Supplier Risk Scoring: A Plain Guide for Teams Starting Out
Not every supplier deserves the same scrutiny. A simple risk score tells you where to look first — and where to stop worrying.
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XNM Blog
Practical guidance on capital projects, governance, financing, and delivery for Indigenous and public-sector leaders.
Articles
Before You Fix Anything: Getting the Define Phase Right
The Define phase decides whether a Lean Six Sigma project solves a real problem or wanders for months. Here is what it actually involves.
Read more →The Daily Scrum Is Not a Status Meeting — Here's What It Actually Is
A beginner-friendly look at the Daily Scrum: why it exists, why it isn't a status report, and how to run one that the developers actually own.
Read more →Who Holds the Project: A Plain Guide to Stakeholder Mapping
A beginner-friendly walk through stakeholder mapping and influence, so you spend your attention where it actually moves the project forward.
Read more →Safety Stock, Item by Item: The Difference Between Buffer and Bloat
One blanket safety-stock rule for every SKU is how you end up overstocked and short at the same time. Here is what sizing it properly looks like — and what it doesn't.
Read more →Running DMAIC Well in a Volatile Year: A Side-by-Side Look
DMAIC is only as good as the discipline behind it. Here is what a strong improvement project looks like at each phase, and how a weak one quietly falls apart.
Read more →Sprint Planning That Actually Finishes on Time: Two Teams, Two Outcomes
Same Scrum Guide, same eight-person team, wildly different results. The difference between a Sprint that lands and one that spills over is almost always set during planning.
Read more →Your Risk Register Is Probably a Graveyard. Here's How to Bring It Back to Life
A risk register only earns its keep when it changes what people do. Here is the difference between a register that drives action and one that just sits there.
Read more →Stop Betting on One Supplier: A Dual-Sourcing Checklist for This Week
Resilience is built before the shortage, not during it. Here is a practical checklist to start dual-sourcing your critical inputs in days, not quarters.
Read more →Draw the SIPOC First: A Field Checklist Before You Start DMAIC
A SIPOC keeps an improvement project honest about its boundaries. Use this one-week checklist to scope the work before you touch a single measure.
Read more →Write a Sprint Goal Your Team Will Actually Commit To
A Sprint Goal is a single objective, not a to-do list. Here is a field checklist for writing one the Developers will commit to and stakeholders will understand.
Read more →The RAID Log That Survives Contact With a Real Project
Most RAID logs go stale within a month. Here is a field checklist to build one your team actually keeps current, even through a volatile 2022.
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