If you search Google for the term 'lean' you can find a huge amount of resources about this subject. At its simplest it is a business improvement methodology / philosophy but this seems to get missed and so businesses head off looking for some mysterious set of tools that will transform their business when in actual fact it is more likely to be an attitude that delivers the improvements. I once heard a highly respected business man state that 'lean is awful'. He was   referring to the cost cutting and vicious approaches that are often associated with lean. He then went on to talk about doing business 'simpler, faster and better', which sounds like a really good summary of lean. Many things are done in the name of lean, many of which are just not accurate. Some businesses get hung up on the methodology, don't try to shoe horn a solution just because it's from the lean toolbox. Use the right tool for the issue at hand, don't get hung up on the

So many businesses rely on their computer systems to provide accurate and meaningful information. In many cases their databases are riddled with holes, or even worse, incorrect information. Bad data often leads to the users creating sub systems to cope with the lack of confidence, which can create other problems including wasted time.  If you find that the data in your organisation is unreliable then don't keep quiet. Ensure that the offenders know that their data collection / input methods aren't acceptable and keep supporting them until the situation changes. Find out why the data is so bad. There may be an educational element, they may not fully understand what is required and some quick adjustments can make a big difference to the quality of data. When you do have reliable information available to you make sure that the data is used so that people value good data. If you're not going to use the information to help drive your business forwards then what is t

Kaizen is a term that is often bandied about within continuous improvement circles and by lean manufacturing experts. Kaizen is amazing, but quite often one of the more subtle aspects is often overlooked. Taking tiny steps is at the heart of the kaizen approach, a stance taken to help people overcome procrastination when projects or tasks look too complicated. When someone is faced with a large task, a proposition that will take far too long to complete in their eyes, procrastination can kick in. When we take the same task and look for the smallest and simplest way to get the task started then the resistance to the work usually disappears. This is one of the most powerful uses for kaizen - find the tiniest step. If new habits need to be formed in the workplace then you can use the same approach - find the simplest way and smallest way to perform part of the habit required. People gain momentum as their confidence increases and so what may seem a pointless tiny step could well be th

Have you ever noticed that from time to time some really big jobs crop up? They take an inordinate amount of time and you wonder where they come from. A common reason is that small bits of maintenance don't get performed, over time this issue compounds until one day something crashes to a halt. Finding the small regular maintenance activities can pay off in the long run if they are incorporated into a daily or weekly routine of some kind. Data bases and computer systems that are used to manage the day to day activities in your business are a great place to perform small chunks of maintenance. If your data becomes obsolete or can't be used to make decisions then it will be bypassed. If you continue along this path you may end up creating a sub-system of working rather than resolving the original problem. Keep your data bases and computer based systems (including the storage of files) organised and current through small acts of maintenance (and computer housekeeping!). When y

Many business improvement projects are embarked upon when some of the basics in a business are not being catered for. These projects are unlikley to work. The basics have to be in place first - the frills come second. When we ignore the fundamentals of a business little cracks appear in the business. Over time these cracks get bigger and bigger until something significant happens. For those of you who are into root cause problem solving you will know that this occurs only too often. However, if we fix the basics, we can prevent the occurrence of a 'show stopper'. When projects are designed to improve the finer aspects of how a business works it is always a good opportunity to make sure that all of the basics are in place already. I'm sure that you have heard countless 'house' analogies about weak foundations. Are there things in your business that aren't quite right that need to be tackled head on? By all means do the other tweaks later on. Are there patte

There is so much richness available to you when you have a face to face meeting that when you see systems being created that avoid this you may wonder why it has been done. Sometimes, the gain in efficiency is fantastic for the business.   However, at other times the lack of face to face contact can be detrimental to the business. When you meet face to face there is the ability to pick up on the nuances of the discussion and come to a decision quickly. When the same approach is tried via e-mail it can sometimes take a much longer time to come to agreement. Face to face can tell you a lot of information. Timings can become skewed when the discussions aren't in real time (as in a meeting). Often referred to as silos, work moves silently from one work station to another and what could take minutes in a formalised meeting can take days or weeks through other means. Face to face can speed up decision making for critical elements of the business. The ability to remind and re

When we are faced with many ongoing projects and accountabilities we find that many of our desired outcomes do not materialise. By regulating how we allow our spinning plates into our work lives can make a big difference in how we achieve change and results. When we focus on fewer items we can direct our energies so much more easily. If you have too many plates spinning why not put some of them away? Some of the plates we allow to spin have little value to our overall work; these can be removed from our current workloads and disposed of accordingly. Sometimes the mere fact that we keep thinking about other projects that we haven't started means that we need to find a way to stop thinking about those plates and to focus on the job at hand. Simple - keep a list. If you have too many spinning plates then stop! Take stock of where you are and adjust what you are working on and get some focus back (as well as some results!). Smartspeed Consulting Limited Deliver on Time with

In engineering (and many other disciplines) there is a stage gate process that prevents too much activity from taking place until there is enough capability or experience available. This idea can be applied to business improvement quite simply by recognising the phases of your improvement work. If you are needing to go through many changes in quick succession it may be worthwhile to define the most appropriate sequence and then to work out what the right pace would be. By this I mean you need to decide what the criteria is that allows you to progress along your road map. If you don't qualify then you don't progress. By defining the stage gates in the road map you gain clarity of what the map actually looks like. Without this level of definition you end up with a hazy map of activity. From defining the various requirements to move to the next phase you are able to clearly communicate what needs to happen at each stage. This clarity can help to improve the quality of the ac

When you are looking to make improvements in your business do you find that your idea gets shot down too quickly? Ensuring that you have a number of options to choose from means that you can have better chances of people saying 'yes' and that you as a business get to choose the best option rather than just settling for the only option. When the other members of your business have five reasons not to go ahead with something, it may be in your interest to have six reasons why you should go ahead. The more options you have the better view of the world you obtain. When we have a limited range of choices we cannot guarantee that we are making the best choice. The more creativity we can employ to create options means that we are going to be presenting ourselves with a better selection - and this could mean better results. The mere fact that we have more options means that if our plan gets stuck then we may be able to find another route to reach our objectives. A hybrid plan may

Sometimes we are asked – “why the name Smartspeed?” It’s a simple response – we help our clients to think differently (SMART) and then act with improved effectiveness and efficiency (SPEED). If you think about the experiences that you have had then you will probably be able to recall times where you have seen this not take place! Have you ever seen projects that have begun without fully understanding the facts? ‘We don’t have time to do all the paperwork!’ you may hear, but then there is enough time to rework various elements and work unpaid overtime to get the job completed. It reminds me of the saying “we don’t have time to do it right, but we have enough time to do it twice!” We chase after improvements only to find that the wrong things get improved because we failed to do the correct thinking or analysis at the start of the project. If only we got really clear about what we needed in terms of results then we could define a simpler and easier way forward. What about the peak

When faced with an opportunity to change, many businesses stall and delay. There can be many factors that can contribute to this behaviour, but there are some simple approaches that you can take to make the change process easier for you and your business. The PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) approach can help you to educate your teams that if the improvement doesn't work the first time round you are allowed to tweak the idea until you get it working in your business. Many improvements are not perfect the first time round. However,  dismissing them altogether if they don't quite work builds up a level of resistance to trying other ideas in the future. Prove that the change is possible and worthwhile to yourself and others by doing a tiny version of the improvement first. If you can get the hang of the small version then you can ramp up to bigger and better things. Doing a tiny version first reduces the risk to the business and the ego! Learn as you progress and try other things

The system in any business is what drives the performance. The individuals (the personalities) are essential to make the system work, but the performance of the overall business is due to the system. If you focus on the system then you are focussing on improving the overall business, not just pockets of activity within. When we look at the individuals we take our eye off the process that converts our customers wishes and wants into tangible products and services. Keeping this in mind means that we can work on developing our business system and improving the performance of individuals within the business at the same time. The system comprises of many parts outside of the individual, when we look at the whole system we are able to identify small improvements that can have large benefits. When we focus on the individual’s performance we ignore the large mass of the business that still isn’t improving. When we allow the individual to flourish through the system that defines the busin

When a change needs to happen within a business it can sometimes be frustrating to the business management to see a lack of progress. In many cases a route needs to be provided that clearly marks out the transition that will need to be made. If support is provided to help make the change then the uptake is higher. Leaving the change to happen on its own may mean that it will not happen if the perceptions of the people needing to make the change are significantly different to those dictating the change. Discussions around the change usually throw up issues and beliefs that do not have a basis in reality. Dealing with these issues and beliefs allows the change to happen with less resistance. Defining milestones of change can provide a short term focus that can help many people to follow the route. If the overall change process looks too big, or too long (or both) then those people required to make the change may procrastinate. Showing our team how to progress in small straightforwa