Books : Science & Nature : Engineering & Technology : Production, Manufacturing & Operational : Productivity

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Books : Science & Nature : Engineering & Technology : Production, Manufacturing & Operational : Productivity

• Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-free Productivity

  David Allen

  
  With first-chapter allusions to martial arts, "flow", "mind like water", and other concepts borrowed from the East (and usually mangled), you'd almost think this self-helper from David Allen should have been called Zen and the Art of Schedule Maintenance.

  Not quite. Yes, Getting Things Done offers a complete system for downloading all those free-floating gotta-dos clogging your brain into a sophisticated framework of files and action lists--all purportedly to free your mind to focus on whatever you're working on. However, it still operates from the decidedly Western notion that if we could just get really, really organised, we could turn ourselves into 24/7 productivity machines. (To wit, Allen, whom the New Economy bible Fast Company has dubbed "the personal productivity guru", suggests that instead of meditating on crouching tigers and hidden dragons while you wait for a plane, you should unsheathe that high-tech sabre known as the mobile phone and attack that list of calls you need to return.)

  As whole-life-organising systems go, Allen's is pretty good, even fun and therapeutic. It starts with the exhortation to take every unaccounted-for scrap of paper in your workstation that you can't junk. The next step is to write down every unaccounted-for gotta-do cramming your head onto its own scrap of paper. Finally, throw the whole stew into a giant "in-basket".

  That's where the processing and prioritising begin; in Allen's system, it get a little convoluted at times, rife as it is with fancy terms, subterms, and sub-subterms for even the simplest concepts. Thank goodness the spine of his system is captured on a straightforward, one-page flowchart that you can pin over your desk and repeatedly consult without having to refer back to the book. That alone is worth the purchase price. Also of value is Allen's ingenious Two-Minute Rule: if there's anything you absolutely must do that you can do right now in two minutes or less, then do it now, thus freeing up your time and mind tenfold over the long term. It's common sense advice so obvious that most of us completely overlook it, much to our detriment. Allen excels at dispensing such wisdom in this useful, if somewhat belaboured, self-improver aimed at everyone from CEOs to football mums (who, we all know, are more organised than most CEOs to start with). --Timothy Murphy

  
   

• The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer

  Jeffrey Liker

  
  
   

• Operations Management

  Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Robert Johnston

  
  
   

• Microsoft® Office Project 2007 Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft))

  Carl Chatfield, Timothy Johnson

  
  Experience learning made easy - and quickly teach yourself how tomanage your projects with Project 2007. With Step By Step you setthe pace - building and practicing the skills you need just whenyou need them!
  
   

• Operations Management

  Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Robert Johnston

  
  
   

• Operations & Process Management: Principles and Practice for Strategic Impact

  Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Alan Betts Robert Johnston

  
  
   

• Lean Six Sigma for Service: How to Use Lean Speed and Six Sigma Quality to Improve Services and Transactions

  Michael L. George

  
  
   

• Balanced Scorecard, The: Translating Strategy into Action

  Robert S Kaplan, David P Norton

  
  
   

• Save the Cat!: The Only Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

  Blake Snyder

  
  
   

• Microsoft® Office Project 2003 Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft))

  PMP and Timothy Johnson, MCP Carl Chatfield

  
  This practical hands-on tutorial expertly builds your skills with Microsoft Project 2003#one step at a time! With STEP BY STEP you work at your own pace through easy-to-follow lessons and practice exercises to learn exactly the tools and techniques you ne
  
   

• What is Lean Six Sigma

  Michael L. George, David T. Rowlands, Bill Kastle

  
  
   

• Operations Management

  Andrew Greasley

  
  
   

• New Product Management

  C. Merle Crawford, C. Anthony Di Benedetto

  
  
   

• Operations Management

  Nigel Slack, Stuart Chambers, Robert Johnston

  
  
   

• Basics of Process Mapping

  Robert Damelio

  
  
   

• The Halo Effect: .and the Eight Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers

  Philip M. Rosenzweig

  
  
   

• The New Age of Innovation: Driving Cocreated Value Through Global Networks

  C.K. Prahalad, M.S. Krishnan

  
  
   

• Contemporary Strategy Analysis

  Robert M. Grant

  
  
   

• Implementing Lean Software Development: From Concept to Cash (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

  Mary Poppendieck, Tom Poppendieck

  
  
   

• Microsoft® Office Project 2003 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft))

  Teresa Stover

  
  Dig into Project 2003#and discover how you can really put your project management skills to work! This supremely organized reference packs all the information you need to master every major tool task and enhancement in Project 2003#without the fluff. You#