Synopsis

The World is moving very fast these days and to keep up with it we engage in many initiatives that have nothing to do with the core of our business. We ‘transform’, ‘migrate’, ‘reinvent’, ‘innovate’ and ‘become agile’. The bitter truth of these actions is, however, the fact that seldom proper due diligence is done before. Companies go either guns blazing, tearing out the fabric of what made them successful in the first place or sub-optimize in areas they feel safe, thus not leading to a real commitment to change. In both cases, the return on investment is not as expected and statements are made - ‘we tried to improve, now let’s get back to business’. Unfortunately, the World doesn’t stop and neither should your organization. How to achieve a sustainable change culture that brings in value? What is holding us back?

Every day millions of decisions are made all around the world in companies. The actions that follow create a complex network of people, products, and initiatives, which incur overhead and hidden costs within that network. A big and bloated company machine is pushed forward, fueled by money that only spells more people, more actions, more products and as such deepens the issue. We can observe that both within startups, which receive funding and well established, mature organizations. The effect is universal also on any domain level and independent of your company’s nature or purpose. That is what I call the Warehouse Effect - an uncontrolled growth of waste and (hidden) costs, which is often assumed to be part of a plan. 

Based on the different organizational research and my own experience of over 16 years in companies of all sizes (from biggest airlines, eBay Classifieds to startups in entertainment and gaming) I will show you how to recognize and control the effect. You will be able to take decisions that lead to value rather than waste and strike a balance between your company's mission and financial performance in a sustainable manner.

Outline

1. Introduction -  Who will this book benefit most and why should you read it?

Outcome: you will want to read the book.

2. The Warehouse Effect - How much of the hidden cost is incurred on your organization due to daily decisions and how fast can it grow? In this chapter, I will introduce the phenomenon of The Warehouse Effect and illustrate with some real-life examples of the impact on the organization.

Outcome: you start noticing waste around you.

3. Humans vs. Robots - Is your process serving people or are people serving the process? In this chapter, I will present you a bit of history of modern methodologies and frameworks, which will serve as the basis for understanding the Effect and current organizational change landscape.

Outcome: you understand what motivates you and others and how the different branches of mainstream management differ (West vs. East).

4. The Holy Grail of Goals  - Is your company output- or outcome-driven? In this chapter, I’ll present a difference between output and outcome-driven actions, an idea of Lean value as well as the concept of tension goals and how they all can be leveraged to take valuable decisions efficiently.

Outcome: you understand that the outcome is better than output, the value is where the customer is, tension exists between company purpose and financial performance and how to profit from them all.

5. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - Are you on a transformation journey or have you implemented one of the oh-so-popular frameworks to improve the process? In this chapter, I will explain the value and the pitfalls of using frameworks and methodologies like Agile, Lean, Scrum, SAFe, etc. and how they add to the Effect.

Outcome:  you understand where the methodologies come from and what was the idea behind them so you can make a conscious choice to not to use them (or do, consciously).

6. Unconscious Decisions - Was it your decision or peer pressure? In this chapter, I will present you the most common behaviors and biases that influence daily work and play a role in the Effect.

Outcome: you become aware of all different psychological forces that help or hinder you and others in daily work.

7. People Matter - Is the person you recently hired going to increase the overall effectiveness of your company? In this chapter I will present the core factor behind the Warehouse Effect - the people - how they initiate it, propagate and boost it and which steps to take to minimize the effect.

Outcome: you understand that people are the most significant investment and risk and as such need to be hired and led consciously.

8. Sustainable Product Growth - When was the last time you removed a feature from your product? In this chapter, I will present how the effect can be recognized in Product Development - from idea inception to execution and what steps to take to minimize the Effect.

Outcome: you understand the process of creating a product is an end to end process that can be optimized for lean value.

9. The Culture of Change -  Is the change a goal on its own? In this chapter, I will show you how The Warehouse Effect, if appropriately managed, can become your culture of change. 

Outcome: you understand that real transformation is not about changing the process, but changing the culture to be continuously evolving.

10. One to Rule Them All - Are you ready for the change? In this summary chapter, I will set an execution plan for the change that hopefully will help you to efficiently employ knowledge from this book

Outcome: you are ready.

Audience

The book will give a holistic overview of the problem and possible solutions that I think are crucial to any company that wants to grow or scale back sustainably. That means that the target audience is C-level management, transformation managers, Agile/Lean coaches, people managers, and startup founders.
The secondary audience is anyone within working organization as the principles are very generic and relate to all matters of improvement in work.
Directly, the book answers the question of how to work efficiently on all levels.

Promotion

- extended LinkedIn network (over 500 direct connections) of professionals in business, software and product management including Transformation Managers, Agile Coaches,  Directors, CEOs and CTOs from a.o. eBay, Naspers, Nike, Tommy Hilfiger, major airlines as well as startups and scale-ups, who I know personally

Competition

- Ries, Eric - "The Lean Startup"

- Liker, K. Jeffrey - "The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer"

- Collins, Jim & Porras, Jerry -  "Build to Last"

- Collins, Jim - "Good to Great"