Time is a funny thing. As a society we often contemplate it, and some of us (including me!) have written on the topic of managing it as best we can. So, why is it that there are so many improvement, delivery and project plans that seem to ignore the simple maths that lie behind the scheduling of activities?

On my travels I hear the phrase "it won't work" an awful lot. Do you hear it too? So many good improvement ideas are lost to this statement.

I have some good news to share! Earlier this year I was awarded my fellowship with the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

I was reminded last week of a conversation I had with a mentee of mine from a few years ago. My mentee was try to work out how to improve their personal productivity and after reading a number of books on the subject was feeling confused. I gave them a simple challenge to try and it worked remarkably well. Here it is, so that you can try it out for yourself.

Many times when I speak to a business for the first time I have to get past their mask. The mask I am referring to is the perfect business process maps that they cling to. To get into meaningful business improvement activities it is vital that you can get past the process maps that adorn your walls and quality management systems and get into the ‘warts and all’ reality of your business’ activities. This article looks at three areas that can help you jump start your improvement activities when you are mapping out what takes place in your business.

Have you ever gotten to that point on a shop floor layout improvement project where you feel confused and unsure whether you are ready to implement the solution? You've done the planning, had the debates and then found yourself (and your team) going round in circles. Why not stop and walk through the proposed solution?

Often when I am faced with a new project, and there is a productivity / on time delivery issue the topic of 'role drift' comes up. As I hinted in the title of this blog post when the various roles within a business are focused appropriately on producing specific 'deliverables' productivity usually follows. Or, put in different ways: