Process Improvement Archives

Red Tape and the Duke of Wellington

12 April, 2013 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Central Spain, August 1812 A message to the British Foreign Office in London from the Duke of Wellington: Whilst marching from Portugal to a position which commands the approach to Madrid and the French forces, my officers have been diligently complying with your requests which have been sent by H.M. ship from London to Lisbon […]

Should you Standardise?

31 March, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

There is a line of thought that says standardise your processes. After all without standardisation you just have anarchy. But every customer is different There is another line of thought that every customer is different: So no customer wants a standard outcome. If you insist in giving cookie-cutter service all you will do is create […]

So You Want to be World-Class?

26 March, 2013 by James Lawther 5 Comments

Lots of organisations claim to excel They are: World class at “this” Have centres of excellence in “that” Apply best practice in “the other” I wouldn’t mind betting that yours claims it is the best in the world at something. Are they really all that good or is it simply corporate conceit? What does it take to become […]

What do Your Customers Think?

23 March, 2013 by James Lawther 6 Comments

Here is a lovely little video. You should watch it. All 4 minutes and 18 seconds. He gets to the point doesn’t he? And what is his point? I doesn’t matter how clever you are: If your customer doesn’t understand you, then you are wasting your time. A little usability testing goes an awfully […]

Are You Doing What’s Important?

9 March, 2013 by James Lawther 3 Comments

All organisations are full of work, stuff that needs to get done. That work is divided into two nice neat categories: 1. Customer work Work done for customers (for the sake of argument people who pay). That type of work includes: Capturing order details X-raying broken arms Cleaning hotel rooms Sometimes we call it front line work. […]