Speaking - Agile Project Management

Churchill the Agile PM

Most people are very familiar with Winston Churchill but may not be familiar with his “agile” approach to project management and his skills as a PM in the summer of 1940. In June 1940 Winston Churchill was facing defeat. Not only did he have to stave off an imminent enemy invasion but, he had to quickly turn the UK economy around. You will learn how through a governance framework he had to deftly organize the institutions and resources around him to maximum effect. He had to focus slender resources on the immediate threat, unify a disparate economy, and put it onto a war footing to sustain total economic warfare, and direct its output to military use. All the time he had to manage the situation and events happening around him. Download an abstract in PDF format.
Based on articles published in Gantthead.

Audience: PMs and general business professionals

Churchill the Agile PM

Churchill's Adaptive Enterprise

Today organizations must sense changing situations and respond to these rapidly. They must understand the impact of business events in real-time, compare these against various scenarios, make sound decisions and take actions to counter competitive threats. This presentation is about reacting to these events proactively so organizations can stay ahead of their competition. It reaches back into history to show how an organization under pressure built an Adaptive Enterprise, using the emerging technologies of the day. You will learn how In June 1940 Winston Churchill was facing defeat and had to focus resources on the immediate threat, and move the overall organization to a highly agile state. Download an abstract in PDF format.
Based on a series of articles pubbblished in DM Review.

Audience: PMs and IT professionals

Churchill’s Adaptive Enterprise

Churchill’s Supply Chain

The Supply Chain is seen as a relatively recent phenomena but Winston Churchill established this as part of his Adaptive Enterprise. The goal was to improve the supply chain and focus on producing essentials that tied to specific demands. Under the influence of Lord Beaverbrook this is the story of how the fighter supply chain was re-engineered in 1940, by the Ministry of Air Production. Production of fighters was limited to two proven types which were already in quantity production to improve agility and speed up output. Fighter production was simplified by reducing the number of small and disparate components. You will learn how best practices were brought in from the automobile manufacturing industry. Business processes and infrastructure components were connected which allowed the production line to be broken out from large scale factories to much smaller facilities. As a result, of all these initiatives a demand driven fighter supply chain was established that overtook Axis fighter production and supported the RAF to sustain a prolonged air battle. Download an abstract in PDF format.
Based on articles published in Supply and Demand Chain Executives.

Audience: PMs and general business professionals

Churchill’s Supply Chain