Episode 10: Personal Productivity and GTD®

We all spend a lot of time at work thinking about models and strategies…being in the space of ideas and concepts and structures. Eventually, any idea or project or program we create will come down to a person (maybe it's you!) doing actual work…writing an email, creating a presentation, scheduling a meeting, progressing actions. How does that happen? How do people go from intent and ideas into action.

In this episode, James and Dean explore the idea of personal productivity and how they each get their stuff done.

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Episode 09: Disruptive Innovation

The disruptive innovation model

There is a good chance that if you attend a meeting in a big corporation today you will hear the words "disruption" and "disruptive innovation". Everybody wants to be doing it…but what is the "it" they're trying to do?

James and Dean dive into the history of these terms, its origins, uses and misuses. James also has an emotional reaction!

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Episode 08: Sketchnoting

James (@jamessaretta) and Dean (@deanpribetic) return to discuss the form of visual note-taking called "Sketchnoting". James shares his story with visual note-taking, along with the tools he uses and some advice on how to get started:

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Correction: During the show we stated Mauro Toselli created Sketchnote Army. Since recording we have learned this site was a collaboration between Mauro Toselli, Mike Rohde, and Binaebi Akah. We apologise for the error.

Episode 07: Performance Management

Every big company now uses a system of ‘Performance Management’. It’s an increasingly complex way to assess employees and decide promotions. James and Dean return to debate the merits of this system of assessment and the patterns they’ve seen emerging before asking, how could this be better?

Episode 06: Change Management

During the lifespan of any significant project, a lot of time will be devoted to the idea of ‘Change Management’. As it turns out, what we usually mean when we say 'change management' limits our ability to use it effectively.

James and Dean work to expand the meaning beyond "communications and training" to the eight necessary considerations before beginning a piece of work.

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Buzzwords

  • Motherhood Statement
  • Guestimate
  • Phy-gital (a portmanteau of physical and digital)

New and shiny

Episode 05: What is Design Thinking?

In this week's Unpacked, we unpick the idea of 'Design Thinking'. Suddenly, everyone wants to think less like a corporation and more like a designer, but what does this mean in practice? And is it really better than what came before?

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Some things James and Dean are excited about:

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Episode 04: Buzzwords

Every day, millions of people in big organisations are using buzzwords as a conceptual shorthand. Is it useful? Is it annoying? Is it both?

In Episode 4, James and Dean explore the "buzz" words-and-phrases that, for them, act as trigger words. It's a light-hearted look at the throw away phrases that potentially undermine deep thinking.

Prior to that, we answer the big question "Should PowerPoint be banned?"

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Episode 02: Value Proposition

In this episode, we investigate one of the most widely used terms in modern organisations – value proposition. We explore how it is used today, where the term comes from, how it's evolved over the years and how to get granular with your own value proposition

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Books mentioned in this episode

The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action
By Robert S. Kaplan, David P. Norton
Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want (Strategyzer)
By Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, Alan Smith
Business Model You: A One-Page Method For Reinventing Your Career
By Tim Clark, Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur
Where Good Ideas Come From
By Steven Johnson