Six Principles of Productivity Management for managing projects that lead to delivery excellence

The six principles are:
Define the job in detail.
Get the right people involved.
Estimate time and costs.
Break the job down.
Establish a change procedure.
Agree on acceptance criteria.

Random quotes from wisdome fortune file:

Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
-- J. Winter Smith

Who does not trust enough will not be trusted.
-- Lao Tsu

Great acts are made up of small deeds.
-- Lao Tsu

Happiness isn't having what you want, it's wanting what you have.

If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
-- Simone de Beauvoir

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do
have a problem.
-- Richard Bach, "Illusions"

The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and
robbers there will be.
-- Lao Tsu

Loyalty Rules!
by Frederick Reichheld

Six Loyalty Principles

1. Play to win/win
2. Be picky
3. Keep it simple
4. Reward the right results
5. Listen hard, talk straight
6. Preach what you practice

Play to Win/Win
Profit at the expense of partners is a shortcut to a dead end. A win/win strategy ensures both parties benefit from the relationship. Loyalty is what makes customers enthusiastic about a relationship with your company, because they know it will improve their lives over the long term. Partners similarly will commit to building your success because they know you will build theirs. This kind of loyalty is not about good intentions. It requires a rational strategy for creating superior economics. To do this, however, you must be prepared to play only where you both can win:

· Get rid of distractions - divest every business line that is delivering less than the best customer value.
· Beware of the rotting core - distractions are not always found in newer business lines. It may be what was traditionally your core business which is delivering poor value.
· Be wary of wall street wisdom - investor advice on how to achieve success can become a lethal distraction.
· Grow from positions of strength - the best source of growth is through deepening relationships with existing customers rather than spreading resources too thinly.

Be Picky
Who you associate with is the strongest indication of your values and aspirations. Choose your partners, suppliers, associates, and managers carefully. Not all are worthy to work with or represent your company, in terms of character, capability and performance.

Selecting the right employees should be one of your most important concerns in running your enterprise. Employee behaviors and attitude communicate most directly what your company stands for.

· Don't delegate employee selection more than absolutely necessary.
· Be picky about employees' initial experience: the first 40 hours of work makes an indelible imprint on a new employee and frames their understanding of the company and its business.
· Be picky about who stays and who is promoted: high performance cultures cannot tolerate mediocrity.

Target the right customers. Undisciplined customer acquisition can lead to higher costs and may jeopardize your reputation. Picking the right customers on the other hand means greater selectivity and more focused marketing. Look for barnacles, not butterflies. Target those who will provide you with ongoing income and greater profits rather than numerous short-term and often more costly customers that chase the latest gimmick or discount deal.

Keep it Simple
Complexity is the enemy of speed and responsiveness. The best business is so reliable and so flexible that it does the best possible job in the fastest and simplest way.

· Simple rules are golden: keep your principles simple and clear and easy to remember.
· Treat them right: your customers will be loyal if you treat them ethically and responsibly.
· Keep score keeping stable and simple. Manage performance using a simple, clear set of rules that don't change with the latest management fad. This is a powerful tool for keeping people focused on creating value.
· Small flexible teams. Create small teams that work together to solve problems. The small size will naturally build the loyalty and familiarity found in small towns.
· Teams of ten or fewer are the most effective. Don't increase the span of control for supervisors: productivity will fall.
· Outsource all functions for which you cannot deliver unique value.

Reward the Right Results
Worthy partners deserve worthy goals. Most reward systems reinforce the wrong behaviours. Often the results that are easiest to measure are not the right results to reward. Loyalty is not generated by reasonable performance: it is generated by overachievement. This requires outstanding teamwork by partners who trust one another's commitment to win/win results.

· Measure retention - carefully. This is the best gauge of whether your company is delivering value to your customers.
· Build a better dashboard. Augment standard accounting metrics with gauges that measure the creation of partner and customer value.
· Align incentives. Once you have the right dashboard, you must align incentives to correctly influence behavior.
· Fix misalignment. Employee interest must not conflict with customer interest. Investigate and correct misalignment.
· Reach for the stars. Eliminate floors on performance and remove ceilings. Pay rewards according to real profits generated.
· Reward loyal customers. The partners that create the most value should receive the most benefits.

Listen Hard, Talk Straight
Long term relationships require honest, two-way communication and learning. Loyalty leaders tell their partners what they want even if they don't want to hear it. If you want to build a community of enduring relationships, you must help everyone become effective communicators:

· Listen.
· Learn, rather than focusing on responding.
· Act, once you have learned the issue.
· Explain what you are doing AND why.

Preach What You Practice
Actions speak louder than words, but together they are unbeatable. You can't go quietly about your business and assume your results will speak for themselves. Unless you preach loyalty's wisdom with power, clarity and conviction, your actions will be ignored or discounted.