Often people want and know what kind of improvements are needed to improve a part of the operation.  By creating teams with the authority to make changes, amazing results can be achieved.  Why don’t we listen to the people who do the work?  Often we are too busy t

I had a conversation with a client last week where he referred to the history of a project and the perception of it as "flaming bag of poo".  It was a lighthearted conversation about a serious issue. In the beginning it was a great project with lots of excitement and ow

Another important criterion for the breakthrough approach is that the resources, including money, people and technology be available.  This means that you have the money and the people and the approvals already in hand to do the project.  Without these items being in place,

Welcome to the 13th Episode of the CoffeeCAST with Stephen Hayward of Project X. Today we have the opportunity to chat with two people, Robert Shaffer of Robert H. Shaffer and Associates and Jim Hayward of Project X.  Jim and Bob have known each other for a while and when Jim and I st

Recently I noticed a comment asking about the purposes of the Blogs on the Project X site.  As far as my contributions are concerned, I want to share some of our experinces in the consulting business and demonstrate some of the philosophy of Project X.  I like to think that

One of the key criteria for a Breakthrough Project is that it delivers bottom-line benefit.  I have often found this challenging to achieve within the time constraint of ten to twelve weeks.  Often we can make real progress on a project but bottom-line benefit is harder.&nbs

A consulting firm called RHS&A. came up with an approach to organizational change which we used in much of our work at Gellman Hayward and have carried through to Project X. Most people and organizations have a great reluctance to change. In order to help them change, one approach