The ‘One Page Management System’ (OPMS) An ‘Operating System for the Human Mind’ We can...

The‘One Page Management System’

(OPMS)

An ‘Operating System An ‘Operating System for the Human Mind’for the Human Mind’

We can justify this We can justify this bold claim through a bold claim through a

live demonstrationlive demonstration

GSC - OPMS Presentation 2

OPMSOPMS is: The practical, effective means to

accomplish Missions

All kinds of Missions can be tackled more effectively through the OPMS:

• Organisational Missions• Individual Missions• Societal Missions

A Mission is any challenging goal A Mission is any challenging goal or objective that may require or objective that may require

considerable effort, time, resources considerable effort, time, resources to accomplishto accomplish


No limitations as to Mission!No limitations as to Mission!• Just identify the Mission• Ask people involved some ‘trigger

questions’ about the Mission - enable them to articulate and clarify their good ideas

• ‘Structure’ (or organise) the ideas generated• Integrate everything so that it becomes a

continuing process• Regular, steady work on Mission is required!


A picture of the OPMS


WEAKNESSES that may HINDER/PREVENT

accomplishment of Mission

EVENTS /MILESTONES that may occur during progress towards

Mission

FundamentalDimensions

‘Dimensionsabove System Tie Line

System Tie-Line

‘System’Dimensions,

derived from ‘Fundamental Dimensions’

THINGS TO DO to accomplish Mission

BARRIERS / DIFFICULTIES / THREATS that may hinder/prevent


OPPORTUNITIES & Preparation Required to avail Opportunities to

accomplish Mission

Finance ControlSystem

Monitoring & EvaluationSystem(s)

ProductionSystem(s)Marketing

SystemInformation

SystemsPlanningSystem

Mission

‘Dimensions below System Tie Line’

STRENGTHS (available)STRENGTHS (required)

that may help accomplishment of Mission

MISSION: “To enable each member of our staff to develop most effectively”A comprehensive system to help

accomplish ANY Mission

Represents any or Represents any or all of the all of the relationships in the relationships in the systemsystem


• Comprehensive view, crystallized onto a single page - regardless how large/complex the Mission may be!

• We can always ‘drill down’ to any level of detail required!

OPMS - helps users develop a comprehensive view of any

‘Mission’


• A uniquely powerful aid to problem solving and decision making

• Create effective Action Plans, to enable accomplishment of any Mission of current interest

OPMS - to help accomplish Missions effectively!


Some example Missions:

“To make the right investment decisions for our current needs”“To enable each member of our staff to develop

most effectively”

“To ensure effective Knowledge Management in

the organisation”

“To reduce inventory held by 20% within six

months”

“To increase turnover to Rs 2000 crores, with PAT of

Rs 500 crores”

To become an expert at the ‘C’ computer languageTo become a top-level

consultant within 3 years

To make the best decisions continuingly in complex

situations

OPMS - helps users articulate their ideas about any ‘Mission’ by asking them appropriate

‘Trigger Questions’:

“What, in your opinion, are the THINGS TO DO to enable each member to

develop himself/herself for the needs of the organisation (and for himself/herself)?”

The The MissionMission


• To challenge each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for his/her own and for organisation’s benefit

• To make our organisation a truly exciting place to work in• To enable each person develop himself/herself as an

individual AND as a member of the organisation• To provide all needed facilities for effective work and

recreation• To provide effective counseling for perceived needs of staff• … (etc, etc)

Responding to Trigger Questions:

Stage I: A process for generating and clarifying available ideas

Elements articulated in natural language, no jargon needed - as they come to mind,

no need to worry about ‘order’All good ideas to accomplish the MissionAll good ideas to accomplish the Mission

On any relevant issue about which we are asked trigger questions -

we ALWAYS have ideas!

The ‘secret’ is to make effective use of all good ideas,

filter out the irrelevant or not-so-good ideas!

The conventional approaches DO NOT adequately enable effective

utilisation of the good ideas of people at all levels of the organisation

The greatest demotivator is the feeling that our good ideas are not

being adequately valued by the organisation

An effective process is needed to ‘handle ideas’

Because of ‘Stage 2’ (to be described), we have a process that

GUARANTEESGUARANTEES that every good idea, whenever it comes to mind, could be

integrated into our Action Plans!


Both Stage 1 (Idea Generation & Clarification)

and Stage 2 (Idea Organisation)

are designed to make the best possible use of

available ideas!

(or Idea Organising) this is the process that enables

us to organize our ideas to ensure that the right ones

become available for action at any point of time.

Stage 2 - Idea Structuring!Structuring!

It is done through a process of modeling to show us, for

instance, how the accomplishment of one idea or ‘element’ may help the

accomplishment of another

Idea organising is something we are doing

intuitively ALL the time - OPMSOPMS merely makes the

process rigorous and scientific


Idea organising: suppose we have just two ideas -• To challenge each member of staff to

develop himself/herself to maximum possible for his/her own and for organisation’s benefit (1)

• To make our organisation a truly exciting place to work in (2)

To ‘structure’ them, we just ask ourselves a couple of questions:

‘Challenging each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for his/her

own and for organisation’s benefit’ (1)

making our organisation a truly exciting place to work in (2)

?”

“Does the achievement of

HELP THE ACHIEVEMENT OF

Response: “YES”YES”

Such modeling questions help us Such modeling questions help us articulate and clarify the linkages articulate and clarify the linkages we perceive between the factors in we perceive between the factors in

our systemour system

The question is reversed:

‘Challenging each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for

his/her own and for organisation’s benefit’ (1)

?”

“Does the achievement of

HELP THE ACHIEVEMENT OF

Response: “NO”NO”

making our organisation a truly exciting place to work in (2)

Such responses represent the relationships perceived by the modelers

at a particular period in time - these perceptions could and often do change!


Make our organisation a truly exciting place to

work in (2)

Challenge each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for

his/her own and for organisation’s benefit (1)

We don’t show the ‘no We don’t show the ‘no contributions’contributions’

“should contribute”

Model at this stage:

No contribution

Accomplish (1) to enhance Accomplish (1) to enhance accomplishment of (2)!accomplishment of (2)!


Make our organisation a truly exciting place to

work in (2)

Challenge each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for

his/her own and for organisation’s benefit (1)

“should contribute”

Model at this stage:

Then, a third element is added to

our model:


Make our organisation a truly exciting place to work in (2)

Challenge each member of staff to develop himself/herself to maximum possible for his/her

own and for organisation’s benefit (1)

“should help accomplish”

To provide all needed facilities for effective work and

recreation (3)


To challenge each member of staff develop

himself/herself to maximum possible

To make our organisation a truly exciting place to work in

To help each person develop himself/herself as an individual

To provide all needed facilities for effective work and recreation

To provide effective counseling for perceived needs of staff

To enable each member of our staff to develop most effectively

should help should help accomplishaccomplish

Read bottom-upwards, Read bottom-upwards, in direction of arrows.in direction of arrows.THINK the elementsTHINK the elements

READ the arrows as encountered!READ the arrows as encountered!

Interpretive Structural ModelStage II: An effective process for ‘organising all available ideas

The relationship is the heart of the matter!



where ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ are ‘elements’ in the system under consideration and

‘ ’ represents a specific transitive relationship

The model is based on ‘transitivity’‘transitivity’ of the relationship we’re working with:

If ‘A’ ‘B’

AND if ‘B’ ‘C’

THEN ‘A’ MUST ‘C’

Because of transitivity, it is quite efficient to create these models, as we have to ask only a small fraction of the

total number of possible questions

This property is already familiar to most of us through the transitive relationship

“precedes”,“precedes”, which is familiar to us through PERT & Gantt Charts (the major modeling tools in ‘Project Management Software’)

Because of transitivity, we can generally create these ISMs by

responding to just 15%-40% of all the possible questions between elements










Interpretive Structural ModelThere are many types of structures, each based on a

specific transitive relationship. Particularly useful for ‘Action Planning' are ‘Intent Structures’ -

structures comprised of ‘intents’ linked by the “should help accomplish”“should help accomplish” relationship

These models can become as large as required to These models can become as large as required to describe the most complex live situation! Over time, describe the most complex live situation! Over time, as we work on our Missions, our models may come as we work on our Missions, our models may come

to comprise hundreds or even thousands of to comprise hundreds or even thousands of elements!elements!


THINGS

TO DO

The model may keep on growing until the Mission is successful!

Even when we have thousands of elements integrated into our model, we shall be able to focus on a narrow band of elements in the full confidence that by so doing we are are actually helping to accomplish everything actually helping to accomplish everything else that needs to be done for the project!else that needs to be done for the project!

Current focus





To help each person develop To help each person develop himself/herself as an individualhimself/herself as an individual




Interpretive Structural ModelAnother important attribute of such ‘Intent StructuresIntent Structures’

WHY?WHY?

HOW?HOW?

Up WHY?

Down HOW?


THINGS

TO DO

WHY?

HOW?

UPUP the model to find out “WHY?”“WHY?”

DOWNDOWN the model to find out “HOW?”“HOW?”

To be able to discover the “HOW?” and the “WHY?” of things is probably the

greatest motivator that exists!

To ensure effective handling of a task by people reporting to you,

just enthuse them about the WHYs?WHYs? of the task - then let them

work out the HOWs? !!!HOWs? !!!


My personal performance

Organisation’s profits

My personal rewards

“contributessignificantly to”

Rewards include:i) Financial rewards…ii) Other rewards: working conditions, etc...












Interpretive Structural Model

Any such model can easily be translated into Any such model can easily be translated into ‘standard prose’ very easily indeed! And this ‘standard prose’ very easily indeed! And this

little model would translatelittle model would translateinto nearly a full page of prose.into nearly a full page of prose.

Models of 30 to 40 elements may amount to 20 Models of 30 to 40 elements may amount to 20 to 30 pages !to 30 pages !

Obviously, it is MUCH easier to read, Obviously, it is MUCH easier to read, understand and remember the model!understand and remember the model!


THINGS

TO DO

The prose translations of such models increase exponentially in size with increase of number

of elements in the model!


The process helps develop clear linkages between individual’s aims to the organisation’s Mission!


My personal performance

Organisation’s profits

My personal rewards

“contributessignificantly to”

Rewards include:i) Financial rewards…ii) Other rewards: working conditions, etc...

Helps ensure that individual actually see

& properly understand & appreciate the linkages between him/her and the

organisation!













Make clear to all the excitement of working at a exciting job,

in an exciting company!


Whatever the issue (or Mission), this initial part of the OPMS process enables users to create an effective Action Plan,

along with all needed systems, to accomplish the Mission.

The processes underlying OPMS are quite unique in their power and universal

applicability!.


A quick comparison of models using two specific relations:A quick comparison of models using two specific relations:““Should help achieve”Should help achieve” (ISM) (ISM)

• Usable at every stage of Usable at every stage of project - project - in particular, it’sin particular, it’s perfect for exploration!perfect for exploration!

• Can handle all types of Can handle all types of ‘elements’ within system, ‘elements’ within system, e.g. motivation, etce.g. motivation, etc

• Co-relates with Co-relates with ‘effectiveness’‘effectiveness’

• Ideas, Creativity, Ideas, Creativity, motivation, etc are motivation, etc are effectively handled through effectively handled through “contributes” or “should “contributes” or “should help achieve”help achieve”

““Precedes”Precedes” (PERT/Gantt)• Useful when intricacies

of system are somewhat known to us

• Can handle ONLY elements connected with time process

• Cannot handle ‘soft’ issues like “motivation”

• Co-relates with ‘efficiency’

‘Action Planning’ done through conventional Project Management

software is bound to leave out many significant elements (and

issues)

Actually, in order to properly Actually, in order to properly understand our ‘whole understand our ‘whole

system’ we need to use a system’ we need to use a number of relationships, each number of relationships, each

appropriate to its own time appropriate to its own time and place!and place!


Some important transitive relationships in systems:

• “helps achieve” (“contributes to”) - “aggravates”• “enhances”; “supports”; “leads to”; includes; “implies”; “should take

priority over”; “facilitates”• “precedes” - for scheduling of anticipated events/milestones in a well-understood system -

however, precedence is practically useless for working in systems of which significant parts are unknown

• and many others

Using appropriate relationships, we can cover ALL aspects of the systems we

need to create

Another modeling tool in the OPMS

‘Field Representation’ (FR) Method

This is the tool that actually helps us create the OPMS!OPMS!


Constructing a Field Representation

• First, we try to cleanse our minds First, we try to cleanse our minds from all pre-conceived categories...from all pre-conceived categories...

• Then, OPMS asks questions like…


Field Representation & Profiling (contd.)

(In the context of the kind of actions needed to overcome the barriers, etc.)

““Is(B) Need to improve productivity of Indian

software industryIN THE SAME CATEGORY ASIN THE SAME CATEGORY AS

(A) Our educational systems are not adequately effective

?””

(Elements from documents on “National IT Mission” formulated

several years ago by Govt. of India)


Response “YES” would put element ‘B’ into the same

category as ‘A’ -“NO” would put it into a

different category…

… as shown, next


Field Representation - after initial response

A: Dimension 1• Our educational systems are

not adequately effective

B: Dimension 2• Need to improve productivity

of Indian software industry

Finally yielding models like the one illustrated at next slide...


Dimension titles provided later, AFTERAFTER insertion of elements into dimensions!


The ‘System Tie Line’ represents any or all of the relationships inherent in the

system under consideration.


The elements are ‘linked’ by appropriate relationships as perceived by the users


The OPMS provides a facility to enable users write down prose translations of such visual linkages

“XYZ” MAY TEND TO INCREASE THE SEVERITY OF “ABC”

XYZ

ABC

A comprehensive ‘network of A comprehensive ‘network of relationships’ to be built up step-by- relationships’ to be built up step-by-

step, over time, to enable clear step, over time, to enable clear understanding of the system understanding of the system

represented in the Fieldrepresented in the Field


It takes a while to develop the skills needed to use the System Tie Line

effectively to link different dimensions and elements together…

It’s well worth our while to work towards developing these skills…


…because, as earlier claimed, Field Representations, over sufficient iterations,

can be shown to satisfy a fundamental systems law, called

Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety


Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety (Simple Simon’s version)…

“The dimensions of a proposed solution to a problem must match the dimensions of the problem”

(If too few dimensions, the solution won’t work – if too many, the solution would be too expensive or too complicated!)


The Field Representation processis found to be the

ideal tool for handling complex projects - to help us integrate the parts into a

whole !


Integrating all the models of all the work done towards any Mission into a single

Field Representation creates a ‘One Page Management

System’ (OPMS).

The OPMS is a ‘model of ‘model of models’models’ - it is comprised

of ALL the models that are created in various relevant

dimensions during progress towards the

Mission - any Mission!

Because the OPMSOPMS is a model of models, it

ensures the development in users of Chris Argyris’

grand concept of ‘double-loop learning’!‘double-loop learning’!

On deeper examination, we find there are actually many more loops than just two - and we can handle them all through this process. We we could call our process

‘cybernetic learning’‘cybernetic learning’


WEAKNESSES that may HINDER/PREVENT


EVENTS /MILESTONES that may occur during progress towards

Mission

FundamentalDimensions‘Dimensions

above System Tie LineSystem Tie-Line

‘System’Dimensions

(derived from Fundamental Dimensions)

THINGS TO DO to accomplish Mission

BARRIERS / DIFFICULTIES / THREATS that may hinder/prevent


OPPORTUNITIES & Preparation Required to avail Opportunities to

accomplish Mission

Finance ControlSystem

Monitoring & EvaluationSystem(s)

ProductionSystem(s)Marketing

SystemInformation

SystemsPlanningSystem

Mission

‘Dimensionsbelow System Tie Line

STRENGTHS (available)STRENGTHS (required)

that may help accomplishment of Mission

MISSION: “To enable each member of our staff to develop most effectively”


The whole system on a single page!

Linkages between various dimensions ‘above the System Tie Line of the OPMS OPMS are broadly

illustrated below and in following slides :

A: THINGS TO DO

B: BARRIERS

C: STRENGTHS

HELP HELP ACCOMPLISHACCOMPLISH

HINDERHINDER

HELP HELP OVERCOMEOVERCOME

…more linkages…

B: Barriers/Weaknesses

HINDER

Activities

Strengths required

HELP ACCOMPLISH

HELP OVERCOME

Opportunities

HELP AVAILHELP AVAIL

Activities

B: Barriers/Weaknesses

Strengths required

HELP ACCOMPLISH

HINDER

HELP OVERCOME

Opportunities

HELP AVAIL

MISSIONHELP ACCOMPLISHHELP ACCOMPLISH

These models can become as detailed as These models can become as detailed as required, right down to the level of…required, right down to the level of…

WHICH BARRIERS hinder WHICH ACTIVITIES?

WHICH STRENGTHS are required to overcome WHICH BARRIERS?All this and more becomes clear as

the OPMS is developed!


Recall that we have two types of models...


Linkages between ‘BARRIERS’ & ‘THINGS TO DO’

The barrier marked in the FR HINDERS / PREVENTS accomplishment of the objective marked in the ISM



That barrier also hinders That barrier also hinders accomplishment of all elements accomplishment of all elements above the THING TO DO that it above the THING TO DO that it

directly hinders! directly hinders!



Just identify appropriate means to ‘overcome’ the barrier identified - and integrate those into the Action Plan!


• Ensures rapid evaluation of project feasibility - helps ensure ensure that time is not wasted on infeasible projects

• Provides a comprehensive view of the project, crystallised on a single page

• Enables each individual/group to ‘drill down’ to the level of detail required for his/her functions

• Links up individual performance to the performance of the whole organisation

• Links up individual goals to Organisational Missions• Enforces high level of ‘self-discipline’ in the organisation• Enables people to create practical, clearly-understood

means to overcome Barriers, Threats, Weaknesses, etc - at EACH level in the organisation

Some features of the OPMS:

It’s THE most powerful and systematic tool available to enableenable the good ideas of people involved in problems and issues

It’s ‘Cybernetic Learning!


• It is ‘top-down’ because we choose a ‘Mission’ for the whole organisation (or part of it that we need to consider)

• It is ‘bottom-up’ because the Action Plan to accomplish the Mission is made effective from the bottom upwards

OPMS - it’s ‘TOP-DOWN’ + ‘BOTTOM-UP’!

Can readily be integrated with anyany process that is currently being used:

Standard Project Management

TQM

Balance Score Card

Theory of Constraints

‘e-Think (Kepner & Tregoe)

Any other...`

OPMSOPMS would help make any such practice very significantly stronger


References:

• JN Warfield’s contributions: http://www.ajarmail.com

• G.S. Chandy temporary URL: http://onepagems.tripod.com

http://www.ajarmail.com/



http://onepagems.tripod.com/




Our Services:

• Half-day workshops for individuals, and up to two people

• ‘User’ workshops - 2-Day & 3-Day Workshops (groups from 8-12 people)

• ‘Facilitator Training’ - 2 sessions of 5 days each with 3-month interval; in-house project work during the 3 months interval

• Supply of OPMS software


G.S. Chandy

c/o Sahi Oretrans Pvt Ltd30 Western India HouseSir P.M. Road, FortMumbai - 400 001India

e-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]




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