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Just Following Instructions

19 February, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Bureaucracy is bad; it is hopeless when people just follow the instructions to the letter.  They can’t help but mess it up.  Think of the last interaction you had with a call centre, chances are it was horrific. Check-lists are great; it is super when people just follow the instructions to the letter.  They can’t […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: bureaucracy, checklist, error proofing

Talking Rubbish

17 February, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The local Government Association has released a list of 200 words and phrases which councils should avoid as they are unclear. Included on the list are the following terms and their recommended replacements: Actioned – Do Core message – Main Point Functionality – Use Outcome focused output – Result Potentialities – Chances Transformational – Change […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: bureaucracy, communication, jargon, local government

Mad Business Rules

16 February, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

There are plenty of examples of mad business rules. According to Sky News, the supermarket chain Asda refused to sell a 44-year-old mother alcohol because she was shopping with her teenage son.  The supermarket chain went on to admit that its tough alcohol sales policy may “seem mad”. It does seem mad, on a number […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: accountability, beliefs, business rules, trust

Lies, Damn Lies and Google Analytics

16 February, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I wasted 2 hours of my life last night wading through this web site’s Google Analytics.  Here is what I found: 7.32% of visitors spend more than half an hour (presumably they are fantasising about pretty cross eyed blonde girls) I have had 7 unique visitors from the USA and 15 from Doncaster, which proves […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: data is not information, information technology, measurement

Are You Cheap Or Nasty

15 February, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

spam

You get what you pay for Product quality and cost are correlated; “you get what you pay for”. It is easy to cut costs, just reduce the quality of what you offer: 1.  Take longer to answer the phone 2.  Close the local branch 3.  Supply Spam instead of Ham Unfortunately the customer wants what the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: cost saving, cost versus quality

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