An article in the Independent on Sunday reminded me of a nice little exercise we do to help people identify the difference between good and bad performance measures. Continue reading
Tag Archives: process
Little Boxes Pt2 – Jigsaws Are Better
In part one of this blog, I concluded that repairs scheduling is fundamentally flawed. Maintenance companies try to shoehorn irregular shaped jobs into nice, standardised boxes and it leads to appointments being missed and repairs left unfinished. The company wants its’ customers to be compliant and flexible, but customers need the opposite to be true. So how do we fix the system? Continue reading
Little Boxes – a blog of two halves
The boxes you see below were a feature of all repairs services throughout the country in the last decade. As it happens, the photo was taken earlier this year, proving that they are alive and well in many services. Continue reading
Run for the hills; it’s Lean and Investors in People!
Two, true tales from the coalface today; Little Miss Lean and Mr IiP. Continue reading
I keep on knocking but I can’t get in
If you were running a repairs service, how many times out of 100 would you expect someone to be in when you knocked on the door? You would want to get as close to 100 as possible wouldn’t you, as missed appointments waste time for your highly skilled tradespeople. Continue reading
Cycling, Team GB and Systems Thinking
Watching the British cycling team at London 2012 has been a heart-warming experience. Their success is quite incredible and it made me think about the approach they take to preparing their riders and, bear with me on this, how it echoes the Vanguard Method. Continue reading
Premium delivery and the price of stamps
Twice yesterday I found myself ticking the box to pay an extra fee for a “premium” delivery service. For the first one, I paid for an “am” delivery rather than the standard “anytime”. In the second example, I paid for the goods to be delivered in 1-2 days instead of the quoted 10 days. Continue reading