One of the questions I get asked is ‘when is it a good time to improve?’
This question is usually asked by people who need to make changes to their business but cannot find the time to make changes of any sort. Fire fighting and running around are order of the day and you can see why this question would be asked.
I don’t think there is ever a good time to improve, it’s just one of those things we need to embrace and get on with. There are ways to make life easier of course when implementing change. Breaking projects up into tiny steps is a good one and so is sharing the workload.
Perhaps, and this is the point of this post, my answer to the question is ‘at the start of the day’. When we perform our small contribution to the improvement project at the start of the day it is given the best chance of success for actually happening. Also, if you subscribe to Parkinson’s Law, then you will catch up with the other tasks of the day and have made some improvement.
Could it really be that simple?
Giles Johnston
Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer