultimately define the use and interpretation of language and words, but it is probably not a good thing to present a clear case of Process Optimization as a Transformation, because the meaning of Transformation becomes diluted. Nevertheless, we remain dedicated in training professionals on how to measure the value of either (Transformation or Process Optimization).
At Chrysinou Consulting, LLC, our objectives remain focused. We desire to innovate. We desire to disrupt legacy thinking with practical examples and common-sense solutions. Our motto “Practicality. Common-Sense. Bottom Line Agile.” is inspired by our core beliefs.
