
Our latest Insights
Our latest thoughts, opinions, and insights
Psychological safety – what is it and why you should care
The term Psychological Safety was coined by Amy Edmondson in 1999 after a study she was involved in unearthed an interesting surprise. Researching mistakes by medical teams in the US, she discovered that the teams seen as the high performers were the ones with the highest mistakes, and in turn, the lower performers had the least…
Real Transformation in Law Firms
Law firms are spending millions on change programmes, yet they rarely lead to successful change…
Watch out for sub-optimising when seeking efficiency improvements
The biggest mistake many organisation make when seeking efficiency savings is to implement process and governance improvements that deliver efficiencies in one area which creating greater inefficiencies across the whole. This is called sub-optimising. For example, you could streamline the processes for one area by removing certain quality checks. This then leads to additional costs further down the food chain when another department has to deal with the knock-on effect of low quality.
Avoid Operating Model Insanity
Designing a new operating model should be an opportunity to realise step changes in performance. It should be about reducing unnecessary waste that has built up over time, finding ways to help people be more effective, and to get that extra edge over the competition. However, this goal seems to get lost in the inevitable Op Model process, resulting in poor Op Model design, excessive costs to produce and, even worse, op models that are not fit for purpose.
The Three A's - Agile, Agile and Agility
Agile is a highly confusing term because it refers to more than one thing. For business leaders wanting to embark on ‘Agile transformations’ this is problematic. To help clarify needs and intent, at Enfuse Group we think of ‘agile’ as having three distinct definitions with notable overlaps.
Is ‘Innovation’ just ‘Strategy’ playing by a new set of rules?
This is something that has been playing on my mind since I started looking at innovation and was asked to define what innovation means. Fundamentally is there a difference between innovation and strategy?
Creativity, agility and accepting failure are core to successful innovation
Innovation by its very nature is dealing with new untested ideas. Due to the unruly and unpredictable nature of innovation it would be wrong to set ground rules, however there are three core ingredients your organisation needs to tap into when innovating:.
The Importance of Awe-Inspiring Goals
Putting a man on the moon looked impossible, certainly when you consider that the US wanted to do it first and they wanted to return the man to earth safely. The feat is even more impressive when you realise that for nearly 50 years we haven’t managed to do it again. It was the power of the goal that made it possible. It was insane and, most importantly, awe-inspiring.
Blockchain explained - it's just a technology
Blockchain is a technology. It is not a solution on its own, in the same way as electronics, coding languages and the world wide web on their own are not solutions. The solutions come from how the technology is applied. There has been confusion on this point. Too much has been written about how blockchain is the answer, rather than a technology which could be utilised to come up with a potential answer.
Behavioural scientists and designers create the font you can remember
Sans Forgetica is probably not a typeface you have heard of before, but it is certainly one you are less likely to forget now you have.
Why smart CIOs are very interested in Blockchain right now
Some people claim Blockchain is all hype. Some people claim that Blockchain will change the world. As a CIO you don’t have the luxury of waiting around to find out who is right. You have to do something now. Experiment, review the options, do some sort of pilot so that you are ready. If you don’t, you’re not doing your job.
Agile is not always the answer
"I love Agile" Agile is great. It’s dynamic, focuses on value, empowers the workforce. Hurrah – up with the Agile manifesto! "I also hate Agile" I hate Agile for a number of reasons, but probably the biggest right now is how it has become the lazy answer to business needs. We need to become Agile. We need to adopt Agile. We need to think Agile. Agile should be our default answer. No, no, no.
A tax system for the digital age is needed
If the UK government really wants to be digital, it needs to transform how it taxes businesses today. Without this many long-standing businesses selling viable products will be forced out of business leaving foreign based digital companies to thrive, with jobs and tax receipts dwindling.
Enfuse Guide: DevOps and Why it Matters
DevOps is a movement, anew way of thinking about what 'good practice' is for IT operations and development. This entails changes to how IT Dev and Ops functions use technology, how teams are structured, and how teams act and think.
5 signs that your transformation is doomed from the start
Here are some watch points for spotting that a transformation programme is doomed. If you spot any of these, beware!
Enfuse Guide: Scrum, an Agile approach
Scrum is a specific process framework for Agile. It is the most popular of many Agile frameworks which have been created over the years. Due to its popularity, a number of features from Scrum are often confused with being core features of Agile when in fact they are only specific to Scrum.
Enfuse Guide: Agile and Why it Matters
Agile is an iterative approach and mindset to delivering change dating back to late 1990s/ early 2000s. Agile was originally intended for software development, with a view to addressing perceived limitations of waterfall approaches to development. It has been highly successful in this area, and is now the norm for most development teams.
Cultural change - a lesson from having had kids
Having kids is a wonderous, amazing experience. They bring us joy, love and happiness. They complete us. They also wreck our entire way of being! Kids bring about the biggest op model change to how we live.
Agile Coach is a 'Transformative Role'
I recently read a blog in which the role title of Agile coach was ridiculed because it was just ‘rebadging of the Scrum Master role’. I couldn’t disagree more.
You're not in Silicon Valley. So what!
When I talk to clients about what ‘digital’ means to them and their business one of the most common responses I hear is “we are not silicon valley”. When I probe into what they mean by that I typically get something like “we are not like Amazon. We are not a start-up. We are not a tech company. We have legacy system. Our business doesn’t work like that.” So here’s my rant in response.