Get It Done!: A Blueprint for Business Execution

As a process improvement consultant and a reader of many, many business improvement books, this is hands-down the absolute best book I have ever read on the subject. I have recommended this book to others and have bought additional copies to give to my clients. They all agree that this is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding business improvement. Most business and process-type books tell you what is wrong with business, but this one will tell you what is wrong and how to correct the problem. I've worked in and around corporate America for almost 20 years - the recommendations by Welborn & Kasten are spot-on. I mark pages of interest with colored tabs, the red tabs representing "key concepts." If a book receives 5 red tabs, I would rate it a very good book. I have used over 20 red tabs on this book on the first reading and am certain will add a few more on the second. This book is that good ... Of special interest to me, this book included: * Effective execution - businesses know what they want to do but don't know how to do it. * Semantic disconnect - every process analyst seems to miss this most important fact. People in different organizations have different languages. If you don't recognize this key before starting a process improvement initiative, you will not achieve the results you are expecting. Great recommendations on how to get everyone in the improvement effort "on the same page." * The enterprise model examples were great - understandable and well-documented - and clearly ProVison models! * The business blueprint - the example of different levels of map details really drive the point of the need for process modeling home. * Customer value - many of us in process improvement get caught up in optimizing processes for the company with little regard for the customer - we assume that improving the company will be "ripple" to the customer. But as the book points out "Customers just want the value delivered by the process; they don't care how that value is created." I could go on and on with this review, but it might be longer than the book! And don't plan on reading this book quickly - it is a slow read. Not because it is boring, but quite the opposite - it is interesting, very well written and so full of useful information that it requires a lot of attention and re-reading.

The bad news ... paid full price at the airport. The good news is that this is a book all can use as it easily displays an approach and the tools to aid execution. The fact that it focuses on the "semantic disconnect" goes a long way in addressing the execution gap we all struggle with. We are on the doorstep of the next phase, as compliance and system tools come together to push automation to the next level and we look to cover the knowledge drain as the Boomer generation starts retiring.

Ralph and Vince have taken a very complex topic and distilled it into very simple and manageable topics. Including real life experiences to back the theories makes it more compelling and pragmatic. The authors have blended a multitude of dimensions succinctly; such as: tooling with frameworks, strategy with operation, services with outsourcing to highlight the variations. A real read is what does justice to the book. The topics and related progression is quite realistic - starting with the basics around the need for a common vocabulary, moving onto the core competencies that enable it (such as tools, methods and frameworks), eventually moving into flawless execution by connecting the dots with strategy. If you are looking for ideas, real life experiences and key take-aways in managing complex transformational initiatives in todays competitive business environment, this is the book.

When reading business books you are often faced with three choices: 300 pages to describe one diagram ; 300 pages to describe one ego (why I fixed the world/corporation) ; or 300 pages on clever theory with no idea how to make it happen. Thankfully this book is different. It has a range of practical ideas to turn strategy into reality. It has some novel insights into making BPO work, and uses theory about blueprints to help make decisions. The style of the text is quite wordy for me (bullet points are about all I can handle) - but there's good sections at the end of each chapter about what does the thinking mean for me - and that's really helpful. It answers the 'so what' question.