We've just had our 6th birthday. Despite the (low key) celebrations we have compiled a new report that is available from our main website. There is also a link above on the menu to give you more information. The report comes from a review of the themes that have been present during our projects over the last six years and provides some ideas on how you can avoid these various pitfalls so that your business can deliver its products and services on time more easily. Sometimes delivering on your promises can be a lot of hard work. If this is you then follow the link to download the report and then make some basic changes to your business and see what happens. You can also click here to download the report (see top left corner of the page). All the best, Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

One of the commonly bandied about phrases is 'added value'. This has led to a number of analyses to be done for businesses when considering how they can make improvements. If the improvement actually delivers a real benefit then it can be considered to add value, for example: If you save someone's time on doing something, but don't get them to do something else that makes profit then you haven't realised a benefit - you are still paying them the same. On the flip side if you reduce shift working / overtime thanks to an improvement then that is a real saving. If the improvement allows you to do something strategic, but that doesn't ultimately make your business a better place to work or create more profit then you haven't made an improvement. I hope you can see that once you have identified an improvement and worked out its potential to benefit the business then you need to find a way to use this extra capacity / capacity to increase the profi

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