Why Good Operations Are More Like a Waltz Than a Race

When I named my company The Optimum Department, I knew the word “optimum” might raise eyebrows. In a world obsessed with productivity hacks, relentless optimization, and squeezing every last drop of efficiency from every process, “optimum” can s...

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication" - Leonardo  Da Vinci

If research administrators could distill the management and administration of grant portfolios and department operations into a single word, I imagine complex would be the most common endorsement. Some complexity is inherent in the pr...

For many academic departments, centers, and units with a research mission, focusing on their core objective can be frustrating, messy, and exhausting. Research administrators often deal with complicated email threads discussing changes in project effort, managing reporting requirements, questions ab...