Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Some Project Management Basics from SupplyManagement.com

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The one thing supply management has in common with IT is this: projects are never easy, and project management skills are becoming increasingly important if you want your project to be successful. To this end, a recent article in SupplyManagement.com, that claims you should “rule with an iron triangle” (referring to the parameters of time, cost, and quality that must be maintained in a constant balance), attempted to outline the key issues at each stage of a project that must be managed for project success. And while it’s impossible to sum up all the intricacies of project management in a single article, a few good tips never hurt — especially if you want to avoid the “seven stage syndrome” that is all too common in mismanaged and unmanaged projects (wild enthusiasm –> disillusionment –> confusion –> panic –> search for the guilty –> punish the innocent –> glory for the non-participants).

The following are some key issues, and tips, for each of the five main stages of a basic project life-cycle:

  • InitiationThe project needs to be appropriately defined. Create a “project initiation document” that captures and documents key issues, key risks, project structure, and authority levels.
  • PlanningIf not controlled, “padding” can escalate out of control. It’s important to collectively break down the project into a set of manageable tasks that can be reasonably estimated without the need for excess “padding” by an individual outside of their comfort zone.
  • Resourcing & Cost-EstimationCosts can spiral out of control without a plan, and they will spiral out of control without a good plan backed by diligent homework that assigns (reasonably) accurate costs to each component.
  • ExecutionIf not closely monitored, you’re likely to find out at 500 feet that your parachute lines are tangled … leaving you essentially no time to untangle them. But if you monitor closely, you can find out that they’re snagged at 5,000 feet, when you still have time to untangle them.
  • CompletionThis only happens if your project is well planned, well executed, and monitored closely. Otherwise, while you will end up somewhere, it won’t be where you want to be.

Is Trouble Ahead for the Purchasing Profession?

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A recent report by Loudhouse, sponsored by BravoSolution and covered in Industry Week in their article on “Purchasing Officers: Confident Now, But is Trouble Ahead?”, found that 69% of the CPOs surveyed had not examined the impact of the last six months on their supply management strategy, which leaves them exposed to potential long-term problems.

This is problematic, especially since the research study found that many purchasing professionals are currently following short-term strategies that could lead to long term problems. As the article states, CPOs can deliver cost savings today by hard negotiation, however tomorrow’s efficiencies must be realized through evolving business strategies and addressing the top three procurement challenges of ‘cost saving,’ ‘speed,’ and ‘visibility’. But this hard negotiation can backfire. After all, as per a recent CPO Agenda study, which quantified the doom and gloom in the market today, half of the respondents have already experienced the bankruptcy of at least on key supplier since the year started, and over three quarters of CPO respondents are (very) concerned about the prospect of other key suppliers going out of business before the year is over.

So if you want to avoid trouble ahead, be sure to insure that you leave your suppliers some margin, that you pay on time, and that you monitor your suppliers health.

Nine Hundred and Forty Three Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Four

Nine Hundred and Forty Three Thousand Five Hundred and Eighty Four words later (including the words in this post), or Thirteen Hundred and Eighteen posts later (which does not count the dozens of guests posts on other blogs, including e-Sourcing Forum, Supply Excellence, Procurement Leaders, and Deal Architect), and Sourcing Innovation (SI) officially turns three. Although not that long of a time, even in net-time, it is extremely significant in blog-time, especially for a blog that posts every day, twice a day on work-days.

It has been a great year. Growth has continued to the point where not only is Sourcing Innovation undisputedly (at least) the second most trafficked blog in the space any way you want to look at it, with well over 10,000 unique visitors a month (from thousands of organizations), but it’s reach on the search engines is, on average, three times that of any other blog or publication in the space. And, of course, it’s reach and influence is still growing … globally … without any signs of slowing down, especially now that a few of the thought leaders like Kevin Brooks, Norman Katz, and Dick Locke, who have posted regularly on SI since day one, have decided to take on regular contributor roles.

However, I still contend that the best has not been written. Even though this blog has covered the full range of the sourcing and procurement cycles, from spend analysis to contract management through requisition to e-payment and reconciliation, and branched further into enterprise cost management, supply chain risk and fraud management and prevention, and global trade with the help of some guest authors and contributors, and continued to keep green, sustainability, talent management, supply chain finance, and other best practices in the forefront, it’s still only scratched the surface. There is still more to tell, and even though the Sourcing Maniacs made a herculean effort, still many more vendors to cover — and with our understanding of supply chain, and the world in general, increasing by the day, you can never stop learning — and never, ever, stop innovating. And that’s what Sourcing Innovation is all about.

(So if you’d like a piece of this action, at a cost less than your average Google ad-words or trade publication e-mail blast campaign on a per eyeball basis [because, when you get right down to it, it’s impressions that matter], check out the Open Pricing Model and contact us using the contact information in the FAQ. You won’t be disappointed.)

[Of course, this also means that Sourcing Innovation will reach the 1,000,000 word mark next month. This puts Sourcing Innovation in a very exclusive club. To find out how this value can benefit you, again, please contact us.]

Dick Locke on the Dangers of Protectionism (or is it Cluelessness?)

Editor’s Note: This is Dick Locke’s second post as a regular contributor on Sourcing Innovation. (His previous guest posts are still archived.) Dick, who has delivered seminars to over 100 companies across the globe, is a seasoned expert on International Sourcing and Procurement who wrote the book.

There was a letter in today’s New York Times from Thomas Gibson of the American Iron and Steel Institute that said, in part,


Steel imports are taking historically high market share while the domestic industry is producing at half its capacity. American mills are on hot idle waiting to produce quality steel for America’s needs. Let’s stop being apologists for foreign protectionists and put Americans back to work!

It would be nice if Mr. Gibson said why US industry is at half capacity. Is it Quality? Flexibility? Price? Overcapacity? I certainly don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t either. It must be….(cue the ‘Satan’ music from Saturday Night Live)… Protectionism!

I do know that if the Institute tries to force buyers of steel to use a more expensive or otherwise less desirable steel because it’s made in the USA, it puts users of steel at a competitive disadvantage to their foreign competitors. That hastens the departure of users of steel (for example, the auto industry) to other countries. This isn’t a zero sum game. Protecting a US manufacturer of a basic product hurts higher level industry and the ultimate consumers of that product.

Let’s not go down that path.

Dick Locke, Global Procurement Group and Global Supply Training.

One More To Go and Technology and My Hobby Attains Seniority

Over on New Florence, New Renaissance, Vinnie Mirchandani’s Technology and My Hobby series recently received its 64th submission, putting it one post away from seniority status. For those of you looking for something different, but yet interesting, to read … if you haven’t already, you should check this series out. To help you find the guest posts related to your hobbies, I’ve indexed them in alphabetical order by category.

Category Author Company
Archaeology (Armchair)
More Essays
Michael Lamoureux (of Sourcing Innovation)
Baseball (Little League) Mike O’Brien (of Appirio)
Basketball Coaching Dan Dal Degan (of Salesforce)
BBQ Floyd Teter (of Jet Propulsion Labs)
Beagles Peanuts
Blood Donation Tom Foydel (of SightLines)
Brewmastering (Home) Dennis Howlett (of ZDNet)
Bridge David Dobrin (of B2B Analysts)
Cars (Tinkering) Brian Sommer (of TechVentive)
Cartoons (Tech Toons) Alvaro “Blag” Tejada Galindo (of SAP)
Cats Rusty Weston (of Third Set Media)
Chess Rita Mirchandani
Community Service (Long Distance) Will Scott (of Waer Systems)
Cycling Paul Wiest (of Siemens Enterprise Communications)
Disney World Jim Holincheck (of Gartner)
Fishing Mike Prosceno (of SAP)
Friends Naomi Bloom (of Bloom & Wallace)
Flying Ameed Taylor (of Applation)
Gardening Erik Keller (of Wapiti LLC)
Gastronomy William Mougayar (of Eqentia)
Golf Jim Rafferty (of Market Shapers)
Grandparenting Frank Scavo (of Computer Economics)
Green Living Timothy Chou (of Cloudbook.Net)
Harmonica Leonardo Kenji Shikida (of Vetta Labs LTDA)
Home Design Josh Snowhorn (of Terremark)
Home Improvement (Global) Helmuth Guembel (of Strategy Partners)
Home Movies Tom Wailgum (of CIO Magazine)
Jazz Radio DJ Jim Berkowitz (of CRM Mastery)
Horses (Low-Tech) Mark Galloway (of oppSource)
Martial Arts Harald Reiter (of SSIP)
Model Planes Anil Wats (of DP World)
Music (as a Second Career) Richard Hunter (of Gartner)
Musical Discoveries Mike Laven (of Traiana)
Jazz (Big Band) Joe Thornton (of Lawson Software)
Opera Guenther Tolkmit (of Lawson Software)
Organ Playing Gerlinde Gniewosz (of Zuztertu.com)
Photography Michael Krigsman (of Asuret)
Reading Francine McKenna (an Author)
Restoring Antiquarian Books Jason Busch (of Spend Matters)
Rifles (Target) Tom Ryan (of Gartner)
Rock (Guitar) Devan Sabaratnam (of Business on Software fame)
RVs Tom Chimera (of Overpayment Recovery Services)
Running Eric Dirst (of DeVry)
Sailing Curtis Beebe (of PwC)
Side-Tripping Kimberly McDonald Baker (of Project Partners)
Photography Michael Krigsman (of Asuret)
Singing (Soprano) Gretchen Lindquist (of SAP Security)
Skiing Sig Rinde (of Thigamy fame)
Snorkeling Louis Columbus (of Cincom)
Soccer Coaching Christian Schuh (of Siemens Enterprise Communications)
Squash Nick Dembla (of Capsilon)
Super Momming Joy Wald (of ADT)
Technology Impact Bob Warfield (of SmoothSpan)
Technology Luddism Josh Greenbaum (of Enterprise Application Consulting)
Tennis Karen Beaman (of Jeitosa)
Theatre Marilyn Pratt (of SAP Labs)
Travel (International) Harish Malani
Vinyl DJs Ray Wang (of Forrester)
Wine John Dean (of ex-Steelcase fame)
Woodworking Jeff Nolan (of Venture Chronicles (.com))
Working Out Larry Dignan (of ZDNet)
Writing Charlotte Otter (of Charlotte’s Web)
Writing (Adventure) Rein Krevald (an Author)
Youth Science Mentoring Charlie Bess (of EDS)