Sharing Best Practices across industries and functions is an accepted approach to continuous improvement. The Benchmarking trend of the 1990s has evolved with the help of competitive analysis, performance excellence awards, and other corporate recognition programs into an ongoing documentation of what works. Bob Camp introduced benchmarking against a Best Practice based on his work at Xerox in the 1980s. Case studies abound documenting Best Practice functions and processes. Some case studies use the words “Best Practice” without evidence that the process, results, or methods are, indeed, superior. What is missing is a comprehensive model for assessing and writing a Best Practice that provides sufficient information to use as an effective benchmark. This book provides that comprehensive model. Today’s consumers expect products and services to be of high quality, reliable, and user-friendly. This is the result of years of continuous improvement and innovation by producers. Although many organizations strive for excellent results, there is still room for improvement. Unfortunately, leaders don’t always have methods and tools to measure or assess that degree of excellence. If leaders could use a tool to discover how good their approaches and methods are, and how excellent their achieved results are, they could plan further improvements. The goal is to achieve excellent results. The tool described in this book guides leaders to achieve that excellence.

Adopting a practical approach, the authors provide a detailed interpretation of the existing regulations (GMP, ICH), while also discussing the appropriate calculations, parameters and tests. The book thus allows readers to validate the analysis of pharmaceutical compounds while complying with both the regulations as well as the industry demands for robustness and cost effectiveness. Following an introduction to the basic parameters and tests in pharmaceutical validation, including specificity, linearity, range, precision, accuracy, detection and quantitation limits, the text focuses on a life-cycle approach to validation and the integration of validation into the whole analytical quality assurance system. The whole is rounded off with a look at future trends. With its first-hand knowledge of the industry as well as regulating bodies, this is an invaluable reference for analytical chemists, the pharmaceutical industry, pharmaceutists, QA officers, and public authorities.

In the Fourth Edition of Scale Development, Robert F. DeVellis demystifies measurement by emphasizing a logical rather than strictly mathematical understanding of concepts. The text supports readers in comprehending newer approaches to measurement, comparing them to classical approaches, and grasping more clearly the relative merits of each. This edition addresses new topics pertinent to modern measurement approaches and includes additional exercises and topics for class discussion. Available with Perusall—an eBook that makes it easier to prepare for class Perusall is an award-winning eBook platform featuring social annotation tools that allow students and instructors to collaboratively mark up and discuss their SAGE textbook. Backed by research and supported by technological innovations developed at Harvard University, this process of learning through collaborative annotation keeps your students engaged and makes teaching easier and more effective. Learn more.

Validation—recognizing and accepting your child’s thoughts and feelings, regardless of whether or not you feel that your child should be experiencing them—helps children develop a lifelong sense of self-worth. Children who are validated feel reassured that they will be accepted and loved regardless of their feelings, while children who are not validated are more vulnerable to peer pressure, bullying, and emotional and behavioral problems. The Power of Validation is an essential resource for parents seeking practical skills for validating their child’s feelings without condoning tantrums, selfishness, or out-of-control behavior. You’ll practice communicating with your child in ways that instantly impact his or her mood and help your child develop the essential self-validating skills that set the groundwork for confidence and self-esteem in adolescence and beyond. “...There is valuable advice here. This approach takes mindfulness, patience, and a long-term vision, but parents who are able to help their children trust their emotional landscapes will have an easier time of scaffolding to higher reasoning, in addition to more secure relationships with their youngsters. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW, Rebecca Raszewski, University of Illinois Library, Chicago

Want to know what your users are thinking? If you’re a product manager or developer, this book will help you learn the techniques for finding the answers to your most burning questions about your customers. With step-by-step guidance, Validating Product Ideas shows you how to tackle the research to build the best possible product.

C. Amting Directorate General Information Society, European Commission, Brussels th Under the 4 Framework of European Research, the European Systems and Soft ware Initiative (ESSI) was part ofthe ESPRIT Programme. This initiative funded more than 470 projects in the area ofsoftware and system process improvements. The majority of these projects were process improvement experiments carrying out and taking up new development processes, methods and technology within the software development process ofa company. In addition, nodes (centres ofexper tise), European networks (organisations managing local activities), training and dissemination actions complemented the process improvementexperiments. ESSI aimed at improving the software development capabilities of European enterprises. It focused on best practice and helped European companies to develop world class skills and associated technologies to build the increasingly complex and varied systems needed to compete in the marketplace. The dissemination activities were designed to build a forum, at European level, to exchange information and knowledge gained within process improvement ex periments. Their major objective was to spread the message and the results of experiments to awider audience, through a variety ofdifferent channels. The European Experience Exchange ~UR~X) project has been one ofthese dis semination activities within the European Systems and Software Initiative.~UR~)( has collected the results of practitioner reports from numerous workshops in Europe and presents, in this series of books, the results of Best Practice achieve ments in European Companies over the last few years.

Are you one of the many people who long to ditch the cubicle and go to work for yourself, on your own terms? What's holding you back? Self-doubt, fear, technology challenges, the feeling that there are already too many other people doing what you want to do? It's time to face those things head-on and transform your passion into a thriving business. Why? Because your message matters. In this uplifting and practical book, blogger, speaker, and business coach Jonathan Milligan gives you a simple 4-step framework to rise above the noise and build a real business. He shows you how to believe, define, craft, and market your message so that you can fulfill your unique purpose in this life. With plenty of helpful assessment tools and proven strategies--including how to create 7 perpetual income streams in 12 months from just one message--this is your go-to guide for living your dreams and impacting the world for good.

The comprehensive guide to project management implementation, updated with the latest in the field Project management has spread beyond the IT world to become a critical part of business in every sphere; built on efficiency, analysis, and codified practice, professional project management leads to the sort of reproducible results and reliable processes that make a business successful. Project Management Best Practices provides implementation guidance for every phase of a project, based on the real-world methodologies from leading companies around the globe. Updated to align with the industry’s latest best practices, this new Fourth Edition includes new discussion on Agile and Scrum, tradeoffs and constraints, Portfolio PMO tools, and much more. Get up-to-date information on the latest best practices that add value at every level of an organization Gain insight from more than 50 project managers at world-class organizations including Airbus, Heineken, RTA, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Cisco, Nokia, and more Delve deeper into implementation guidance for Agile, Scrum, and Six Sigma Explore more efficient methodologies, training, measurement, and metrics that boost organization-wide performance Adopt new approaches to culture and behavioral excellence, including conflict resolution, situational leadership, proactive management, staffing, and more Ideal for both college and corporate training, this book is accompanied by an Instructor’s Manual and PowerPoint lecture slides that bring project management concepts right into the classroom. As the field continues to grow and evolve, it becomes increasingly important to stay current with new and established practices; this book provides comprehensive guidance on every aspect of project management, with invaluable real-world insight from leaders in the field.

The overwhelming majority of a software system’s lifespan is spent in use, not in design or implementation. So, why does conventional wisdom insist that software engineers focus primarily on the design and development of large-scale computing systems? In this collection of essays and articles, key members of Google’s Site Reliability Team explain how and why their commitment to the entire lifecycle has enabled the company to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain some of the largest software systems in the world. You’ll learn the principles and practices that enable Google engineers to make systems more scalable, reliable, and efficient—lessons directly applicable to your organization. This book is divided into four sections: Introduction—Learn what site reliability engineering is and why it differs from conventional IT industry practices Principles—Examine the patterns, behaviors, and areas of concern that influence the work of a site reliability engineer (SRE) Practices—Understand the theory and practice of an SRE’s day-to-day work: building and operating large distributed computing systems Management—Explore Google's best practices for training, communication, and meetings that your organization can use

This book provides information on best practices and new thinking regarding the validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing. It covers the validation of experimental and computational methods and integrated approaches to testing and assessment. Validation strategies are discussed for methods employing the latest technologies such as tissue-on-a-chip systems, stem cells and transcriptomics, and for methods derived from pathway-based concepts in toxicology. Validation of Alternative Methods for Toxicity Testing is divided into two sections, in the first, practical insights are given on the state-of-the-art and on approaches that have resulted in successfully validated and accepted alternative methods. The second section focuses on the evolution of validation principles and practice that are necessary to ensure fit-for-purpose validation that has the greatest impact on international regulatory acceptance of alternative methods. In this context validation needs to keep pace with the considerable scientific advancements being made in toxicology, the availability of sophisticated tools and techniques that can be applied in a variety of ways, and the increasing societal and regulatory demands for better safety assessment. This book will be a useful resource for scientists in the field of toxicology, both from industry and academia, developing new test methods, strategies or techniques, as well as Governmental and regulatory authorities interested in understanding the principles and practicalities of validation of alternative methods for toxicity testing.