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All systems have holes in them and they all have have flaws. 

These could be programming errors (they do occur, hence the endless round of bug fixes on our phones etc – spot the one in the graphic above!) 

But more often the flaws result from an ever clearer understanding of your business needs. You have a system that could be better. The first step is to name the problem. Then remove all judgement over whose fault it is as this just delays action. Now is the time to brainstorm what could be done to make the system better. 

Sometimes I am asked to modify a system to allow for a missing skill in the staff using the system. This can of course be done and if the staff member(s) provide value elsewhere this might be the right thing to do. However, if by training you can overcome the skill issue, maybe the system does not need to be changed at all.

When a system is changed for this reason it can become “the way things are done”. A few years later the staff member has left and yet those that are left still run the system in this “compensating” way. This is what I call an oxbow lake. The river used to run though here but it no longer does.

The most useful innovation is where a function can be added to the system and it entirely removes a task. So instead of giving the accounting department additional checks for missing data – you just get the sales people to enter the key data before it even gets to the accounting department.

Capture the data when it is easiest – i.e. the first time you become aware of it and well before it becomes a stumbling block.

It may be weeks before it is needed, but when it is, the system can present it to you at the right time and in the right place. 

Here are some typical flaws: 

·     Failing to capture key data, 
·     Redundant processes/functions 
·     Forced to use sub-systems 
·     Any data formatting, 
·     Copying and pasting data, 
·     Data not where you need it
·     Missing search options

If you have an off the shelf system, unless you can find the right tool to overcome these, you are dependant on the software company agreeing that your request is relevant. Then, in due course, the new function might be introduced in an upgrade. This may be months or even years later.

If you have custom software, the change can be implemented quickly – maybe in the next week or even on the day the need is identified.

That is what I do. 

Call me if you would like a bit more responsiveness from your business systems.
Richard – 07771 783 551 

We all know that change starts when there is severe pain or a clear gain.

Most of my clients come to me when they are in severe pain. The system they are using to run their business has failed and “nothing works anymore”. 

Usually they have run the current system for as long as they can but now one of four things has happened:

1. The system crashes and they cannot get it back up and running.
2. A key staff member has left and they were the ones who knew how to keep the old system working.
3. They have landed a job that is too big for the current system to handle or
4. A new staff member arrives and asks why the heck the current system is still in use. 

The client feels that a new system needs to be created from the ground up. Which is true and yet there is a lot of wisdom held both within the current system and in the heads of the people that use it.

Recording what works, what does not and what new functions are needed is a great place to start. 

But note: This point will come around again. Ideally it becomes a regular check up on your systems. It is what improves them over time. Systems cannot remain stagnant – they have to evolve as everything in your company is evolving. 

Sadly some things will not make it to the next generation. But great new things will reveal themselves.

I do this work – I am seeking more of it. If you feel I could help you or someone you know – contact me!

All the systems I create start with a blank page.

However none of them were created from the void. 

All of my clients have legacy systems in place and in those systems is the collected wisdom from several years of making do. Collecting, collating and analysing the existing systems allows the blank page to be quickly filled with solid work. 

The system that is created is a structured version of what they already have plus the wisdom that resides in the heads of those that operate them. 

Parts that are defunct tasks that serve no real purpose are trimmed out, tasks that can be automated disappear. Often hours, even weeks of work, vanish and staff find that they have free time on their hands. 

Recruitment is put on hold as staff can now be re-deployed on more demanding tasks.

Once the system is in place the cycle shown in the diagram above is implemented. Iteration after iteration. Ever increasing efficiency. 

I love working companies that have been around for a 3-10 years and are struggling with spreadsheets or mad assemblies of apps and need an integrated system. 

If you happen to be working on solving the climate crisis that would be even better.

If this is you or if you know of a company that needs help – please get in touch! 

I was reviewing the next step of a system with a client today and he was asking how he could delegate more responsibility to his site managers.

We had already created a system that allowed the site managers to source their own materials and any savings they made contributed to their profit share. They were very happy with this and profits have already started to increase. Now we were looking at how the labour could be better managed.

The current system indicates how the construction project has been costed. What we will now do is give the site manager access to this section and allow them to work out how best to use their workers on a day to day basis.

They have a clear brief on what needs to be done and how the boss thought that might be achieved. They will now be able to re-allocate staff and work out, before the work starts, how by moving staff around they can save time and use their resources better. The cheapest, but best, candidate for the job. If they are able to produce the same or a better result but at a lower cost, everyone benefits. All of this on an iPad on site.

The boss, back in his office, is able to oversee what is being planned and step in if needed, at the same time he can learn from the insights of the site managers about how to improve his estimates on the next job.

If the revised plan goes against them, the site managers learn why the original plan was as it was and still have the power to continuously challenge and improve it.

As a result of the site manager allocating the job “Scaffolder” to “Bob”, the human resources manager is able to have a clearer idea and what sort of work each staff member is being asked to do. This makes is clearer what gaps they have in their training and skill range within the company. She is also able to better forecast how busy each staff member is going to be over the coming weeks and months.

This next stage is going to offer significant insights, increased profits and help grow the company.

The other day I was asked to liaise with a representative of an accounts package with the aim of transferring data from the custom system I had created to their system. The system I had created had many specific features that produced the very detailed information the client needed to have appear on the invoice.. compliance data, specific product codes etc.

As the meeting progressed I asked a series of questions about the ability of the off the shelf package to receive data in various formats to meet the client’s requirements. The answer time and again was: “No – we can’t do that”. Could it be done if they modified the system? Again – “No – we can’t do that”.

In the end I did a bit of work at my end and we were able to produce what was needed by presenting the other system with the data pre-formatted as required.

This got me thinking…. Is it better to ask if a system can do a certain task and be told “No” or to ask the same question and receive the answer – “No! But it could do”.

If the system could be modified within days, sometimes hours, to meet the new requirement would that not be useful?

I often see clients develop coping mechanisms when their systems cannot do what they need it to. This starts a proliferation of spreadsheets and sub-systems and a whole new task of cross checking is created. (Since, in the process of transferring data to the sub-system errors creep in…)

This is a business owner’s nightmare from day one.

Now of course I would say that being able to modify the system is preferable – but then as I was writing this very piece – the phone rang.

So for the next hour I will be making a change to a system that will save the client (and in turn their client) an hour a week per staff member.

Let me refer you back to my previous article…daft figures…

A client asked me to have a look at a task that their staff have to carry out every week. It takes them 1 hour to do. It cost them just £120 for me to make a change that removed the need to do the task – at all.

When I had completed the coding work I was throwing out my junk mail and noticed an offer for a high interest bank account offering…

1.36%.

Instead of my client dropping £120 into a bank account the client had handed it to me and in turn I had removed the need to spend an hour every week doing a very boring task. The staff are estimated to be worth at least £100 per hour. so they had just saved £5,200 a year on this staff member – but there were 20 staff carrying out this task. That is £104,000 a year that they no longer had to spend… for a cost of £120. The return on investment =

86,666%

Imagine if they had had to spend an hour a day (instead of a week) or had more staff carrying out the task.

The coding was good for all of time – so this saving will be taking place every year.

What if the task had taken longer or there had been more staff?

Improving your data processing functions saves money. Lots of it. Start with a system that can respond to your specific needs and which can let you make changes quickly.

What tasks do you have that take a long time, frequently that could be automated? Sometimes clients are so used to having the task carried out they have not questioned if a human needs to be involved at all.

What could you do with the time that the removal of this task would give you back?

“Then the client may phone up and change their mind, then we find out that the last one in stock is damaged so we have to change it again, then we might find that the truck driver is ill, then we might find that the consignment needs to be moved to another truck run, then the client might not be at home or rejects the delivery….”

All of this can be handled and contingencies put in place by a good system and this is fine. But why do the changes take place?  What are the changes taking place, how often do they happen and which of them can be predicted and avoided or reduced?

If your system could start alerting you to the likelihood of changes being needed and if it could give you feedback on the numbers of points of failure and nature of failure would that be useful?

This process of improvement never stops and it is both necessary and beneficial. It also applies to all types of business and data management.

What data are you processing needlessly?

This chart represents just 4 figures 30%, 30%, 30% and 10% and can be produced in a variety of ways. The user can create the chart and enter the four figures. Or, if the system is a bit smarter, the data can be drawn down from a database where the live figures are being recorded.

So apart from the time spent creating the chart and getting the look right your staff could be spending a lot of time collecting the data to ensure that the slices are right. What if the system did this for you as well?

We recently produced a report where for each active design project the project managers wanted to know at what stage the procurement was for several different categories of product (lighting, furniture etc.) With over 10 projects running at any time this could have meant days of work and the whole thing could have been out of date before it had been assembled.

The system we created required automatically produced the reports and emails for each project were sent to the relevant project managers giving them an up to date report. Wherever they were on the planet.

It could be that simple.