Many business don't see how they can make improvements. "We don't have a process, every project is bespoke!" is a usual response. However if you stand back far enough you can see your process. Most businesses progress their orders through similar steps, or stages. If you can identify these steps then you have identified the overview of your process. The bits in-between the steps might be different on each 'project', but as long as you can identify the correct deliverables at the end of each stage then you will be able to make gains. The handover is usually a critical point in a process to reduce lead time and improve quality. You may not need to flog the continuous improvement ethos on the bits in-between! If you find your generic process then you can find a route to make improvements. Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

Often we want improvements to work in certain way. When we let other people do it their way there is a chance that they create something that isn't perfect, hopefully it is functional, but what can we do about it? If we have something looming in the background then we can use their offering as a stepping stone to our final solution. We may not get it 100% identical, but 97% is surely better than a lack of implementation. Their input into their solution increases their buy in to the change. It's like the story of boiling a frog - if you do it slowly you can boil the frog, if you go too quickly the frog jumps away. Sometimes using multiple stepping stones is needed because people may find change harder than we do. The key is finding tiny steps to take. Stepping stones can sometimes be the only option we have. If you need to make changes but are struggling to get your team on board then consider using stepping stones to help them make their journey. This is an esp

We rush around and try to get our part of the project completed. We bust our guts to get the job done, and then we find out that our work sits idly at the next stage waiting for.... something! Many times during a project information isn't communicated accurately and this means that delays can build up between activities through different 'suppliers' having an unclear view of what the overall plan is. By ensuring that you understand what the delay actually is, or working to avoid the delay, you can use your time and efforts more wisely to work on the right task at the right time. Working with the other partners on a project to keep all of the elements moving along is a logical progression, minimising the overall delays on the project. If we are unclear about the delays facing us in a project we risk running ahead of the real schedule whilst other parts of the business are lagging behind. Find out the real picture and re-allocate your resources accordingly!

Often the day to day running of a business can appear complex and confusing. This chaotic mess can make the act of improving the business seem more difficult that it really is. If you take the perspective of cause and effect then the act of deciding on what changes need to take place should come from the causal point of view. When we look at the chaos we are looking at the effect of the current system and, whilst it can be used for reference, decisions should be made at cause (or how it should work). When you go back to the design of the business then simplicity can also return. It can be difficult to try and force processes and people to change their behaviours when things aren’t going to plan, but when you alter the design of the system so that the work flows differently through the business then the results can change quickly. In this case you can start at the beginning and define how the business needs to work correctly step by step. When you get a couple of the initial s

If you look at projects that are taking place you can often find that stages within the project stall, causing delay for the remainder of the project. In many cases this is not because the work is too hard or requires more time, it is because it is perceived to be too hard or too long. This perception leads to stalling and then a self fulfilling prophecy about the particular task(s) being too hard or too long. Preparation can often be the catalyst as it can help to change people’s perspective. At a basic level it can be used to help people understand exactly how they are going to do the task and get clear on exactly how difficult or time consuming it really is. Clearly identifying the tasks and getting a proper grasp of what needs to happen usually helps things to get started. By doing the preparatory work the task itself will have begun. The realisation that the work is not as difficult as originally thought coupled with the fact that the task has already begun creates a mom

When tasks are delegated to members within a team the clarity of the work packages can determine how fast the work gets done, the quality of the work produced and the amount of support that is required. Many businesses don’t get their packages right and this results in delays and poor performance. Providing the background or focus for the package of work can set the proper context, which in turn allows the person doing the work to make the appropriate decisions. A lack of understanding of why the work needs to be done seriously impairs the ability to get the job done. Clarification of the required outputs (or outcomes) from the package of work is also essential. This usually includes a deadline for completion of the agreed work and can help your team to work backwards to define the necessary steps to complete the work package. There may be specific steps that you need to include also. Designing the work packages so that they can be inserted correctly into the next stage

At the end of many projects there is usually a rush to achieve the deadline. In many cases additional tasks seem to appear and make the task of completing a project on time a lot more difficult. A way around this is preparation; understanding what tasks need to be completed at the end of the project helps to reduce the amount of surprises encountered. If you work backwards from the fully completed project you usually find it is relatively straightforward to identify the steps that need to take place. Likewise, knowing how the project is meant to start effectively can also mean that there is less to do at the end. This is usually the most defined part of the project (as crystal balls work best with short horizons!), but often steps are missed out that mean that work has to happen at the end and not the start. In the middle of the project there will be the bulk of the activity, the recommendation here is to understand how you close out the tasks, to ensure that they don'

A Tyneside entrepreneur is helping North-East businesses become more efficient. Giles Johnston is MD of Smartspeed Consulting Ltd, based in Jarrow. The 34-year-old Chartered Engineer specialises in helping businesses become leaner and fitter. One of the techniques he uses is called Kaizen, which originates in Japan. The term means improvement or change for the better. Giles explains, “The concept is that of continuous improvement through incremental changes. Implemented properly, it helps overcome resistance to change because it is designed to allay fears and involve all concerned. “Kaizen is very different from the big scale command and control management style that has so dominated British Industry for decades. This is because the technique focuses on solving particular problems through a step-by-step process. “In short, it promotes nibbling change and not chewing off too much! “Kaizen is very much about involving the workers in finding solutions as opposed to management

A recurring observation about people using computers is that most people don't know how to use them to become more productive. After all, computers are meant to be one of the ultimate productivity tools. Shortcuts are one of the best examples. Many key strokes and mouse clicks can be boiled down into a shortcut. Long handed ways of doing things can be replaced and your productivity can increase. Understanding the functions of your computer programs is another area that is often overlooked. New versions of software get released and people use them like the version they used five years ago! Taking a short tour of your software can help you to find new ways to work. Some logical searching on a search engine can give you many answers. Searches such as 'Excel keyboard shortcuts' or 'best features in Word 2010' can bring you quickly a whole raft of ideas on how to use your software more effectively. Most of us only use a small part of our software's potential,

When diaries get full and people get really busy lots of little things don't get done. When this happens it is like going to the dentist for your regular check up, but you haven't cleaned your teeth for the last six months! When the little things in a business don't get done (analogous to cleaning your teeth) then after a while you encounter problems in your business. They seem to appear suddenly, but they haven't - they have just not been in your consciousness until then. Focussing only on the big things will leave your business riding on a wave of being out of control, followed by periods of correction, and then feeling in control. Just as you start to feel comfortable and get busy again the little things start to get dropped once more and the cycle continues. You need to schedule the big things and plan your resources accordingly. You also need to come up with a way to keep all of the little things going. The trick is to get both scheduled and acted upon on an

Change can be tough to accept for many people. If it were easier we would find that more improvements happened on their own, but they don't. However, if we can find something to pull improvements through a business, rather than pushing them, life can become a lot easier. It's similar to a skip on a housing estate that gets filled by the neighbours in the dead of night. For years no one has cleared their garages, and then suddenly there is a window of opportunity (the skip) and the job gets done with ease. The tiny changes we make in our business get around people's reluctance to change, but when there is a significant change all manner of other improvements can be made at the same time. People see the big change as inevitable and so are often more willing to accept the other changes brought in at the same time. Whether the change is a new computer system, a restructure or a promotion it brings with it the opportunity to add in additional changes. Obviously th

When we improve the clarity of what we do the irrelevant disappears and the work content can decrease. In other words, when we are clear about what we do, we will find that we need to work less.   Sounds great, doesn't it? Double handling takes place when we are unclear of what we need to do. The best way to increase work throughput or increase flexibility is to do a job once only. Improve the clarity of the work instructions and this can happen in your business. Unclear instructions lead to more questions. Usually the instructions are incomplete because they haven’t been thought out fully. If you find projects stalling, tasks not being finished (or even started!) or inadequate work being produced then review your instructions and check to make sure they are complete. When we have unnecessary complexity in our business things can take a long time. When we get clear about the purpose of the business simplicity can be derived. This allows us to deliver more results wi

Day to day business can get awfully complicated. When it starts to be too much is often the starting point for business improvement activity. However, streamlining and simplifying your processes without adequate focus can deliver less than optimal solutions. It is crucial to remember why a process or system exists; this will help you re-focus your approach. In some cases processes can be eliminated rather than improved, things change and sometimes business processes don't follow. When you come from the purpose of why a process exists a very complex situation is boiled down to its essence. When you have the 'aha' moment of what the purpose is, the myriad of steps within the process make sense and you can quickly find the improvement areas that are required and then come up with a simpler approach. Coming from purpose cuts out the unnecessary, everything that doesn't help you achieve your purpose stands out like a sore thumb. Pruning becomes far simpler when