Alaska Airlines has made an interesting step in process control. (For all of you rolling your eyeballs at the thought of process control you should remember that aeroplanes that are out of control are generally a bad thing.) They have replaced the 11 kilos of paper flight manuals that pilots are required to carry when […]
Constraints and Excuses
It is really easy to blame other people when you can’t do something, when constraints get in the way. To rail against the inadequacies in life, to find somebody to blame. It makes us feel vindicated, it isn’t our fault, and because it isn’t our fault we can’t be held accountable. Poor performance becomes OK. […]
Fessing Up
The Americans have an unpleasant phrase: to “fess up”, or admit what the issue is and take responsibility for it. It isn’t a nice thing to have to do. Running a long way isn’t nice either. The first time you do it your heart pounds, you get hot and sweaty, your lungs feel like they […]
Error Proofing Suicide
Here is a process improvement idea; you should make it easy for people to get something right and difficult for them to get it wrong. Classic examples include flat pack furniture that only fits together one way, or the fact that all around the world a red light means stop. The converse principle also exists, […]
Zombies and KPI’s
I subscribe to quite a few performance measurement emails, web sites and blogs. I’ve noticed a worrying trend of sites offering “off the shelf” KPIs. In fact you can now buy books packed with “ideal” KPIs for all sorts of businesses (oh, how the long winter nights must fly by). Are the measures in these […]
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