I was recently involved with an organisation that never finished its projects. There were some really bright people in the business, doing things that I had to stand back to and say ‘wow’. The only problem was that the specification of the system they were developing was never set in stone. Continuous Improvement only works if you can develop something that is currently working. Agreeing what a good standard was for the specification and agreeing on how the disparate systems should speak was my job and it was a fun project to be involved with. The lesson from this that I want to share however is that if you have projects that creep forward and never get finished off then define the standard (or specification) that makes sense to you right now and plan to make it a reality. You can refine and improve it later , but for today – let’s get the new process / system working. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

One of the questions I get asked, particularly at networking events or at workshops, is ‘how does someone find time to make improvements to their business?’ It’s a good question and in this update I wanted to share a simple approach that you can use in your own business to help with scheduling the implementation of the improvements you want to make. This tool is simple to create, and if you are good with spreadsheets, it is even easier! There are three steps to create the tool, and it will help you gain visibility over the workload of your team and schedule the best time for implementing your improvement projects. The diagram below should help put the three steps into perspective: Step 1 – Determine the available capacity for project work. For every member of your team you need to evaluate how many hours they have in their diary that aren’t already planned for their normal ‘day to day work’. If a person’s core work takes up 30 out of 35 hours then they have 5 hours

After feedback from readers and clients I have updated my Key Performance Indicators book. Rather than go for a 'second edition' it has been revamped with a stronger focus on process improvement (compared to solely business performance management). You can get your copy (or download the first 10% free) by visiting this link: Designing KPIs to Drive Process Improvement Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

It is becoming more and more common that I hear the phrase 'lean management'. This is not as a replacement for the phrase 'lean manufacturing' but I feel it is a realisation for many people that the tools and principles that have been applied to many business' factory facilities over the years can be readily applied to other areas of a business. As you know, lean is all about the balance of value adding activities within a business against the non-value adding (or waste generating) activities that are also present. Lean strives to engage people to drive out the waste present in their processes and develop more efficient and effective ways for them to serve their customers. The supporting departments that serve the production aspect of the business (whether it is in manufacturing, services, projects or something else) need to be as efficient and as effective as possible, and you can see the shift in the approach of many businesses who are embracing this way

Many businesses have a legacy of systems and processes that aren't used. When I ask about the history of these systems I am often left with stories about how the systems weren't used and therefore a new system was introduced. You can guess what the pattern is can’t you? The next system doesn't get embedded into the way the business operates and that too falls over. Instead of addressing the issue (we don’t persist at improving and embedding a system) we try to reinvent the wheel. It’s a well known phrase, but does your business re-invent the wheel rather than addressing the problem ? Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

Have you heard that joke about the dog lying on the porch? The one where the dog is whining? The one where the dog’s owner tells his visiting friend that the dog is lying on a nail sticking out of a floorboard? The one where the friend find’s out that the dog would move if he was in serious pain? Have you heard that one? It’s funny how improvement projects often take some form of near catastrophic accident in order for them to stimulate certain types of businesses. Some businesses make it part of who they are, to keep on searching for new and better ways of doing whatever it is that they do. What kind of business are you? Are you hungry, or do you need the pain? Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

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