To enhance and sustain its Lean journey, a company must implement information systems that fully support and enhance the Lean initiative. In Easier, Simpler, Faster: Systems Strategy for Lean IT, Jean Cunningham and Duane Jones introduce the case study of an actual Lean implementation involving the IT system of a mid-size manufacturer, highlighting the IT challenges that the manufacturer faced during the Lean transformation. Winner of a Shingo Prize, this book will provide you with a broader vision as well as a path to what a Lean system environment will look like for your company.

To enhance and sustain its Lean journey, a company must implement information systems that fully support and enhance the Lean initiative. In Easier, Simpler, Faster: Systems Strategy for Lean IT, Jean Cunningham and Duane Jones introduce the case study of an actual Lean implementation involving the IT system of a mid-size manufacturer, highlighting the IT challenges that the manufacturer faced during the Lean transformation. Winner of a Shingo Prize, this book will provide you with a broader vision as well as a path to what a Lean system environment will look like for your company.

A bold and revolutionary thinker’s legacy for how business can meet the greatest economic challenge in decades... It’s no secret: everyone knows that the way most companies do things is screwed up. Surprisingly, though, herein lays the biggest opportunity for improving growth and profitability in a world in which consumers are tapped out and competition is coming from the devastating combination of low-wage countries with high skills. For more than a decade, following his landmark Reengineering the Corporation, Michael Hammer did “deep dives” into the processes of companies in every imaginable business—from oil refineries to software developers, factories, retailers, and hospitals—to understand the nuts and bolts of how they do their work, and then to advise them how to do it differently to become faster, cheaper, better. The results were the right product, at the right time, with the right price and quality—businesses that not only ate the competitions’ lunch but their breakfast and dinner, too. The research and passion Dr. Hammer brought to this book have been ably carried on, following his tragic and unexpected death in 2008, by his colleague, Lisa Hershman, now the CEO of Hammer and Company. Looking at a company's operations not in terms of piecemeal fragments of work performed in a slew of isolated functional departments but as large-scale holistic work units transformed many companies, enabling them to meet the unique challenges of our time. The late DR. MICHAEL HAMMER was the coauthor of Reengineering the Corporation and the author of The Agenda. LISA W. HERSHMAN is the CEO of Hammer and Company.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best. Many Enterprise Java developers, accustomed to dealing with Java's spiraling complexity, have fallen into the habit of choosing overly complicated solutions to problems when simpler options are available. Building server applications with "heavyweight" Java-based architectures, such as WebLogic, JBoss, and WebSphere, can be costly and cumbersome. When you've reached the point where you spend more time writing code to support your chosen framework than to solve your actual problems, it's time to think in terms of simplicity.In Better, Faster, Lighter Java, authors Bruce Tate and Justin Gehtland argue that the old heavyweight architectures are unwieldy, complicated, and contribute to slow and buggy application code. As an alternative means for building better applications, the authors present two "lightweight" open source architectures: Hibernate--a persistence framework that does its job with a minimal API and gets out of the way, and Spring--a container that's not invasive, heavy or complicated.Hibernate and Spring are designed to be fairly simple to learn and use, and place reasonable demands on system resources. Better, Faster, Lighter Java shows you how they can help you create enterprise applications that are easier to maintain, write, and debug, and are ultimately much faster.Written for intermediate to advanced Java developers, Better, Faster, Lighter Java, offers fresh ideas--often unorthodox--to help you rethink the way you work, and techniques and principles you'll use to build simpler applications. You'll learn to spend more time on what's important. When you're finished with this book, you'll find that your Java is better, faster, and lighter than ever before.

Named one of the best strategy books of 2021 by strategy+business Get to better, more effective strategy. In nearly every business segment and corner of the world economy, the most successful companies dramatically outperform their rivals. What is their secret? In Better, Simpler Strategy, Harvard Business School professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee shows how these companies achieve more by doing less. At a time when rapid technological change and global competition conspire to upend traditional ways of doing business, these companies pursue radically simplified strategies. At a time when many managers struggle not to drown in vast seas of projects and initiatives, these businesses follow simple rules that help them select the few ideas that truly make a difference. Better, Simpler Strategy provides readers with a simple tool, the value stick, which every organization can use to make its strategy more effective and easier to execute. Based on proven financial mechanics, the value stick helps executives decide where to focus their attention and how to deepen the competitive advantage of their business. How does the value stick work? It provides a way of measuring the two fundamental forces that lead to value creation and increased financial success—the customer's willingness-to-pay and the employee's willingness-to-sell their services to the business. Companies that win, Oberholzer-Gee shows, create value for customers by raising their willingness-to-pay, and they provide value for talent by lowering their willingness-to-sell. The approach, proven in practice, is entirely data driven and uniquely suited to be cascaded throughout the organization. With many useful visuals and examples across industries and geographies, Better, Simpler Strategy explains how these two key measures enable firms to gauge and improve their strategies and operations. Based on the author's sought-after strategy course, this book is your must-have guide for making better strategic decisions.

If you want to know, step by step, how to quickly, easily, and smoothly walk anyone from being a skeptical prospect to a happy customer that refers you friends, family, and colleagues...then you want to read this book. Here's the deal: Selling is, at its core, isn't a patchwork of cheesy closing techniques, annoying high-pressure tactics, or gimmicky rebuttals. True salesmanship follows very specific laws, has very specific steps and stages, and leaves a customer feeling happy and helped. It's honest, respectful, enlightening, friendly, and done with real care. It's the type of selling that wins you not only customers, but fans. Not coincidentally, this is the type of selling that truly great salespeople have mastered. This is the type of selling that keeps pipelines full and moving, and that builds a strong, loyal customer base that continues to give back to you in the form of customer loyalty, reorders, and referrals. Well, that's what this book is all about. It will give you a crystal-clear picture of the exact steps that every sale must move through and why, and how to methodically take any prospect through each, and eventually to the close. And how to do it with integrity and pride. In this book, you'll learn things like... The eight precise steps of every sale. Leave any out, and you will struggle. Use them all correctly, and you will be able to close unlimited sales. The true purpose of the presentation and the crucial, often-missing steps that need to be taken first. If you're making the same presentation mistakes as most other salespeople, this chapter alone could double your sales. How to easily discover which prospects can use and pay for your product/service, and which can't. Time is your most valuable commodity as a salesperson, and if wasted, it costs you money. Know exactly when it's time to go for a close, and know how to smoothly create an abundance of closing opportunities. This is the hallmark of every master closer. Learn it, use it, and profit. Why it's a myth that you need to know multiple ways to close deals. Learn this one, simple method, and you'll be able to use it to close all of your sales. Simple formulas to turn any objection into a closing opportunity. Use them and never fear hearing a prospect's objection ever again. And a whole lot more This is more than a just a book, really. It's a step-by-step sales training course. Each chapter ends with precise exercises that will help you master each technique taught and each step of the sales process. If you are new to sales, make this book the first one you read, and you will greatly increase your chances for quick success. If you are a seasoned veteran and are looking for ways to improve your numbers, this book will help you make your sales goals a reality. SPECIAL BONUS FOR READERS With this book you'll also get a free "Road Map" from the author that lays out, in a PDF chart, every step and key principles taught in the book. Print it out and keep it handy because it makes for a great "cheat sheet" to use while selling, or just to refresh on what you've learned. Scroll up, click the "Buy" button now, learn the secrets of master closers, and use them to immediately improve your numbers

A guide to the Agile Results system, a systematic way to achieve both short- and long-term results that can be applied to all aspects of life.

What if you could make your writing FAST, FUN, and BETTER THAN EVER? In the indie publishing world of rapid releases and blistering word counts, it's easy to end up burned out with subpar work, and a loss of the enjoyment that once fueled your craft. There's a better way. In How to Write Fast, Platt and Silver show you how to shift your approach to writing to dramatically increase your natural speed, while tapping into your inner storyteller and unleashing more of the stories you were born to tell. You will discover: * How to immediately improve your writing speed. * Why writing fast will result in better writing. * How to redesign your writing strategy to promote going faster. * The five simple hacks Platt, Silver and the entire story studio have used to repeatedly best themselves and move many of them to producing more than a million words a year. * Mental tricks to bypass your inner editor (and why using them will retrain your brain to write faster, while also creating the cleanest copy you've ever created). Isn't it time you did more than just write fast? Now you can. Start writing better words faster today!

Winner of a Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award Information Technology is supposed to enable business performance and innovation, improve service levels, manage change, and maintain quality and stability, all while steadily reducing operating costs. Yet when an enterprise begins a Lean transformation, too often the IT department is either left out or viewed as an obstacle. What is to be done? Winner of a 2011 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award, this book shares practical tips, examples, and case studies to help you establish a culture of continuous improvement to deliver IT operational excellence and business value to your organization. Praise for: ...will have a permanent place in my bookshelf. —Gene Kim, Chief Technology Officer, Tripwire, Inc. ... provides an unprecedented look at the role that Lean IT will play in making this revolutionary shift and the critical steps for sustained success. —Steve Castellanos, Lean Enterprise Director, Nike, Inc. Twenty years from now the firms which dominate their industries will have fully embraced Lean strategies throughout their IT organizations. —Scott W. Ambler, Chief Methodologist for Agile and Lean, IBM Rational ... a great survival manual for those needing nimble and adaptive systems. —Dr. David Labby, MD, PhD, Medical Director and Director of Clinical Support and Innovation, CareOregon ... makes a major contribution in an often-ignored but much-needed area. —John Bicheno, Program Director MS in Lean Operations, Cardiff University ... a comprehensive view into the world of Lean IT, a must read! —Dave Wilson, Quality Management, Oregon Health & Science University

From the first steps of starting out up through succeeding as a professional, Fleishman's newest guide navigates how illustration ties concept and technique. From advice on education and finding the right state of mind, through opening shop and finding the right venue, Starting Your Career as an Illustrator is a bit of a technical how-to, something of a business book, certainly an inspirational work, definitely a professional overview, even a personal lifestyle guide. It accurately documents the eclectic adventures of illustrators now, as well as relating historical perspectives, motivations, and inspirations to balance that picture and present readers with a true global field experience—all in an accessible, reader-friendly style. Topics include how to: Create a portfolio Make initial contacts Develop a financial plan Set up an office Acquire supplies and equipment Price your own work Market on the Web Nurture a growing freelance business And much more Through direct and candid conversations with scores of professionals up and down the career ladder, this book offers rich perspectives of illustrators (and their cohorts) at and away from the drawing board. It looks at the strong threads tying professional and academic process, practice, and product, and offers extensive research, a global pool of resources, and a wide panorama of info that promotes problem solving by way of a spectrum of ideas. Over fifty illustrations are included throughout. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.