Blog2020-11-04T19:42:16+00:00

Failure is a Route to Success

By |November 23rd, 2024|Categories: Innovation, Productivity|

Most business people are aware that failure can be a useful learning process - allowing those who are part of the failure to learn lessons about what went wrong and/or where they could have improved

America Leeds

By |November 2nd, 2024|Categories: National Productivity, Productivity|

Even though productivity has been rising slowly in the last few years, America still tops the international league table for productivity.  Why is this? Well, possibly the most significant reasons are: Firstly, America is a high-tech

No Secret to Improved Productivity

By |October 26th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

There are thousands of articles, book - even blog posts - promising you the Top 5 (or 6 or 21) secrets to productivity. However, I have disappointing news..  There is no one secret, no magic bullet,

Where Can We Successfully Apply AI?

By |October 19th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

I am slightly sceptical about the great productivity gains suggested for AI.  I hope I am wrong but I think it may take quite some time before the ‘intelligence’ of AI gives solid results.  That is not

Speed is Still Not Everything

By |September 28th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

I wrote a week ago about the danger of thinking that (productivity) improvement is always about increasing speed. I thought this week about an example that sums this up quite nicely. I went recently to

Speed is not Everything

By |September 21st, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

 I have talked here before about the danger in concentrating on speed of operation as the primary focus of improvement efforts.  It can, for example mean a drop in quality…. and it can mean a team

The Creativity of Ignorance

By |September 14th, 2024|Categories: Innovation, Productivity|

Sometimes when looking at problems or searching for innovation, it is a handicap to have too much knowledge of the context of the problem. For example, if you give the problem of spanning a river

Problem or Opportunity

By |September 7th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

I don’t like aphorisms such as “There are no problems, only opportunities”.    This Is sometimes true but is so vague as to encompass real problems and  disasters which require being treated as such,  Can you imagine, "Houston,

Work Hard, Like The Rest of Them

By |August 31st, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

If you work in an environment where everyone is busy and working hard you will tend to work hard yourself.  There will be fewer distractions and your work level will be visible to others. At break

Does Money Motivate?

By |August 24th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

It is commonly accepted that money is a prime motivator for employed people [ie - they come to work earn money to live and will leave for another job if its pays more. Of course,

Not Mere Minutes

By |August 17th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

I was talking to a distant relative the other day who has been working from home for more than 2 years - and loves it.  He told me about the various co-ordination meetings he had to

Oh No, Not Mondays

By |August 10th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

An online  survey of American workers suggests that they feel at their most productive on Monday mornings.  The week is new, memories of the weekend cast a rosy glow and the world feels good. So, why do

Communication Is Not Always Good

By |August 3rd, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

We are constantly urging firms to communicate effectively with their employees - letting them know what is happening … and why.  This is particularly true of issues that affect those employees. Communicating should be easy as

Warehousing is a Productivity Success

By |July 27th, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

Warehousing is one area where productivity has risen steadily over the last couple of decades.This has been partly due to the rise of the ‘super retailer’, the boom in online purchasing - and the boom

Does Manufcturing Matter?

By |July 6th, 2024|Categories: National Productivity, Productivity|

Spoiler alert!. Yes, it does! Manufacturing, in spite of continual productivity gains over several decades, is a large employer.  But it also employs a multiple more (often several multiples more) in the wider supply chain -

Take Action

By |June 29th, 2024|Categories: Innovation, Productivity|

Occasionally we see an organisation that has pulled itself back from the brink of extinction.  There are two main routes to such survival - one is to find a different product/service (product innovation) ; the other

Perfection is Over-Rated

By |June 22nd, 2024|Categories: Productivity|

We all know people who are perfectionists.  They strive in everything they do to be the best, to out-perform all others, to be number one. In some walks of life, this can be a great attribute.

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