When I first start working with clients, one of the complaints they often make  is that their projects are not progressing quickly enough. Upon further inspection their diary seems so stuffed full of things that they don’t have time to get anything done in the first place! Sometimes this problem is due to procrastination, and when that is the case then breaking the overall project down into small packets is a great way to move forward. Small chunks of time that are easy to schedule that have a clear start, middle and end. These small packets of time work even better when they are done at the start of the working day. You can also put a number of small packets together if you feel inclined. If you are feeling stuck with your projects then consider re-planning the work and putting it into palatable chunks of work and trying to schedule those instead. Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

There is a great saying 'it is better to have a short pencil than a long memory'. Getting things out of your head and on to paper can do great things for your own personal productivity. When you have ideas and tasks crammed into your head then you run several risks: 1 - You might miss the tasks deadline or never do the task. 2 - Your mind will probably be constantly running on overtime just so that you don't forget. 3 - You might miss the other opportunities and ideas that arise. How you keep your lists and how you choose to use them is up to you. People who are organised, thorough and not bogged down with a thousand things in their heads usually get the job done quickest. How do you organise your thoughts?   Smartspeed Consulting Limited Taking the frustration out of on time delivery.

In 2006 the James Bond franchise was given one of the most successful reboots in film history with the release of Casino Royale. This rebooting of famous franchises has become something of a trend but it’s not just the movie world that can use it for renewal and reinvigoration. Giles Johnston of Smartspeed Consulting Ltd believes that rebooting your business is essential – and it shouldn’t only be done on a periodic basis. In fact Giles has been working with clients in utilising what he calls Daily Reboots. He explains, “Regular well focused meetings are a great way of reviewing the status of a business and for planning ahead.” Giles has worked as a business consultant for eight years, specialising in helping companies become more efficient and effective. He uses a variety of methods for this, including Lean Management techniques, Kaizen and Operations Management. Giles also delivers training workshops that focus on such areas as on time delivery and continuous improvement t

When you get into the thick of things it can be very difficult to see what needs to happen to a process or a business. The noise from the day to day activity can blur the distinction between what the business needs to do and what it is currently doing. Knowing what the 'design' of the business should be is something that you need to keep visible at all times. If the business is not working in the right way then the design becomes the compass for you to guide your actions by. Bad practices form over time and when you are looking for ideas for improvement comparing where you need to be with where you are is a way of providing this guidance. Also, when you look at the design of a business, you can work out backwards how things are meant to work. So if you know how many 'things' you need to do in a day, for example, you can work out how fast your process needs to be in order to cope effectively. If you are getting lost with your improvements then look at the design.

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.