Before You Choose an ERP System, Understand This I recently came across an article discussing ERP standardization, and it got me thinking. The article addressed a common concern that businesses must completely change the way they operate to fit an ERP system. I understand why people worry about that. If you've spent years building processes, workarounds, and ways of getting things done, the idea of replacing all of it is overwhelming. [praxisinfo...utions.com] The more I thou

Have you fixed a problem only to have it not resolve? Repeatedly? Me too.

Experience helps us recognize patterns, but sometimes those patterns become blind spots. What happens when expertise causes us to see what we expect instead of what's really there?

Have you ever looked at a task and thought, "There is absolutely no reason this should take three weeks"? Most of us have. When something takes longer than expected, we tend to focus on the work itself. We ask whether people have enough training, whether they need better tools, or whether someone dropped the ball. Sometimes that's true. But sometimes the work isn't taking long at all. Sometimes the waiting is. Work gets handed off. Then it waits. An email gets sent. Then

Many businesses know where their money goes. Fewer know where their time goes. On the surface, the answer seems obvious. People are doing their jobs. But when you start looking more closely, some interesting things appear. How much time is spent searching for information? How much time is spent fixing mistakes? How much time is spent following up on unanswered emails? How much time is spent waiting for approvals? How much time is spent explaining the same thing over and over?

If you've ever found yourself saying, "I don't understand why this takes so long," you're not alone. Most organizations can identify symptoms quickly. Projects run late. Customers wait longer than expected. Employees feel stretched. Things seem to get lost between departments. The same issues keep resurfacing. What is often harder to identify is where work is actually getting stuck. When people talk about bottlenecks, they usually imagine one obvious obstacle holding everythi