Operational Controls are Worthless if They Aren’t Maintained At approximately 5 pm on Monday 22nd June 2009, a Washington Metro train heading towards Shady Grove smashed into the rear of the train ahead of it. The Automatic Train Control system had instructed the train to travel at full speed (55 mph). When the driver of […]
All That Glisters…
The next big thing There is a revolution going on in the world of medicine. Robotic surgery equipment is being installed in operating theatres across the western world. The robots allow surgeons to make far smaller incisions and operate much more precisely. The surgeon doesn’t have to contend with slippery instruments and the robot has […]
Heavy Metal and Process Improvement
The checklist It isn’t very rock and roll is it? Checklists are up there in the train spotting school of management. The sort of activity carried out by dull earnest people who ought to put their clipboards down and get out a little more. Tiresome and tedious. Heavy metal I’m not big into heavy metal. […]
Processes are Built to be Broken
If you work as a housekeeper for a hotel, one of the jobs is “turn down”, or preparing guest’s bedrooms for bed time. Some hotels are content to close the curtains, turn down the bed covers and put a chocolate on the pillow. Not the Four Seasons hotel chain. They have a 150 point “turn […]
Just Following Instructions
Bureaucracy is bad; it is hopeless when people just follow the instructions to the letter. They can’t help but mess it up. Think of the last interaction you had with a call centre, chances are it was horrific. Check-lists are great; it is super when people just follow the instructions to the letter. They can’t […]