The TUDAPOL Principle: The Way to Think Unlimited, Develop Agile, Produce & Operate Lean

Foreword

Only about 10-30 percent of the planned strategies are ultimately realized. But with a view to the winners: It is an astonishing but quite banal realization that recipes for success or successful strategies often seem quite simple. But if this is the case, the question inevitably arises as to why our success rate is often so low, at least from a subjective point of view. Moreover, as Brown et al. have found out, the average lifespan of an organization is shorter than a human life. If this is the case, what can organizations do to perform better and how can we ensure our survival and develop the ability to transform and adapt, especially in the age of digitalization and Industry 4.0? This is one of the concerns of this book. Innovation and thinking beyond AS-IS is another factor for our future success. However, less than three percent of their time is spent by the top management shaping the long-term future. Even if this figure is questionable, it is an indicator that there is enormous potential to plan and create our future much better. It is our challenge as managers or entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs to think without limits and to prepare and shape the future. For me there are three main elements that we should consider when we develop a strategy or build our organization, whether it is a startup or an established organization:

We have to think unlimited when we define or change our vision, strategies or business models. Any straitjacket in thinking, especially in innovation, must be eliminated.

We must be efficient in development and operation: Agile and lean approaches can make our success possible if we apply the concepts in an appropriate way.

We must be effective and sustainable: We have to start thinking in terms of a strategic control loop within design, analysis, implementation and operation.

My proposal is to familiarize you with the concept of the Strategic Control Loop and the TUDAPOL principle: unlimited thinking, agile development and lean production and operation. This principle should enable you to meet the management challenges in the age of globalization, increasing complexity and digital transformation. My intention is to give you some interesting insights and suggestions.

Arno Ritter ([email protected] / www.arnoritter.de)

For Mom and Dad

Table of Contents

List of Abbreviations

Preface

THINK UNLIMITED!

1.1 Criteria for strategic success

1.2 Strategies & strategic failures

1.3 The annoying customer

1.4 Too less innovation

DEVELOP AGILE!

2.1 Creating real value

2.2 Strategy development – What to consider?

2.3 Strategy development in the digital age

2.4 Strategy development – How to develop?

2.5 Strategy development – The Strategic Control Loop

2.6 Becoming agile

2.7 Getting real – The dark side of strategy

PRODUCE AND OPERATE LEAN!

3.1 Keep it lean

3.2 Reduce complexity

3.3 Use the knowledge

THE TUDAPOL PRINCIPLE

Last Words

References

Register

List of Abbreviations

Preface

When I met my Indonesian uncle Eddi in Bali, I told him that I had written my previous book "50 Ways to Prevent Management Success". He immediately asked me if he could read it in English. "No, I wrote it in German". But I took the idea with me to Germany. I would translate the book if I found time and fun to do so. To be honest, I'm an engineer and management consultant: I don't enjoy doing things twice. Besides, I'm not a native English speaker. However, I have started to translate some chapters. After a few days, I stopped the undertaking. It's really no fun. Moreover, I have worked in a global project with project partners or suppliers from Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, Great Britain and India. My teammates found out that I published a book in German and asked me to translate it. I'm not saying I had no choice: thanks to Malem, Pallavi, Rupa, Varsha (ladies first), Alex, Christian(s), Christophe, Gontran, Julien, Raj, Rajath, Roland, Sachin, Sagar, Sandeep, Sateesh, Shobraj, Stephane and Varadha who challenged me. However, I decided to write a new book. Of course, I am writing about some of the points I covered in my earlier books, but I am shifting the focus a little. We will discuss additional things in more detail, such as agile management, today's challenge of dealing with increasing complexity or the challenge of digitalization.

I have divided the book into four main parts: In the first chapter of the first part "THINK UNLIMITED!", I would like to emphasize the power of vision. I also want to familiarize you with the criteria for successful strategies. In the next chapter I will discuss some basic strategies and failures that you should generally avoid. In addition, we will talk about how we can help our customers to succeed. I will also talk about innovation, as this will be our most important success factor for the future. However, as Hamel and Prahalad mentioned almost twenty years ago, top managers are mainly concerned with the near future. Once again, it is our challenge and opportunity as managers, innovators or entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs to think unlimited and to prepare and shape the future.

In the second part "DEVELOP AGILE!", we will discuss the concept of value creation. In addition, I will answer the question of what we should consider when developing strategies, especially in the age of digitalization. I will also present some development frameworks, including my concept of the Strategic Control Loop. Then I will discuss the agile development approach and the dark side, the implementation of strategies. As mentioned in the foreword: Only about 10-30 percent of the planned strategies are finally realized. The reason for this could be new opportunities that are being considered in the context of emergent strategies instead of the originally planned strategies. However, organizations often only struggle with the appropriate implementation of strategies. The strategy itself could have been a very good choice, but the implementation has failed! I will explain what we should do and what we should avoid.

In the third part "PRODUCE AND OPERATE LEAN!", I will introduce the concept of lean management. First of all: Lean can be a success factor, especially for operations and production. I will also share my opinion with you that lean is (just) probably not the best concept for defining strategies or innovation. It depends. Furthermore, I would like to share with you another point of view: Every generation is concerned with its fashions. Think of Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM), Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, Toyota Production System (TPS), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Multi-Agent-Systems (MAS), Lean and Agile Management, Digitalization, Big Data, Deep Learning, Cloud, Industry 4.0 and many other areas. And to be honest: Sometimes approaches became industry standards. We are doing it right now, but we don't talk about it anymore (e.g. TQM). It is the state of the art. Furthermore, we have fought in the past or reached the limits (like CIM or MAS), but ten or twenty years later we are able to try it again (Industry 4.0). The old names are no longer sexy, we sell the old ideas with new names. Sometimes you find CIM concepts or Multi-Agent-Systems in Industry 4.0 and we call physical agents now Cyber Physical Systems (CPS). To be fair: Due to technical or social progress, we can cross the boundaries of the past. We now have smartphones, WLAN, RFID, increased computing power, mobile networks, etc. Furthermore, our way of thinking is changing or has changed. Now we are ready for the ideas of the past. My suggestion: Let's treat the concepts and ideas of the past fairly. Respect the core ideas as they are. They might still make sense and be beneficial for us. I will show you that even 2,500-year-old strategic concepts like the ideas of Sunzi are still valid and relevant at the present day. Therefore, I will refer to some of the "old" core concepts in the following chapters. Lean is one of these concepts that was developed shortly after the Second World War! But let us also talk about today's challenges (not only due to COVID-19). For me it is the overall complexity of our world, organizations, products and the supply chain. Let's talk about ideas on how we can deal with this complexity. Furthermore, the ability to learn and manage knowledge is one of the weapons for our future success. Therefore, we will take a brief look at knowledge management.

In the last part, I will elaborate and summarize the "TUDAPOL PRINCIPLE". For me there are three main elements that we should consider when we develop a strategy or build our organization, whether it is a startup or an established organization:

We have to think unlimited when we define or change our vision, strategies or business models. Any straitjacket in thinking, especially in innovation, must be eliminated.

We must be efficient in development and operation: Agile and lean approaches can make our success possible if we apply the concepts in an appropriate way.

We must be effective and sustainable: We have to start thinking in terms of a strategic control loop within design, analysis, implementation and operation.

This book is based on my personal view of business. I have worked in research and development in various fields such as automation, robotics, digital factory, ICT and manufacturing, and have worked for startups, SMEs and global industries and spent some time as a lecturer in "International Strategic Management". This book is not intended as a textbook for students. I expect from the reader some basic management experience or basic knowledge of management theory (e.g. some knowledge of common tools, methods and approaches). If you need more details, you can find the reference literature in the bibliography or just have a quick look on the web. My intention is to highlight and elaborate on the key concepts, to make you aware of the most important principles and concepts and to draw your attention to the most important mistakes that must be avoided at all costs. Think of it as a guide. It should help you to ask the right questions and develop the right ideas. Finally, I would like to familiarize you with the concept of the Strategic Control Loop and the TUDAPOL principle, the principle proposed in this book of unlimited thinking, agile development and lean production and operation. This principle should enable you to deal with today's management challenges in the age of globalization, major turbulences, growing complexity and digital transformation.

As an author, you undoubtedly bear the main burden of a book. Nevertheless, I would like to express my special thanks to a number of people who have contributed to the success of this work, such as my university friends or former colleagues for the stimulating discussions on the topic of management and individual chapters of this book: Dr. Jürgen Bogenfeld, Dr. Arnulf Braatz, Prof. Jörg Dahlkemper, Dr. Timm Kuhlmann and Hans Reinerth, MBA. I would also like to thank Michael Hermany, Klaus Hölzel and Rainer Saurin for their valuable role as sparring partners; not to forget my children Aurelia and Roderick and my wife Claudia for their differentiated, critical view. My son Roderick took over the English proofreading and editing, my daughter Aurelia also took over the editing and graphical design. My special thanks also go to my father-in-law, Daniel Malonda, for his insights into top management, which have always been a great help to me for over twenty years. Furthermore, it is also time to thank my parents, Prof. Rolf and Renate Ritter, who made my education and my start possible. I owe them a lot. Dad, rest in peace. The list of those to whom I owe thanks is by no means complete. They include all project partners, clients, competitors, staff, professors and students with whom I have had the honor of working successfully. Last but not least I would like to thank Uncle Eddi, Roland Brassous and my Indian BzB team who challenged me to start with the English version and gave me the strength to do so. Finally, with this management compass I wish the reader to find some interesting ideas and lasting personal success.

Arno Ritter

Hamburg, Germany

Spring 2020

1 THINK UNLIMITED!

If you want to build a ship, don’t gather the men to find the wood, prepare the tools or divide up the work and delegate tasks – instead teach the men the longing for the endless, wide ocean (Antoine de Saint-Exupery).

1.1 Criteria for strategic success

Nebulous visions prevent success. Unlike mockers could perhaps indicate, a corporate vision has nothing to do with religious appearances or hallucinations. However, the former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt shared this opinion and proposed to consult a medical doctor. A shared vision can be a powerful mean or weapon and it is telling what the organization stands for. For example, the dream of flying has spawned many technology-enthusiastic entrepreneurs, such as the Wright brothers or men like Graf Zeppelin, Hugo Junkers or eccentrics like Howard Hughes. Hugh Hafner was a slightly different eccentric. These men (though quite commercially successful) were not driven primarily by principles such as shareholder wealth's maximization. Of course, money is always important, but these entrepreneurs had a far-reaching vision which enables us today to flight to exotic places such as Hawaii or Bali, do business or visit our family members all over the world. By the way, not all of us have the money and time