Have you ever felt the frustration of watching an improvement project stall, fall over and the benefits never being realised? I’ve seen quite a few projects over the years stalling.  Thankfully I have been able to help get them back on track, allowing my clients to get the results they wanted. Just recently I was involved in another similar project, one that was going off track. This got me thinking about the way I fix this particular problem. This month’s article covers the main steps I follow to get projects back on track. Step One – Clarify the Objectives Probably the biggest offender is the lack of clarity around the specifics of the project. Vague objectives lead to confusion. Reducing or confirming the scope of the project, and getting detailed on what you want to experience once the project is completed, can make a big difference. Put it in writing for reference. Step Two – Clarify the Mechanics / Top Level Plan How the project will unfold and what will need to happ

When you are discussing a potential  business improvement idea it can often be worthwhile to put the idea in someone's head and leave it there for a while. The mind usually solves problems at its own rate, and giving people enough time to mull it over can usually produce better improvement idea results than when we force people to agree in a meeting situation. Developing the ideas in a two part strategy can appear to be slow and sluggish, but is another example of the 'tortoise and the hare' in action. Better solutions are worth the (short) wait. Of course, don't employ the very common alternative (to the one off meeting approach) of the infinite meeting method. This is where you never close the loop to commence work on a project! Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

If you have read other blog posts on this site you may have come across me writing about the hockey stick effect. This is the term often used to describe the uneven output many factory based businesses experience towards the end of the month. Recently I have witnessed a couple of businesses who have a double hockey stick effect in their business. The order book is front loaded in the month (i.e. their planning doesn’t go much past the first week and a half of the month) and the output is back loaded in terms of what really happens. There are two main things going on here. There is a lack of realism in the planning (let alone thoroughness) and there is a lack of control regarding throughput within the production side of the business. A good way to prevent this situation from occurring is to implement a formal sign off process to the production schedule. Every business has some kind of ‘rule of thumb’ that can inform you whether your plan is achievable. It is very rare tha

Having been involved with a number of process improvement projects over the years I find it quite easy to tell which projects have been clearly scoped out and have a clear specification. Have you been part of a project that has developed ideas and new processes but never quite got to where it needed to be? If no one has clearly identified what the new process needs to do it can never be completed. Simple. So, if you find your projects are meandering and failing to complete then take the time to have a look at the specification you are working too... and tighten it up if you need to. Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

The other day I saw a business that used tools and processes that didn't match the size of the business, let alone the nature of what they were trying to achieve. Instead of deciding what they wanted to achieve from their processes a member of their team, who was well meaning, created an absolute monster of a business system. Each process that made up their system was labour intensive. Stripping it down to its basic components and determining the purpose of each process was the starting place for creating a simpler, easier to use and more effective system. Re-designing only works properly if you know what you are designing for. Do you know the purpose of your business processes , and are they the right size for your business? Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

When we are planning for our future states we can run into the problem of becoming single minded. Being single minded is really useful at certain parts of our projects, such as when you have a project goal in your sights. It is less useful when we need to consider various options for improving how our business operates and it can be a simple process to determine just what constitutes an ‘ optimal process ’. I wrote a short book on this subject earlier this year and you can get your free sample from Amazon here . Giles Johnston Author, Consultant and Chartered Engineer

MRP systems have been around for a long time. The phrase MRP came into popular usage in the mid 1970s and although systems have gotten faster and more accessible they are still fundamentally the same. Sure, they have more bits and bobs connected to them now, but they still perform an aggregating function that can save many hours per day of laborious administration. So why is it that we find businesses fighting their systems? I find in many cases that the way the system is configured will determine how much you will have a fight on your hands. If you set up the system to mimic what you do (providing you are sane of course) then the system will do your work for you in a fraction of the time. If you set up the system in a way that doesn't incorporate your rules and logic then you find that the system is constantly trying to override what you are wanting to do. It’s like having two completely different people trying to do the same job. Should the above sound famil

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