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The Management Spork

20 October, 2013 by James Lawther 10 Comments

spork

I grew up in the 80’s. One of the breakthroughs of the decade was the Spork. It was half spoon, half fork and if you bought the deluxe version, it had a serrated edge making it half knife as well (don’t think about that too hard). The Spork was billed as the end to all […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: bad process, employee performance measures, form follows function, mixed messages, performance management, sacred cows

Form Follows Function

16 October, 2013 by James Lawther 2 Comments

This is not new news Fire engines look the way they do so they can put out fires The London Underground looks the way it does so it can transport people Crocodiles look the way they do… (maybe now I am labouring the point) If you know your function then your form will follow. So far […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: form follows function, purpose, service design, video

Do You Design Against Demand?

5 March, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Here is a very simple 2 step improvement idea for you: Understand the customer demands that are placed on your organisation Design your infrastructure and processes to meet those demands. Or, to put it a little less managerially, find out why your customers call you, then work out the best way to give them what […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: customer requirements, economies of scale, efficiency versus effectiveness, form follows function, Olympics, service design, video

Gordon Ramsay, Darcey Bussell and Your Next Re-Org

19 February, 2013 by James Lawther 7 Comments

When we are faced with a problem, maybe a new competitor, a cost challenge, a product launch or simply a new job, we marshal our forces to deal with it. We reform our departments Shuffle our management teams Hire the right talent Politely ask those who aren’t performing to the standard we expect to leave. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: form follows function, redundancy, reorganisation, tampering, teamwork, trust, video, wasted intellect

The Problem With Technology

24 October, 2012 by James Lawther 4 Comments

Alarm Clock

I’m on holiday.  Two weeks in southwest France.  Glorious autumnal weather, misty mornings, bright sunny days and trees with leaves of every shade from burnt copper to liquid gold (very poetic if a little formulaic, sorry). Of course to get here involved a little trauma; no pain no gain.  I had to leave home at […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: complexity, error proofing, form follows function, graphical user interface, interactive voice response, less is more, web site design

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