In yesterday’s episode of Dilbert, an overconfident business consultant has a sudden realization.

Here’s the three-panel strip from March 19 (direct link):

Although The Methodology Blog just promoted our latest case study, we stand with Dilbert creator Scott Adams on this issue. Pouring through journals and books does not make you an expert in improving business efficiency. Rather, it ensures you are knowledgeable about the tiny fraction of historical business scenarios that happen to be well-documented.

These details are not prescriptive. The purpose of reading about other scenarios, where someone else has faced challenges and written down choices and outcomes, is actually much more profound than simple advice. Instead of telling you what to do the help an organization, case studies reassure us that we are not alone. These records serve to inform, not to dictate.

We often laugh at workplace issues presented in The Office, in superbowl ads or in daily comic strips. But just as business school case studies should give us pause, so should these poignant works of entertainment. Slaughter Development wants you to acknowledge that your place of employment may need help. Consider our reasons to reach out (below) and contact us today.

Not sure if you’re ready to contact us? You might be ready for methodology engineering if…

1. You spend part of your workday doing something that no one should have to do.
2. Someone in your organization routinely duplicates information by hand.
3. Part of your job is mindless, but all of your job is intellectually exhausting.
4. Your computers seem to work against you as much as they work for you.
5. New employee training includes the phrase “Nobody knows why, but we’ve always done it that way.”
6. You are too busy working to even think about how to work smarter.
7. Your business is ready to grow, but business processes are holding it back.
8. You are tired of six week long management fads, but more ready than ever for permanent, positive management change.
9. Your competitors seem to move faster and faster, and you don’t know if you can keep up.
10. “Getting organized” has gone from being a plan to a dream.

Read on »

❖ ❖ ❖