State-of-the-Art Teamwork
Is Within Your Grasp!

I work with people in problem-solving organizations who make complex products or sophisticated services that need state-of-the-art teamwork, and with organizations that want to achieve high performance by building stronger relationships among their people.

ynamic problem-solving organizations face special problems. In producing products and services for their customers, we must make technology work in new ways, before any of our competitors do. A "dynamic problem-solving organization" produces first-of-a-kind commercial products and services based on technical mastery and state-of-the-art teamwork.

This Web site is way more than a hyperlinked brochure. You'll find hundreds of articles here, packed with valuable content. Keep reading below, or take a quick look right now.

I'm Rick Brenner, principal of Chaco Canyon Consulting. I understand what life is like in problem-solving organizations that depend on teamwork for success. I know what it takes to be successful in a fast-paced, high-pressure environment, and still hang on to your humanity, your integrity, and your sense of humor.

New ebook: How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble Starts

Project failures — even project disasters — are much more common than most of us realize, because most failures are concealed by the facts that the project was completed, and that it accomplished more or less what we thought it would. The projects that fail utterly, and end in cancellation, are the obvious disasters. But most troubled projects are hidden. Finding them while there's still time to avert the trouble, and then preventing trouble or extricating these projects from trouble, can make a big difference in organizational performance. Read How to Spot a Troubled Project Before the Trouble Starts to learn about the dozens of indicators that a sandbar or white water might be around the next bend in the river. Only USD 19.95. Order Now!

Announcing a Major Update: 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams

303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams, formerly 202 Tips for Managing Global Teams, is now 50% bigger! It now has 303 tips, directed at the needs of team leads, sponsors and team members. At over 22,000 words, it's about twice the size of Who Moved My Cheese? Packed with tips and insights for anyone involved in virtual or global teams, it's easily worth its price of USD 19.77. In PDF format, you can take it anywhere you take your computer or Acrobat-capable PDA, without adding to the weight you lug around. More · Order now

And another Major Update: Virtual and Global Teams: Training Pack

Virtual and Global Teams: Training Pack is also updated and expanded. Things move rapidly, and the past two years have led to dramatic changes in both how we manage virtual and global teams and the scale of projects we tackle. This package includes a slide presentation (over 80 slides), an accompanying script (almost 20,000 words), and a copy of 303 Tips for Virtual and Global Teams. The presentation contains enough material for at least a one-day training — more if you encourage attendee participation and discussion. It's ideal for organizations that want to deploy an internal training session on virtual or global teams rapidly and economically, using internal resources. USD 495.00 · More · Order now

Many of my ebooks are now available through Google Checkout!

You can now place your orders for many of my ebooks and courses through Google's Checkout online store. All you need is a credit card. Either search for "Chaco Canyon Consulting" at Google Base, Google's on-line store, or look for the Google Checkout symbol here on my Web site. Of course, you can still place your orders through this store, but if you prefer Google Checkout, just click the Google Checkout symbol to make a purchase from this Web site through Google Checkout.

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Sign up for my free newsletter

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter of tips, insights and perspectives that help people in dynamic problem-solving organizations find better ways to work with each other. It gives concrete, nuts-and-bolts methods for dealing with real-life situations. Sign up now or check out some sample issues.

Point Lookout for May 7: Ending Conversations

At times, we need to end the current conversation. It's going nowhere, or we have something important to do, or we just don't want to deal with the other person. Here are some suggestions for ending conversations.

Where you can catch me

Check out public programs where you can catch me live, or publications where my articles appear. More

Join the Library of Personal Trade Secrets

A growing collection of tips, tricks and techniques members use to deal with the hassles of everyday life at work — to thrive and to succeed. Charter membership is free to anyone who contributes a Personal Trade Secret. View some samples

Get personal coaching from Rick

Get the extra boost you need to get address sudden, unexpected challenges or opportunities or problems of long-standing — rapidly and effectively. More

Check out Rick's Resources

Ebooks, tips books, email tips, essays, and other resources for people in problem-solving organizations. All designed for people so busy they don't even have time to read the directions on their prescriptions.

Make your next workshop or seminar a hit!

Check out what people say after they attend Rick's events. Download a program catalog, and check out my resources for meeting planners.

Spreadsheet modeling services

Since we use spreadsheets to manage our projects and our enterprises, we should use them as effectively as we can. Check out Spreadsheet Models for Managers. For more about my spreadsheet consulting and training services, visit SpreadsheetAce.com.

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