I am not immune from careless or overhasty thinking. Recently I read a report on new developments for air conditioning making devices more energy efficient. My immediate thought was that we should just get rid

There are great hopes for autonomous vehicles - though some worry about whether the technology is ‘up to the job’. There are some driving situations and conditions where autonomy is relatively easy and others (driving

I have been doing quite a bit of work with Lean approaches and techniques recently. I like Lean ... not because of the tools and techniques (which are excellent on the whole) ... but because

The benefits of workforce diversity are well documented. Usually, however, these relate to diversity in race, gender and sexuality. There are also benefits in an age-diverse workforce where the different attitudes and skills that come

It is difficult to change the behaviour of a child who is a fussy eater. If you try to punish, you reinforce the negative associations of the food they don’t like. If you try to

Many people look to famous entrepreneurs as role models. They see people driven by success, working hard over long hours and completely focused. However, they fail to realise that such people might be ‘wired’ differently

One of things we do, as productivity professionals, is to examine the evidence - the performance data - to identify where problems and Improvement opportunities exist.  Indeed, we often go further to investigate the root

Many firms believe that technology will make them more productive - technology in their main processes and in their communication/administrative processes. Technology, of course, can be an aid to productivity. But it is only really

A few weeks ago I wrote about the need to take some time away from the pressures of work to recharge your body and mind and come back stronger.  Here is little tip (hack?) complementary

I have been reading and writing about Lean quite a bit recently. It is one if those topics where the more you know and the more you read, the more you realise you don’t know. 

Recently I talked about value - and the fact that it is not a straightforward phenomenon.  What I didn’t mention in that piece was the topic of what you value ... personally. Presumably if you

There are lots of blogs written about topics such as a The 7 habits of the Superperformers, suggesting we can learn from what successful business people and entrepreneurs do to make them successful. Well, we

Lean Thinking emphasises the concept of value - which in business is the creation of product/service features and attributes that the customer wants or needs AND is willing to pay for. The second criterion of

Are you doing everything you can to make your organisation efficient? Do you run a very ‘tight’ and ‘lean’ company.. Good! But it’s not enough. Efficiency is the baseline. It is where all organisations should

I saw someone suggesting the other day that increased private  investment in (private) education would improve its productivity. Think this is debatable? As in many other areas, it depends on how you define and measure

Remote or distance working (often referred to as ‘working from home’) has become increasingly popular over the last decade. There is no doubt that fir many job roles, the technology exists to facilitate such working.

Interesting question, is it not?  I guess you found it interesting or you wouldn't be reading this. So what do you need? Well fundamentally - just one thing. A burning desire to identify and eliminate

I talked recently to the Young Fabians (a UK-based left wing think tank) about "Britain's puzzlingly poor productivity".  In such situations, people often want to know the 'secrets' or the 'answers'. The YF were too

I used to ask myself the question... What have you done today to improve the organisation? Now I am older and wiser, I ask ... What have you done today to improve your life? After

UK productivity has been bad for quite a long time and productivity growth is currently low. What impact will BREXIT (the departure of the UK from the European Union) have? Well, we don't know all

Do you use a task manager to help you schedule tasks and activities?  Many people do.  There are many apps out there to help you. Do you wake each morning, look at your list of

What is the most important thing to be done in a business? Is it creating the vision? Is it setting strategy? Is it managing people? Is it building a supply chain? Well, all of these

We are often asked to reflect on 'what we think'.  But, rarely, on how we think. Many of us are charged with making improvements, with innovation, with important planning and decision-making.  How we think -

"Our people are our greatest assert:".  So say most companies.  Yet few of them behave as if they really believe it. They fail to involve, empower - even train and develop - their employees and