This book demonstrates how Problem Solving and Process Management is at the heart of continuous business transformation. Logically organized in four parts, it introduces the reader to the domains of change and the process management body of knowledge (BOK) and gives detailed instruction on how to creatively re-engineer processes, sustain innovation and continually improve an enterprise through proven repetitive methods. And unlike any book on the subject it offers a practical step-by-step approach that includes the steps, the templates, and the metrics to keep it on track. Features a tried and tested, practical 17-step "how to" Problem Solving and Process Management methodology that can be used in any business environment. Includes numerous figures and examples of charts and documents used at each step of the process. References standard forms, tools, and training materials in the Appendix. Addresses how to engage the people who are using, creating, and improving the management process. Explains the steps in creating a process management methodology and presents the process management body of knowledge without the "fad" or spin. Highlights the importance of good process management to corporate business transformation. Part I: Transforming the Business - Achieving a Culture of InnovationAn Introduction to Business Transformation-The Methodology & Philosophy The Phases of Business Transformation Explained - Laying the Foundation for Continuous Innovation The Organizational Approach to Business Transformation Part II: Analyzing the Status Quo - By Constantly QuestioningHow to Analyze the "As Is" Business Processes Research Customer Needs and ExpectationsSelect the IssueDefine/Design the ProcessEstablish Standards and Design Performance MeasuresImplement the Processes, Standards, Measures, and Quality SystemsConfirm the Process/Issue FocusSet the Improvement Objectives and Schedule Part III: Continuous Innovation - By Problem SolvingCreative Process ImprovementCause and Effect AnalysisGathering and Analyzing Root Cause DataSelecting the Root Cause to be AddressedFormulate Alternative SolutionsEvaluate and Select the Best SolutionDocument SolutionsInvestigate and Validate the SolutionClosing the Loop through Continuous Improvement Part IV: Engaging the People - Sustaining InnovationManaging Process Improvement Teams - Making it WorkSustaining Innovation with a Higher Purpose Appendices - Management Tools

This practical guide to the components of engineering management employs a holistic approach. It will help engineers and managers understand how to improve the product development process by deploying new technology and new methods of working in concurrent teams. The book integrates elements from six well-known and understood bodies of knowledge: integrated product development, project management, process management, systems engineering, product data management, and organizational change management. These elements are framed within an overall enterprise-wide architecture. The techniques discussed work for both huge multinational organizations and smaller enterprises. The emphasis throughout is on practical tools for engineers, managers, and consultants responsible for project and product development.

Today 13 million people are living in poverty in the UK. According to a 2017 report, 1 in 5 children live below the poverty line. The new poor, however, are an even larger group than these official figures suggest. They are more often than not in work, living precariously and betrayed by austerity policies that make affordable good quality housing, good health and secure employment increasingly unimaginable. In The New Poverty investigative journalist Stephen Armstrong travels across Britain to tell the stories of those who are most vulnerable. It is the story of an unreported Britain, abandoned by politicians and betrayed by the retreat of the welfare state. As benefit cuts continue and in-work poverty soars, he asks what long-term impact this will have on post-Brexit Britain and - on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the 1942 Beveridge report - what we can do to stop the destruction of our welfare state.

Boost your organization's growth by incorporating networking in the DevOps culture About This Book * Implement networking fundamentals to the DevOps culture with ease, improving your organization's stability * Leverage various open source tools such as Puppet and Ansible in order to automate your network * This step-by-step learning guide collaborating the functions of developers and network administrators Who This Book Is For The book is aimed for Network Engineers, Developers, IT operations and System admins who are planning to incorporate Networking in DevOps culture and have no knowledge about it. What You Will Learn * Learn about public and private cloud networking using AWS and OpenStack as examples * Explore strategies that can be used by engineers or managers to initiate the cultural changes required to enable the automation of network functions * Learn about SDN and how an API-driven approach to networking can help solve common networking problems * Get the hang of configuration management tools, such as Ansible and Jenkins, that can be used to orchestrate and configure network devices * Setup continuous integration, delivery, and deployment pipelines for network functions * Create test environments for network changes * Understand how load balancing is becoming more software defined with the emergence of microservice applications In Detail Frustrated that your company's network changes are still a manual set of activities that slow developers down? It doesn't need to be that way any longer, as this book will help your company and network teams embrace DevOps and continuous delivery approaches, enabling them to automate all network functions. This book aims to show readers network automation processes they could implement in their organizations. It will teach you the fundamentals of DevOps in networking and how to improve DevOps processes and workflows by providing automation in your network. You will be exposed to various networking strategies that are stopping your organization from scaling new projects quickly. You will see how SDN and APIs are influencing DevOps transformations, which will in turn help you improve the scalability and efficiency of your organizations networks operations. You will also find out how to leverage various configuration management tools such as Ansible, to automate your network. The book will also look at containers and the impact they are having on networking as well as looking at how automation impacts network security in a software-defined network. Style and approach This will be a comprehensive, learning guide for teaching our readers how networking can be leveraged to improve the DevOps culture for any organization.

In 2000 No Logo described a vision of rapacious corporations building brands at the expense of impoverished third world employees and ripped-off first world consumers. Now, only eight years later, No Logo looks almost optimistic against the rise of a new and insidious club of global billionaires who are buying up once unfashionable industries like oil, steel, shipping and mining from distressed third-world nations and formerly Communist powers. Often backed by mafia money or dubious political connections, these oligarchs have no shareholders and no home nation - they are the sum total of their corporations. We are dependent on these men - they fuelled our recent boom. They come to us for our light taxation and our willingness to sell them class and influence via an Eton education for their kids and cheaply bought honours. These men are becoming ever richer as the rest of the world suffers credit crunch and recession. They deal in the commodities that the planet's economies need but which are becoming ever more scarce. There are no national governments that can control or legislate against them - they will simply move to another of their five or six palatial homes. In this recession, we are all acutely aware of our dwindling wealth and the spiralling prices of essentials. The fact that these are in fewer and nastier hands than ever before has rarely - if ever - been explained by the media. It's time for a book that points out the power of these individuals and how they are just the start of a deeply worrying trend. The buyers of Tescopoly and No Logo have long been aware of overly powerful corporations. The rise of men whose personal wealth and power far outranks most of the companies in these books should alarm these concerned citizens - and encourage them to find out more. This book will paint a vivid picture using interviews, first hand experience, expert comment and some futurology to give them the information they need.

No longer dogs of war running ragtag armies, the new breed of private soldiers operate their million-dollar contracts from executive boardrooms worldwide. Whether they're ex-special forces, CIA spooks or Foreign Legionnaires, you'll find them exchanging gunfire with insurgents in Baghdad, patrolling government buildings in Afghanistan, or spying on environmental protestors. The lucrative contracts of the 'War on Terror' have made their plans even more ambitious - to offer governments and corporations discrete and well-trained private armies. These corporate soldiers are part of the last great outsourcing - the privatisation of war. War plc examines how we got here, how these companies operate, and how close we are to letting them run our battlefields.