harlekins spirit

Risk management or self-deception? (2)

Are the common approaches to risk management in projects still up to date?

I think not.

In a world in which more change takes place every day than in the whole of 1880, the almost exclusive focus on what is known and experienced is de facto pure arrogance paired with ignorance (and this also applies to Central Switzerland).

Even iterative approaches such as Scrum, which are rightly said to be better suited to rapid change and high complexity, provide only partial concrete answers. Shorter sprints and transparency about the state of the delivery outcomes are very helpful, but do not turn a turkey into a visionary yet.

But how can we position ourselves in projects in such a way that we are better prepared for unknown unknowns, or perhaps even draw something positive from them?

Risk management or self-deception? (1)

Why this article?

Now, for a change, a topic in which satirical exaggeration is not so easy for me.

What might be the reason? Maybe the topic is simply too close to my heart, too important to me. Also, I have not yet completely penetrated it myself, thought it through to the end, internalized it. At least that’s what my gut tells me.

I already question the title again. Shouldn’t it actually be “I” instead of “you” (or at least “we”)? But it’s OK. After all, I already have a certain advantage, because I have already dealt with it. That’s enough of doubt. What is it about? It’s about risk management.

Nostalgia and sustainability – The Eco Etiquette

While sorting through my mother’s estate, I came across the “Öko-Knigge” ecological etiquette guide (unfortunately not translated into English). Rainer Griesshammer’s book was published in 1984, and I gave it to her sometime in the 80s as a birthday present – which proves that the admonishing index finger was not only pointed from mother to daughter, but also vice versa.

The Profit Center – a “doll in a doll”? (Part 2)

(Here the link to part 1: https://harlekin.blog/en/the-profit-center-a-doll-in-a-doll-part-1#more-2071.)

I cannot list all the problems that can arise with the introduction of a profit center organization, but for the interested reader here is an example of the hidden pitfalls of this system. The whole thing packed into one simple question:

Is a profit center manager, who, due to the “considerable” internal transfer price for the use of a meeting room of the “internal facility management”, capitalizes on a cheaper external room…

The Profit Center – a “doll in a doll”? (Part 1)

Many readers will have worked or are still working in a profit center. It is possible that some of them have not been introduced to any other form of organization and therefore could not see any difference for “their work” at all. For this article I originally wanted to comment on a few personal experiences as ironic anecdotes. But since only few people know the phenomenon of profit centers (short PCs) from the perspective of management or finance, I decided to report a little more about the background and history of the PC.