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Jan-Peter Bogers - Make It Simple

Realizing Projects Without Hassle

ORGANIZATIONS | PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Humans have the tendency to make things more complex. Especially in collaboration, and even more so in companies and organizations. But this is an enormous waste of resources (time, energy, flow, and finance). This is a rather complex way of saying our inclination to make things more complex is hurting us.

It pays (literally) to keep things simple. That sounds simple enough, but you probably could use a guide to help you achieve this. This book is exactly the guide you need. Dutch advisor, speaker, and trainer (he calls himself a professional meddler) Jan-Peter Bogers wrote Make It Simple for professionals and organizations to avoid the pitfalls of complex thinking and doing.

The book was shortlisted for Management Book of the Year and offers new ways of looking at our essential resources, and numerous examples of unnecessary complexity and ways to keep things simple.

Just like we could summarize this pitch in a simplified way: read the book and Make It Simple.

Simplifying is playful and dead serious at the same time. It starts with the mindset that simpler is often better, and ends with an easier realization of projects, and more dynamic organizations.

In Make It Simple, Jan-Peter Bogers describes how to recognize avoidable hassle and how to avoid unnecessary complexity. Five key questions, six energy drains, and a toolbox with 27 techniques will help you to simplify. Numerous examples and case studies show how simplifying works in practice.

Jan-Peter Bogers is advisor, speaker, and trainer, but he would rather call himself a professional meddler. He likes to peak behind the curtains in organizations and see why they do what they do. Is there a vision, a focus, spirit? He coaches organizations, teams, and projects to design a vision and in translating that vision into actions. Through inspiring and interactive lecturing, or through training and workshops, sometimes with an extensive counseling process. He wants to help organizations and professionals discover that things are often not as complicated as we perceive them. This was the topic of the book Make It Simple, and again in Story Doing, which he wrote together with Ron van Gils.

Jan-Peter makes the big and abstract terms and processes tangible and clear, like innovation, change, development, team building, and leadership. With sharp analysis and a creative perspective, he quickly comes to the core of a question, making the answers that follow to feel logical and doable.

RECOMMENDATIONS

‘Make It Simple is a different vision on organizing. It makes projects comprehensible and manageable, which clears the way for taking action.’ – Marcel Jongmans

‘Actually, this book should be mandatory reading for everybody who is involved in projects and other complex organizational things.’ – Martijn Aslander

‘A book for people who want to attack complexity with a filleting knife. Simplifying demands meticulous craftmanship.’ – Jaap Peeters

‘Jan-Peter Bogers makes it crystal clear that we too often lose track of the essence of what we do and get bogged down in the swamp of complexity. The book invites us to apply the techniques on small and large scale, and contributes to what managers aim for, getting things done!’ – Management Book of the Year Jury Report

‘When I started reading, I was skeptical, but it was a joy to read and is filled with relatable situations. And it offers a ton of option to turn away from ‘the hassle’, a book well worth reading!’ – Dick Bos

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Martijn Aslander
How to read this book

Part 1, the Theory
Chapter 1, Make It Simple, Why? What? How?
Chapter 2, Make It Simple, When and for Whom?
Chapter 3, Frequently Used Terms
Chapter 4, Five Ways to Simplify
Chapter 5, Hassle
Chapter 6, Complexity
Chapter 7, The Value of Simplifying

Part 2, the Energy Drains
Chapter 8, A Different Approach to Money
Chapter 9, A Different Approach to Time
Chapter 10, A Different Approach to Rules
Chapter 11, A Different Approach to People
Chapter 12, A Different Approach to Ourselves
Chapter 13, A Different Approach to Complexity

Part 3, the Toolbox
Chapter 14, Make it Small
Chapter 15, Make it Big
Chapter 16, Make a Choice
Chapter 17, Make it Sharp
Chapter 18, Make it Visible
Chapter 19, Deregulate
Chapter 20, Regulate
Chapter 21, The Right People
Chapter 22, The Right Questions
Chapter 23, Do it!

Part 4, Cases of Simplifying
Chapter 24, The Helicopter School
Chapter 25, Jimmy’s
Chapter 26, The Maritime Museum
Chapter 27, The Flexible Civil Servant
Chapter 28, Hans is Falling Behind
Chapter 29, There’s My iMac!
Chapter 30, This Book

Part 5, Literature
Chapter 31, Simplifying Online
Chapter 32, Interesting Books
Chapter 33, Related Subjects

Acknowledgments
About the Author
About the Illustrator

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