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The Basics

12 January, 2014 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Distraction

If you run a corner store: You must open from 7 ’till 11 You should stock milk, bread, toothpaste… And you know to you will work Sundays If you run a fast food restaurant: The food must be filling The food should be tasty (enough) And you know to keep the toilets clean If you […]

Filed Under: Blog, Wild Cards Tagged With: focus, purpose, service improvement

Counting Mushy Peas

10 January, 2014 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Mushy Peas

Operational definition In the movie East is East there is a great line Crude… But great… And what d’you think I do in there morning till night? Counting mushy fuckin’ peas? Can you think of anything more futile than counting mushy peas? In his book The Tiger That Isn’t (which is also great) Andrew Dilnot picks up on […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: measurement, operational definition

Are You Above Average?

5 January, 2014 by James Lawther 12 Comments

We love averages They let us know how we are doing, we run our businesses on averages, we judge ourselves against averages, average headlines even sell newspapers: £2m: average pay award for JP Morgan’s top staff 2013 Weather Summary: Sunnier than average Average woman will kiss 15 men and be heartbroken twice before … (Which link […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: average, key performance indicators, measurement, statistics

Should You Punish Mistakes?

2 January, 2014 by James Lawther 22 Comments

Should You Punish Mistakes? Bob Hoover's plane

If somebody made a mistake that nearly killed you, would you punish the mistake? In 1989 there was an air show at Brown Field in San Diego. The test pilot Bob Hoover was taking thrill-seekers for flights in his Shrike Commander, a small, piston-powered, passenger plane.  The passengers were known as “Hoover’s Heavers” — more often […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: aviation, blame, error proofing, video

Simple is the New Clever

30 December, 2013 by James Lawther 10 Comments

Management is about clarity But clarity is a rare gift… Most of us like to be more strategic in our communication… We love to look serious and feel clever… Nobody likes to sound simple We must penetrate the customer base vertically and horizontally If we reallocate our assets we can achieve synergy and benefit from […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: communication, complexity, Dilbert, management style, simplicity

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