Business Agility (eBook)

Michael H. Hugos is a thinker, speaker, and practitioner of business agility and agile IT system development methods. He spent six years as chief information officer (CIO) for Network Services Co., a multibillion-dollar national distribution cooperative where he developed a suite of supply chain and e-business systems that transformed the company's business model from old-line distributor to value-added provider of products and supply chain services. He is a two-time winner of the CIO 100 Award, and a recipient of the InformationWeek 500 Award and the Premier 100 Award for career achievement. He is also author of Building the Real-Time Enterprise and Essentials of Supply Chain Management, Second Edition, both published by Wiley.

1. Responsiveness Trumps Efficiency.

The World Behaves Like A Stock Market.

Efficiency Is Only Half of the Equation.

Traditional Business Models Are Coming Up Short.

Efficiency Without Responsiveness Will Kill Your Company.

Customer Relationships Are the Most Valuable Asset.

The Value-Added Paper Cup.

A Most Amazing Innovation.

Using Information Technology to Make Money.

All Products and Services Have Two Components.

Notes.

2. Generating Alpha.

Valued-Added Services and Entrepreneurial Employees Generate
Alpha.

Escape from the Trap of Commoditized Jobs.

Welcome to the First World - Now Your Labor Rates Are Too
High.

New Opportunities to Create Value.

Responsiveness Enables A Higher Standard of Living.

Fix the Opportunity Gap.

Profit Potential of the Self-Adjusting Feedback Loop.

Toward a Responsive Business Operating Strategy.

Use People and Computers Each for Their Strengths.

Notes.

3. Principles of the Responsive Organization.

More Coordination, Less Control.

End of Control As We Know It - The Dyanmics of
Swarming.

Leadership for the Responsive Organization.

Dynamics of the Responsive Organization.

Structure of the Resposive Organization.

Notes.

4. Speed, Simplicity, and Boldness.

Five Themes from The Art of War.

Insights from People Who Have Been There.

Observe - Orient - Decide - Act.

Maneuver Warfare.

Modern Warfighting.

Notes.

5. Strategically Focused, Tactically Responsive.

Awareness Drives Effective Strategy (Loop 1).

Balancing Means Continuous Improvement (Loop 2).

Agility Means Move It or Lose (Loop 3).

Reinforcing Feedback for Creating Something New.

Pulling It All Together.

A Formula to Measure Business Responsiveness.

Thoughts on a Formula for Business Responsiveness.

Serious Games.

Notes.

6. Thriving in a Competitive, Fast-Paced World.

Leadership in the Old World and the New.

Agility and Innovation Are Related to Leadership Practices.

Three Applications with Great Potential.

Principles of Combined Arms Applied to Business.

A Supply Chain Game.

Agile Systems for Responsive Operations.

IT Agility Enables Business Innovation.

Notes.

7. Ya Gotta Wanna.

We Are Capable of Great Things.

Executive Behavior Defines the Workplace.

Thoughts on the Practice of Agility.

Agile Is Not Easy.

The 30-Day Blitz, IT Agility in Action.

Agility Means Simple Things Done Well, Not Complex Things Done
Fast.

Agility Has a Tempo that Ebbs and Flows.

Notes.

8. The Essence of Innovation.

How to Get Inspired.

The Challenge of Making Something New.

Art, Sports, and Business All Blend Together.

Innovation is a Constant Mixing of Ideas.

Picture of a Responsive Company.

Five Key Characteristics of the Responsive Organization.

Sustainable Prosperity.

Appendix A. Executive Checklist For Monitoring Development
Projects.

1. Goodness of System Design.

2. Progress Made Developing the System.

3. Competence and Confidence of People on the Project.

Notes.

Appendix B. Seven Strategic Guidelines For Designing
Systems.

Note.

"In this guide for executives, Hugos, a business agility and agile IT system practitioner and speaker, explains why responsiveness to consumer needs is now more important to successful organizations than industrial efficiency in today's global marketplace." (Book News, May 2009)