Articles and White Papers

You may also enjoy reading our blog postings.

White Papers & Point Papers

  • Innovators succeed at “failure,” while others fail at failure. This white paper on innovation summarizes two popular blog posts into one white paper on how leaders can help their organizations fail their way to success. (April 2012) Total reading time 7 minutes. To download, click here.
  • Most breakthroughs require diverse teams of experts, led by people who can’t possibly be blackbelts in every kind of expertise represented on their teams. But, how do those leaders lead, AND how can experts reporting to non-experts still hone their expertise? “Multiplying the Power of Experts” explains exactly how organizations can solve this conundrum — elegantly. (November 2010) Total reading time 18 minutes. To download, click here.
  • When metrics drive strategy instead of strategy driving metrics, then your organization has the disease called metric mania. Although US Navy examples are cited, “Are We Driving Strategic Results, or Metric Mania?” will have relevance to any organization afflicted by metrics. (December 2006) Total reading time 12 minutes. To download, click here.
  • The current act for which you cannot be fired, no matter what your results, is installing “balanced scorecard.” Our white paper, A Balanced View of Balanced Scorecard offers less than the usual wide-eyed enthusiasm for this approach. (October 2004) Total reading time 7 minutes. To download, click here.
  • Force Field Analysis. Often we get stuck between equal, opposing forces, which results in stasis and continuation of a problem or the inability to achieve a goal. Force Field Analysis (FFA) helps break down the problem into discrete forces (enablers and barriers) that can be prioritized and acted upon to change the current situation. This paper provides an overview of FFA and its use within a defined systems engineering strategy to help achieve systems engineering goals, however the technique applies to almost any kind of strategy development or strategic problem solving.. (July 2018) Total reading time 19 minutes. To download, click here.

Video

  • The US Coast Guard asked Dr. Bill Casey to address a gathering of its metric gurus. Topic: The role of clear goals in organizational transformation. The introduction is by CDR John Harding. Watch video

Articles

  • “Success on Purpose: A Message for Leaders of Military Organizations”. The article appeared in the Joint Forces Quarterly 99, 4th Quarter 2020. To download, click here
  • “A Model of Air Force Squadron Vitality.” The lead article in Air & Space Power Journal, Winter 2018. To download, click here
  • Working across boundaries in large, siloed organizations can be a challenge. Here’s how one DoD organization is doing it with flare! This appeared in the April 2007 issue of Government Executive magazine. To download, click here.
  • “Choosing the Right PMO Setup” offers a fresh perspective on the topic of PMOs. The article appeared in the February 2001 issue of PM Network magazine. To download, click here.

Mini-Chapters for the book titled:

Business Driven Information Technology: Answers to 100 Critical Questions for Every Manager by David Laube (ed.) and Ray Zammuto (ed.). It was sponsored by The College of Business at the University of Colorado, Denver. Published September 2003 by Stanford Press. It comprises the work of 60 authors. ELG provided these seven of the 100 mini-chapters:

  • 92. Why is it important to explicitly state the intended business result of an IT project? How should this be done? [Read]
  • 93. What role does a project’s sponsor need to play in the technology implementation process? [Read]
  • 94. What questions does the project sponsor need to ask a project manager? [Read]
  • 95. What role does a project’s steering board need to play in the technology implementation process? [Read]
  • 96. What are the key managerial authorities a project manager needs succeed? [Read]
  • 97. What are the keys to getting cross-functional work done? [Read]
  • 98. What top ten actions can IT project managers take to increase the likelihood of implementation success? [Read]

Interview

  • In this interview printed in PM Network (January, 1998), our president, Bill Casey, takes a different view on organizational hierarchy.