Simply Effective: How to Cut Through Complexity in Your Organization and Get Things Done

by Ron Ashkenas

The level of complexity in most organizations today is staggering-and it's only getting worse. There are so many choices to be made, people to involve, processes to manage, and facts to analyze, it's impossible to get things done. And in today's hypercompetitive world, that can be fatal.

Yet complexity doesn't happen on its own. Managers unwittingly create it, often through well-intended decisions. In Simply Effective, Ron Ashkenas provides a playbook for regaining control, focused on the four major causes of complexity:

-Constant changes in organizational structures
-Proliferation of products and services
-Evolution of business processes
-Time-wasting managerial behaviors

The author provides a diagnostic for identifying how these causes of complexity are affecting your organization-and presents practical tactics for combating each one.

Ashkenas also explains how to craft a strategy that will make simplification an ongoing driver of your company's success-no matter where you work in your organization. Abundant examples from companies like ConAgra Foods, GE, Cisco, Zurich Financial Services, and Johnson & Johnson illuminate his points.

A crucial resource in today's overly complex age, Simply Effective should be required reading for everyone on your management team.

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership

240 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Internationally recognized consultant and speaker on organizational transformation, post-merger integration, and simplification

Reviews

[Захарченко Віктор · Rating 5 out of 5]

И вот значит затеяли вы стартап. И все у вас идет единым порывом - с коллегами чуть ли не браться, работа спорится, бизнес растет. И вот когда нужно из коротких шатнишек вырастать, начинаются проблемы. Рон Ашкеназ очень четко определяет основные источники организационных проблем, особое внимание уделяя "благим намерениям" руководства. Очень уместно здесь будет упомянуть авторов Rework, призывающих до последнего оставаться "маленькими". Книга рекомендуется к прочтению всем, кто дожил до момента масштабирования своего бизнеса.

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simply Effective is another Harvard Business Press book I purchased and read recently. The case studies were engaging. It was worth reading just to read about GE and "Work Out." Main lesson to take away from this is that people unconsciously make things more complex and if they can acknowledge that, they can consciously chose to make things easier for themselves. Simplicity only needs your action to be achieved.

[Juraj Púchlo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Na prvé prelistovovanie je to kniha z „praveku“ riadenia firiem, kedy manažéri objavovali KISS, kaizen, Work-Out alebo Six Sigma. Pravdepodobne najprínosnejšie sú v knihe dotazníky a slušný prehľad rôznych metód a pomôcok zjednodušovania (presnejšie zefektívňovania – simply effective). Boli to časy, kedy kancelária budúcnosti mala vyzerať tak, že podružné práce pošlete z USA do Indie a tam to za vás vyriešia v noci. Ráno máte hotovo. Autor by dnes mohol zjednodušiť samotnú knihu. Asi tak o polovicu strán.

[Zo Po · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great case studies. At times, the details may feel overwhelming, but I found that all it is a great book. Even if it was written a while ago, and GE is mo longer what it was, the topic is relevant and the approach interesting .

[Tom Armstrong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great cases studies, easy read, and easily applicable immediately.

[Thomas]

Didn't finish. But put it on the backburner. Too many books on the same topic.

[Jennifer]

Decent refresher, some new case studies but not a lot of new concepts.