I think dashboard is an overused, ill-defined word in many enterprises. As I was trying to create visibility into the success and challenges in our operations, I decided that I needed a dashboard (see blog on data). It sounds very simple. Everybody uses dashboards in business these days. Then I started to think about the origin of the dashboard and how that might help me create my own.

I had an AHA moment the other day. I shouldn’t have, really. What I’m about to reveal should have been painfully obvious. But, as the old saying goes, sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. I had been blinded by all the trees standing right in front of me and didn’t realize I was in the middle of a very large forest.

COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees! For most people in the world, daily life has been disrupted in an unprecedented way. Besides the awful toll on human life, job losses, business failures, etc. are now becoming more prevalent. The impact on the global economy has barely begun to be measured.

This is an original article written by Jon Berbaum, President of Highland Solutions.

As a business or technology leader, you’re probably aware of the supposed virtues of “design thinking” these days. In my unofficial metric, it may soon surpass “digital transformation” or even “agile transformation” as the business strategy du jour.

In most businesses, the one common but fundamental skill that is much needed, yet mostly lacking, is the skill of Problem Solving. Where this becomes rather apparent is within those companies pursuing a continuous improvement journey. It isn’t a stretch to say that all continuous improvement tools/practices are built around some form of problem solving. Ironically, many of these companies have devoted time and resources to the task of training their associates but pervasive success is elusive.

Two Illinois companies are working together to provide consumers with an exceptionally useful product. Technical Publication Associates (TPA) from Morton, Illinois and Plano Synergy (Plano) from Plano, Illinois are working together for the benefit of the consumer. Plano manufactures molded plastic cases to hold and protect a variety of sporting and/or hunting goods. TPA develops simple, yet effective, consumer instructions on how to use a product. “Our two companies working together has resulted in a high-quality product (Plano) with simple, effective instructions (TPA) on how our gun case can be customized, used, and maintained”, says John Whalen, Plano Engineer.